Learn me Buying a Used Prius

The girlfriend is looking for a different vehicle. She thinks she wants a Prius and as an environmentalist, I'm all for it. Cars are my one non-environmental love. Anyway, I can't find a good article on what to look out for in a used Prius. I DID search this forum and priuschat.com. The latter has way too many nonessential posts to extract good info from many threads I read thus far.

Budget is south of $10k so a 2nd or 3rd gen fits that.

Look for a CT200h instead , it's a way better car. Or maybe a Volt.

Prius tends to be really reliable. The big deal is the battery which is supposed to last 8 years, but they appear to last longer.

no no no no no don't buy a Prius, get her something fun, like a miata that's environmental enough for u

Ive always heard that a 96 f250 diesel with 250k miles is more eco friendly than a prius just due to the ludicrous round the world shipping and manufacturing of the batteries, does that still hold true?

Personally id never own or even drive a prius or any hybrid.

I second the CT200h. Much nicer vehicle than the Prius with better suspension, but depreciation has them priced pretty close on the secondhand market.

I got over the "hybrids suck" mentality a while back, if you do a certain kind of driving or have a local HOV lane they are a great choice if you can get past all the stereotypes. For a DD they are a solid choice, obviously you are not going to build one as a track car or anything.

I'm still going with the miata idea

My mom just bought a ct200h. I told my son that it's the first car she's owned that I'd buy for myself. So glad I talked her out of the Prius.

I have some experience with the 2nd gen. One of the most reliable cars I have owned.

They burn oil at higher miles. So watch out for that.

If you can, avoid the softex ("leather") it 'squeaks'.

Interior quality is not the best.

Some of the steering wheel buttons fail. You need to replace the clockspring I think.

The main dash display goes out. Warranty on them extended to 9 years.

Mine for some reason is on its third driver's side wheel bearing in about 15k miles. I think I just got faulty parts.

Winter mpgs are terrible if you have real winter and use the heater. My winter mileage is about 32mpg iirc with altimax winter tires. I have gotten as low as 23 Mpg with heavy heater usage. As an appliance dd they are excellent. They do what they were designed to do very well.

Frankly, besides the burning oil if there are no unusual squeaks and/or rattles or check engine lights I say go for it. We have 206k on ours and I would drive it accross the country right now if I need to.

I have 250k on my 07 and I would also drive it across the country if i needed to.

Those recommending the CT200h.. Well, it's a fantastic upgrade over a Prius in many ways, but if you're comparing it to a 2g Prius than the cheapest CT200h is FOUR TIMES the money of the cheapest 2g Prius. And yes, you can get a Volt for that money and I would definitely cross-shop them. I've spent some time around both and if you didn't care that much about the EV range or acceleration i'd go for the CT200h in a heartbeat over a Volt. And i LIKE Volts. But a CT200h is a whole lot of right that only suffers in comparison to the Volt in that it has basically no EV range and its acceleration is poor 'for a car of its class'. If you want a small hybrid thats a LOT nicer than a Prius but also faster than a Prius (which the CT is not) then look at the older HS250h. They're significantly quicker but still get excellent fuel economy and have a very nice interior, just not as sporty as a CT. If you're spending CT/Volt money there's also the newer Camry Hybrids which are MUCH MUCH quicker than a Prius and quicker than the Volt too.

Anyway, the Prius is nearly (if not) the most reliable modern car on the planet. It would be hard to go wrong. If you have access to a code reader or scan tool that can tell you how long since the codes were last cleared, that would be a great tool when shopping for one, but that's true of anything really. My 07 with 250k has had so little (zero afaik?!) parts failures that i couldnt even tell you what to look for other than codes in the system and 'normal' used car problems.

chiodos wrote: Ive always heard that a 96 f250 diesel with 250k miles is more eco friendly than a prius just due to the ludicrous round the world shipping and manufacturing of the batteries, does that still hold true? Personally id never own or even drive a prius or any hybrid.

Do you use a Coffee maker, toaster, or other appliance regularly? Yes they can be uninspiring but they do the job at a low cost. Which is what many people want.. A friend with a Volt he uses for daily commute buys one tank of gas per year and his electric bill averages $10-11 more per month than before the Volt.. He brags that his annual expense for ownership (Fuel, insurance, maintenance) is more than $2500 less than his pick-up used to be.. That's a $200 a month pay raise. Plus his commute into the city went from an hour each way to a 1/2 hour. (Hybrids use the HOV lane) Saving him an additional 250 hours a year at home..

