GRM Catnip - 2007 Toyota Prius - New OEM HV Battery - Rochester, NY (Mine/Affiliated)

Selling my 2007 Toyota Prius as I’m taking delivery of a new EV shortly. The car has approximately 152,000 miles (will increase slightly as driven daily) and has been exceptionally reliable over the 18 months and 17,000 miles that I’ve owned it. It regularly returns 44 – 48 MPG driven normally, and can get over 50 MPG if driven with care.

The big benefit over other Priuses (Prii?) listed for sale is that this one had a brand new Toyota OEM hybrid battery installed at the dealer in March 2023. The dealership installation cost another $700 on top of the $2,000 for the battery, but it extends the warranty for three years versus one. During my ownership, I’ve installed a new coolant control valve and coolant flush, cleaned and repaired the HV battery fan, installed a new serpentine belt, added an Optima Yellow Top 12V battery, replaced all four TPMS sensors, mounted and balanced all-season tires with plenty of tread, and added a second set of winter wheels with brand new snow tires and TPMS sensors (available with a full price offer). A new stainless steel muffler is being installed next week. Oil has been changed at 5,000 mile intervals with Mobil 1 synthetic and a Toyota OEM filter.

I have service records detailing all worked performed logged in the Toyota Owners portal that I would be happy to share. Additionally, there are dealer service records prior to my ownership showing all maintenance back to 2007. There are no lights on the dash, no codes in the ECU, and it passed inspection with flying colors in October 2023. I would have no concerns about getting in this car and driving to California tomorrow.  This one is pretty loaded, included (dated) GPS navigation, Bluetooth, auto temp controls,  JBL stereo, etc. I've also added a Bluetooth dongle for streaming audio through the stock stereo, and the car has Husky Liners (think WeatherTech) in the front, rear, and cargo area.

There some very minor scuffs, scrapes, and dings as befitting it’s 17 years of service, and the paint clearcoat has some flaws. It cleans up well enough as a daily driver, but is not in showroom condition. The interior will be detailed shortly, and I’ll have it washed up and ready to go. These pictures from the original ad are fairly representative, but I'll get some new ones taken and added.  There are some pretty amateur paint touch-ups done by the PO that don't bother me, but might if you're particular about that sort of thing.

With the biggest maintenance expense already taken care of, all you have to do is get in and drive. This would be a perfect commuter to save on gas, or ideal for someone driving for Uber, Lyft, Door Dash, or similar. I’m asking $5,900 with the set of mounted snow tires, or $5,600 without elsewhere, but the GRM Family price is $5,300 with snow tires, and $5,000 without.  Any questions, please feel free to contact via GRM or at rotaryracer AT the Hot Mail dot Com.

That is a fantastic deal with the miles and new EV battery!

Any sides of the undercarriage?

Loweguy5 said:

That is a fantastic deal with the miles and new EV battery!

Quoted for truth. 

Interested depending on the rust situation as well.  This could bail me out of a situation I got myself in, but I'm not sure I want a Rochester car, tho I admittedly don't know how bad a Rochester car is.

Interest intensifies after running more numbers.

If this is anything better than *serviceable for the next 4 years without oxy-acetaline* kind of rust, Im very interested.  

I'll pm tomorrow after talking to swmbo more.

Thanks all!  I've had the car up on my lift and the undercarriage looks "Rochester great".  I haven't been under there in 5-7,000 miles, but from what I can remember, there's light scaly surface rust on control arms, hardware, etc, but nothing concerning or sketchy.  I was actually very impressed, as I've seen (and driven) much, much worse.  It's my guess the first owner (who I think had the car for the first 100K or so) was good about regular winter car washes.  Assuming it doesn't sell beforehand (I've gotten some local interest), I can probably grab some pictures on Monday when the new muffler goes on.

I knew the Red Triangle of Death was on for the HV battery cooling fan when I bought it, and it was a pretty easy fix.  Unfortunately, the PO and I have a different definition of "intermittent" - I have a feeling it was driven for too long with no cooling, which pooched the original HV battery.  There are braver people than me that will refurb and repair HV batteries, but I opted for the dealership install with the longer warranty as I planned on keeping it.

One thing that has popped up is the gauge cluster is starting to flake out and go dark at times.  This is a known issue with these cars, and John Welsh has some good tips in his Prius thread on how he repaired it for a few cents worth of capacitors.  For now, when it happens, I've been using the unlock cheat code of turn on ACC, hold down Climate button for 3 seconds, and turn headlights on/off while holding Climate button.  Turn off car, turn on car - gauges!  Bonkers, but it works.

I'm actually a little sad about sending Ruby SoHo down the road, but hopefully she'll serve her next owner well!

In reply to Rotaryracer :

Ruby SoHo.  Fantastic!  Especially if your destination is unknown!

As for the dashboard dying LCD, officially called a Combination Meter, here is a link to my favorite video for the repair.  

Mr. Dead Sled, I have the capacitor you need, (so that saves you 56 cents)  The rest is just time.  Takes about 3-5 hours.  I'd be happy to come do it with you.  Adding a modern double din radio is a nice way to update these cars so if you're thinking of that.  Doing it at the same time is a good idea since 50% of the work will have to happen again to remove the factory radio. 

As for rust, all my Prius have been Cleveland market cars.  I am surprised that unlike Mazda, Hondas, etc of the same era they rust much less.  Heck they may rust even less than other Toyotas of the era.  Remember, these were crazy expensive cars for their time.  I am convinced that part of the "over building" them was also better metal.  For context, a 2004 Prius ran about $22k.  A 2004 Toyota Matrix (arguably similar car) ran about $16k.  
These car are not know for any rust-death-blows like engine cradles know to rust out (thank you Saturn Vue) or rear shock mounts rusting through (thank you Ford Escape.)  No magically disappearing rear wheel wells like Mazda 3s or Honda Civics,  etc.

My 2008, DD'er w/214k (all Northern Ohio) has just the slightest bubble of paint in the rear rockers.  Recently my biggest "rust failure" has happened.  Here near the 214k mark I have experienced exhaust pipe failure.  Walker Brand parts will run me about $200 for everything from the cat back.  Generally, parts are cheap and plentiful for these cars.  Amazon has some no-name stuff too for less.  My failure is above the rear axle where the resinator pipe bolts to the muffler pipe.  Per local market I see this as acceptable wear.  Actually lasting longer than I expected.  

Actual picture of my failure point back from Sept when it was failing.  As of now the two have separated but the hangers are good and holding everything up.  The top of picture is rearward.  

All in, I endorse this purchase.  $5k with these updates is a great value.  

Last night I ran down to Mohican area and straight back (1.5hr each way.)  Returned 44 mpg without trying.  That was with my 214k untouched factory battery and a louder than normal exhaust (which humorously still really isn't that loud.)

Swmbo is on board and I'm sitting here with cash in my hand... 6 hours away.

Pm incoming.  

And....sold.  I miss it already.  

In reply to Rotaryracer :

Congratulations to seller and buyer!