Buying Used Prius Agonizing over Details : }

Yes the Gen Two Prius (2004-2009) is still commanding high prices in the used car market. Yes, mileage does decrease its value. But, for the most part, mileage doesn't seem to bother these cars.

Yes, HV batteries can go bad. And the flip side is its like overhauling your car when you replace it. Trust me, it is one heck of a lot easier and cleaner the overhauling the engine on ANY vehicle.

Gen2's are reliable, versatile, and economical. I have had no major issues in 156000 and eleven years, five months of service. I am yet to have a vehicle off road incident.

I would buy another one tomorrow if the price was reasonable. JTM

 

You can buy any grade or color of aftermarket leather and have as much or as little done as you want. The cloth is removed as you aren't buying seat covers. They could also change the contour of the seat.

If I was upgrading the car to leather I wouldn't be looking at the lower grade materials selected by the manufacturers.

"Economical" is a relative term and swapping out the stereo is probably something you don't want to do yourself. Visit the stereo shop & at least get a ballpark estimate for a better unit & installation.

 

A lot depends on who did the leather installation. I have seen them install the leather over the regular cover and sometimes they remove the standard cover and install over the seat padding. The seats do take a person's shape after many uses and years of w
ear. Mine has a worn shoulder near the drivers door. It doesn't bother me, if it did, I know that I could fix it.

Radios can be replaced or upgraded as needed. I upgraded mine to a built in SiriusXM tuner. The physical tuner mounts under the back seat, passenger side. The connection wires act like an extension cord. The Prius in the higher end packages uses a Pioneer tuner. The only difference from standard I did was to mount the antenna on the roof near where the AM-FM antenna is located.

 

Yes that is normal. Esp for CT. That is just aluminum corrosion from the salt. A leak will appear pinkish.

 

I will do my best, "Daisy". You probably felt one of two things.

1. When coming to a stop, depending on whether the engine and catalyst are up to temp, you may feel the engine shutter to a halt. It will feel weird for a while then It will feel normal.
2. Sometimes if the HV battery is too high in charge or too low of charge, you may feel the engine stop then restart. It will give a funny sensation but the ICE running or not is governed by State of Charge, engine temp and catalyst temp.
Believe me, its an algorithm that the Japanese engineers have figured out and is best left alone. It works, and it does its best to keep the battery at not ovetcharged and not undercharged either.

If you would like to know more, the oak ridge testing facility tore down a Prius to see what makes it work. It is eye opening. Do you have any idea how long these Prii have been sitting? You may be experiencing lot rot or the battery hasn't seen a good charge in a while. Gasoline also gets stale, so while the Prius may run on it, a fresh load of Top Tier gas will improve the way it runs.

If the lot guy cleaned the car with engine off and the radio on and the doors open can run the small battery down. Then next time it gets driven you drive it. The car then does its best to get everything back to normal, according to read only memory. It takes time, and cars do not like being ran a short time and then shut down.

 

Was the sound/vibration like a slight shudder? Sometimes the ChuggyPig will make a sound which is almost like a sigh, as the ICE turns off (RPMs on the ScanGaugeII fall to zero) and when I turn off the power (just about to leave the car) there will usually be the noticeable whirr of a pump as the coolant in the ICE gets pumped into the thermos flask (storage so that next time the car is started, the ICE will reach the operating temperature quicker). I've not seen any error codes flagged, so I assume any unfamiliar (at first) sounds are all part and parcel of ChuggyPig telling me all is OK, and it's happy. I noticed the same phenomenon with my last Toyota (Corolla DX Wagon - see other threads) - one gets used to the sounds of a car after a while to the point that any obvious unusual change might be an indication of something not being well. It might be useful to have someone familiar with Prius-related sounds test-drive it for you if that could be arranged - hope this helps - Wil

 

In order to see the weep hole you would really need a inspection mirror. With the amount of available light it would be hard to see. The photo you posted looks perfectly normal.

 

Indeed, most (not all) car salesmen (and women) have no clue what's going on under the hood. When I worked for the dealership, the salesmen would attempt to jump start cars with dead batteries.
They could not seem to figure put red was positive and black was negative.

I can tell you if you do it wrong, the main fuse blows which is rated at 120 Amps. I got good at changing that big fuse, since it was bolted in, it took about ten to fifteen minutes. I would charge the dealer an hour to do it.

No it wasn't hard and yes I knew which screw to turn. It's a living, I had bills to pay. They paid for my expertise and professionalism.

 

So how goes it, Daisy?

 

Rooting for you daisy. Too bad you were not in the market a year ago. I traded in a very good and clean 2009 Package 2 that I think you would have liked. It had 78K on the clock. All recalls were taken care of. New water pump (ICE) and new belt also. Tires were almost brand new - actually less than six months old. Michelin Energy Saver A/S. I was also running Mobil 1 in it (Full Synthetic). The car was not using any oil and really had nothing wrong with it. I only traded because I wanted a newer car at the time. Now, I kind of regret trading since my health has declined quite a bit and I don't drive that much any more.

Somewhere along the line you will find what you are looking for if you are persistent. The real question is how much time you can spend looking when you consider the condition of your Vibe.

Best of luck to you. Will be watching silently in the back ground!

Ron (dorunron)

 

Did you get another Prius, Ron?

 

First, one has to find the discrepancy. Were the numbers on the title written clearly? Did the Data Entry Clerk miskey them? Was the combination meter (with the odometer) replaced? Was a higher fictitious mileage recorded to reduce some tax?

For the sake of argument let's say it was a keying error on the part of the DMV. Can the database record be changed? Who can change the database record? Do you REALLY want them to change the records?

I would be astonished if the end user of the system has the rights to edit historical data. That's a recipe for disaster and can destroy the integrity of the database.

Do you want a Database Administrator "correcting" the data? How about removing that "erroneous" DUI on the brother's record? How about removing that "salvage" brand from the title?

Problem paperwork is a deal breaker for me as it isn't worth the hassle. When I bought my 1983 Delta 88 the dealer gave me a title stating "Delta 98". (A Delta 98 is a different model.) Although I was told "this is no big deal, nobody will notice" I refused the title and they had to get a corrected one issued. Did the NJ DMV make the mistake or the dealer's title clerk? I don't know and I don't care but I'm not dealing with it over the life of the car.

There's a 2009 in Meriden 69863 miles listed for $10785, a 2008 in Torrington 83605 miles for $8995, a 2008 in Watertown 87631 miles for $8900, a 2008 with 94392 miles for $8977, a 2008 with 95096 miles for $8995 in Waterbury, and a 2008 with 53772 miles for $12990 in Danbury.

There's a lot in PA & VA.

This cliff hanger is just like the old movie serials or a soap opera.

 

Yes, bought a new 2013 Model Three with 7 miles on the clock.