I_Love_Curves wrote: The girlfriend is looking for a different vehicle. She thinks she wants a Prius and as an environmentalist, I'm all for it. Cars are my one non-environmental love. Anyway, I can't find a good article on what to look out for in a used Prius. I DID search this forum and priuschat.com. The latter has way too many nonessential posts to extract good info from many threads I read thus far. Budget is south of $10k so a 2nd or 3rd gen fits that.

Search here for Volt.. They had a Volt and will tell you about the ownership experience..

Since you live in FL, you need to know this company:

http://www.tampahybrids.com/listings

Currently have 23 sub $9K cars on their website. (Don't assume it is still there- they rollover very quickly. They buy 3-4 per week).

Owner's name is Todd Thomson. Has been in the car business forever, but recently decided he needed to sell only Priuses. He became a specialist in 2nd gen cars, and can tell you everything about them. He has a solid inventory of excellent used cars at fair prices. He makes his money on volume, not on reaming people. He doesn't finance (or at least he didn't a couple of years ago). Services what he sells, will ship anywhere.

He can set up a car how you want it, because he also buys salvage cars and swaps parts around. Want leather added to a base model? He can help.

He also learned how to do single cell replacements in the batteries, so the cost of repair drops drastically.

He's a car guy, and a Prius guru. He is open about sharing his knowledge.

He has recently expanded to other hybrids, but Prius is still his specialty.

I don't know him personally, and never bought from him, but spent a lot of time talking with him about options when I was running a transport company and thinking about switching the entire fleet to Priuses. I got a good vibe from him, and would have bought all my cars from him, if the business hadn't dropped off.

Priuses are uninspired drivers, but excellent at exactly what they say they can do. Economical environmentally friendly people movers. And maintenance costs are rock bottom. Many 300K mile cars still have their original brake pads (because of the regen braking).

Most cars my personal limit when shopping for a reliable driver is 200K. For a Prius, its 300K.

Good luck!

chiodos wrote: Ive always heard that a 96 f250 diesel with 250k miles is more eco friendly than a prius just due to the ludicrous round the world shipping and manufacturing of the batteries, does that still hold true?

Not on a used vehicle. It's already here.

There is nothing more eco-friendly than a used vehicle that doesn't have to be manufactured.

My girlfriend finds absolutely nothing fun about cars so that is zero consideration. They are appliances to her. Again, budget is under $10k so the CT200h and Volt are out. Her daily commute is city traffic but she does plenty of road trips around the state, averaging 20,000 miles a year. I will definitely check out tampahybirds.com.

I have been seeing prius from 2006-7s come up around $4-5K with 150,000-200,000 miles on the clock. I would get one of those, and not worry about the mileage. If the battery is "bad" look into just replacing the bad cell.

I would also consider the VW turbo diesels, that have been in the news. Diesels are generally of very stout build quality. Diesel fuel requires much less refining than petrol (there is actually bio-engineered producers of diesel, ie not made from oil. Might take a while to get to the market tho ). They also get considerably better fuel economy than any non hybrid. There is no battery manufacturing foot print (even in hindsight) from tankerships, mining... Maybe one day they will run on vegetable waste oil.

chiodos wrote: Ive always heard that a 96 f250 diesel with 250k miles is more eco friendly than a prius just due to the ludicrous round the world shipping and manufacturing of the batteries, does that still hold true? Personally id never own or even drive a prius or any hybrid.

That wasn't true when the rumor started and it's not true now. I did a term paper trying to prove it to be true. I failed at my goal and came away thinking that hybrids are a good thing for the car world.

I love the idea of the Prius, but the stereotype kills me on them. I keep entertaining the idea of a 1st gen Honda insight though

The volt has me really interested. And because my wife has an H2 I think I would be fun to have one in the driveway next to her car. In black to match the H2. I think the contrast would be cool and never mind that a volt would be the perfect car for my DD.

First, just to get the nasty part out of the way first, you do realize the Prius isn't as environmentally friendly as you probably think, right? Image doesn't match reality.

