Possibly Buying a 2003 Prius and I Need Some Advice.

01-03 Prius is Gen 1. At this point, I wouldn't buy a Gen 1.

See links at Gen 1 or Gen 2? | PriusChat. Also see Going to be looking for a 2001-2003 Prius...Seeking some tips. | PriusChat and New member | PriusChat. Patrick Wong's one of our resident repair experts. Ignore tpfun, the troll.

If you're willing to set aside a budget for the possibility (not certainty) of multiple 4 digit price tag repairs, you could try...

 

one thing I would do is get the vin number and go to toytota owners website and see what it says about the vehicle.


Although, I bought a 2002 with 140,000miles last year, I would be rather leery about getting a 10yr old car with that high of mileage.

I have already had to put over $1500 worth of replacement parts on mine. the cost is for parts only. Plus another thing to keep in mind, is the traction battery. At this point, the traction (big) battery may go kaput tomorrow or It may last another 3yrs 50,000 miles. Depending on which route you take to replace the battery pack, you could have as much as a $3500 repair bill, but there are MUCH cheaper options though.

I have already got the money set aside for not if, but WHEN my battery pack goes kaput.

 

Re: HV battery failure choices, see Failed traction (HV) battery, what to do? - Prius Wiki. But again, there are other pricey items that could fail that Patrick Wong already mentioned.

 

We test drove a Gen 1 but it had hybrid system warnings lights come on when we test drove it. Some are still OK, but most have had the heck driven out of them and aren't that great anymore. I would search harder. Lower mileage than that can be found on a 2003 reasonably easily. You may have to search the entire state craigslist, though. We got ours with only 164k miles and for nearly half TMV. We just kept searching until we found it. Took several months of searching the entire state craigslist, but finally found this one... And it's a great car. You definitely need a Prius.

 

Wouldnt get a 2007 Prius! Ours has 55k on clock, 5 years old and is a 'swamp car' . Leaks in roof welds do not do wonders for the electrics. Getting rid asap! B.