I bought it on May of 2018 with 130k miles on it for 10k out the door. I spent just over 10k on maintenance, failures, and theft problems. I sold it today for $800, with 5 lights on including; a check engine, main battery, PCS, and two others. I got 6 years, 68k miles out of it. I loved it but DAMN.
$10k of maintenance in 68k miles is why you don't buy a used gen3 over 100k miles. I always recommend against buying any used gen3. Some of us were luckier but it's hard to make your own luck on these cars. Even though my 2012 v has 320k miles it blew an inverter before 100k, brake booster before the tsb and a hybrid battery around 175k. Had to fix a timing chain cover leak and it burns oil. One front hub early, a rear hub late and a bad antenna amp as a mid life crisis. Buying a hybrid new is the value proposition. The big difference is I benefited from no car payments for a decade plus after buying new and saved at least $15k in gas. The car still looks and drives good with all functions operational on original suspension, brake rotors and front pads.
It’s unfortunate that we have to hang out on car forums to find out about fatal flaws before making a purchase
Meanwhile... The Mitsubishi Mirage is probably the best deal going for cheap wheels these days, while these last '24s sell out. New, modern features + warranty. Yeah it's small buzzy and slow, but it's way less likely to terrorize your bank account in the first 100k miles.