If you still want one because you want to look green, the Prius is reliable as gravity. I had a third generation because of my commute. Got 42mpg constantly. I only got rid of it because I could actually hear it sucking my soul from me. Otherwise they are perfect appliances.

As for things to look for, there's nothing special since it takes care of the battery itself. Look for one with a service history.

I've been kicking around the idea of a Prius for a while. Though the lack of a manual option really puts the damper on it for me.

Slight hijack; What does GRM think about the Honda Insight?

In reply to Klayfish:

Like what?

Manufacturing footprint is gone- car is already built.

Shipping footprint is gone- car is already here.

Fuel consumption? It wins.

Emissions? Still a win.

Parts and upkeep? They are perhaps the most reliable car on the road. Why would their upkeep be worse for the environment than others?

Battery replacement? Well, that's a bad one, but only for people that think the only way to fix an old Prius is to buy a new battery. Cell replacement has become pretty basic, and has a very nominal impact.

Lifespan and replacement? Fat chance. They will outlast virtually everthing on the road, except perhaps long distance diesels.

Can you actually name a used vehicle under $10K that has a smaller carbon footprint in it's remaining life to grave than a Prius?

I understand the impact of the cradle to grave of a Prius and it's manufacturing processes, but a used car has already been through that, and offers no residual or ongoing environmental impact unique to the Prius.

It's a car for his girlfriend, she said she wants a Prius, and she's not concerned about it being an appliance. All the stuff about other cars and whether a diesel truck is more environmentally friendly has nothing to do with the original question.

I love the idea of the Prius, but the stereotype kills me on them. I keep entertaining the idea of a 1st gen Honda insight though

I own both. The Prius is a better car. The Insight is a better 'enthusiast' car because you can get it with a manual and do a lot of hacks.

Slight hijack; What does GRM think about the Honda Insight?

They have NOWHERE NEAR toyota battery reliability, so the best way to get one is to buy one that already has a failing battery for cheap and then put a good replacement pack in it right away. I have learned it makes no sense to purchase one at 'full pop' on the used market because it happens to be working correctly right now when in all likelihood it is a short-ish time from failing (unless a battery repair has recently been done). The rest of the car isn't Prius reliable, but in general it's Honda reliable! I've had to fix some instrument cluster buttons, a corroded connection due to water leakage, a power window motor, have a 'messed up' door handle linkage, etc. Not out of line for an old car.

As far as how they are to drive, it's difficult to drive an Insight casually. You have to look at it as a game. They're more engaging than a Prius but don't objectively perform better. I raced my Insight against a 2g prius, dead even. It gets better mpg stock, but not enough to make up for the fact that it's 1000 lbs lighter and immensely less useful in its carrying capacity. It's a car that IMO should only be owned by 'enthusiasts' and should only be approached as a 'project'.

We extensively searched and drove before we bought our Prius. We bought a CPO 2010 (3rd Gen) for $9200 with 26K miles. There are tons of them out there, so find what you want and pay what you want for it. The 3G Prius is better than the 2G in every measurable way. The interior is nicer, the drivetrain is peppier, the features are better, and the design is actually decent looking. The TRD springs and rear sway bar along with a good 17" wheel/tire combo actually makes it really fun to drive. We've had ours for 3 months or so now and love it. We did a road trip just yesterday and averaged 51.7MPG, and that's 70MPH highway stuff!

The Honda Insight is an absolute joke compared to a Prius. There's a reason why they sold so few of them and then pulled them from the market. They are louder, coarser, slower, more cramped, and get worse mileage, plus the batteries actually fail. The Volt is also an inferior car in nearly every measure. The Volt's drivetrain is anywhere near as "seamless" as the Prius' when switching modes, it has way less interior space, and everything about it is cheap.

Find a 3G Prius in your budget and buy it, she'll love it.

Oh wow, i should have clarified i was speaking about the 1st generation Insight which is different enough from a Prius to justify it's own existence.

I have driven the 2g Insight and agree it is basically garbage compared to a Prius. It has all the general Honda goodness but the powertrain is a joke compared to a Prius.

The 3G Prius is better than the 2G in every measurable way. The interior is nicer, the drivetrain is peppier, the features are better, and the design is actually decent looking.

I actually like the 2g design/form better inside and out. But the 3g does hold the distinction of being the first Prius they put decent wheels on! Sometimes. And yes, the powertrain is much improved.