In reply to Dusterbd13-michael :
reply sent via email also which said...
The Toyota Owners site doesn't have much info. It was last at a dealership in Oct '13 w/ 41,127 for a recall service for Hybrid system waterpump replacement.
The only other notable service was Nov 2011 for a Virginia State Annual Inspection at 24,574 No big deal, I don't take my cars to the dealership either.
Rough body but the interior looks neat. Looks like the love of black plastidip on the front. Oddly, on the headlights the paint doesn't obstruct the white headlamps but completely obstructs the amber turn signals.
My guess the roof is tan plastidip...odd but someone's version of "style." More odd is the roof rails are not a factory version. Could have been a dealer accessory but I've never seen. Roof antenna should be a mast and seems the same area has been replaced with a "shark fin".
Here's an interior oddity. '04 & '05 door panels are a smooth finish, almost a burgundy/black color. For '06+ that door trim became a crinkle, black finish. The crinkle is a little nicer. Odd to me, the two front doors have the crinkle finish door trim and the rear doors have the smooth finish like should be for a '05.
Looking at the seller profile he currently has 6 cars listed on FB. I wouldn't expect he knows much about the history
But, like you've stated, take it for a drive and see if a Prius even fits you.
EDIT: the ad says, just passed NC State inspection. Is inspection an annual thing in NC or is this a salvage car that was just inspected recently to be reclassified as rebuilt?
Fascinating stuff here.
In reply to Dusterbd13-michael :
If you want to drive a clean one, just to get a feel, I'd head toward this $7k one in Mathews. Seems to be a dealer since he has 9 other car currently listed on FB. It has every option other than leather. But , like all Gen2's it wont have an electric seat so easy after the test drive to just tell him, "thanks but no thanks, not comfortable."
That Prius was HAMMERED. And rustier underneath than im willing to deal with. And had been hit in the rear. And shot with bedliner.
Nope.
The prius as a whole: its a 90s Toyota. It reminds me a lot of the 99 Camry i put 150k on. For better and worse.
The seat gave me a backache and headache in 15 miles, but i went in already needing a chiropractor appointment, so its not all the seat. Regardless, its gotta go. Step one. Need to figure out how to do that with one of these, fab mazda or Volvo seats in instead. Something that works for me.
But, i like them enough to hunt.
Bow, to find a clean title, southern one with 150k or so, in a color, that is priced appropriate (5k or less preferred, as i can one payment plan it out of the gun safe. More i have to tap the savings account)
John Welsh said:EDIT: the ad says, just passed NC State inspection. Is inspection an annual thing in NC or is this a salvage car that was just inspected recently to be reclassified as rebuilt?
Yes NC has yearly inspections. Safety and emissions(depending on county). but ive passed with a seatbelt held together with duct tape. so passing NC safety inspection isnt a very big accomplishment.
So many times I've pushed myself to find a particular car and I didn't trust my initial instincts when looking the car over once I spotted one. I have learned to be prepared to pay closer to the top of my budget for a nice car with a great history instead of a questionable one.
You've got enough budget that I wouldn't give up on finding a frugal college professor selling one rather pursuing any of them with plastidipped wheels or weird paint work. Trust your gut.
MrChaos said:John Welsh said:EDIT: the ad says, just passed NC State inspection. Is inspection an annual thing in NC or is this a salvage car that was just inspected recently to be reclassified as rebuilt?
Yes NC has yearly inspections. Safety and emissions(depending on county). but ive passed with a seatbelt held together with duct tape. so passing NC safety inspection isnt a very big accomplishment.
NC inspection is pretty typical. Not super thorough, but you need lights, wipers, brakes, steering, etc - general safety functions. As with any state, its effectiveness often boils down to the person doing the inspection.
More for the Prius Shoppers Spotters Guide...
Honda, Toyota and some other brands (but I wish every brand) puts vin tags on every major body panel. I read the window vin and get the last for digits then I look the last 4 digits of every body tag. If a used part was put on the car, the tag will be present but the numbers will be wrong. Aftermarket parts will have no tag.
Hood:
Also make sure the other hood tags are present. The big white tag will say something like, "...conforms to 2007 model year..." Make sure the year is correct for the year the seller says the car is.
Bumper covers to not have a visible tag but inspect the fasteners for the cover and the radiator shroud for evidence of tampering.
Inner fender:
Drivers door:
Rear door and rear quarter panel. I tried to get both in one picture.
Hatch
Again, bumper cover will not have a visible tag but look at screw fasteners for evidence of tampering such as mis-matched harware
Back at the front of the car, look under the front bumper. The aerodynamic Prius us fully shielded with plastic panels under the engine. This panels are often discarded if there was frontal damage. All should be present and all should be fastened correctly. Not fastened with zip ties like some of my own salvage cars. Front wheel wells have a full plastic liner that integrates to this frontal aero. These liners are often discarded too after damage.
Internet sourced picture of Prius underbody.
John, thanks for all the info in one place again.
Guys, if it's not obvious, he knows a thing or two about these cars. He helped me last minute not only scope one out but offered to check a Prius out. Thanks to his knowledge and the OBD2/app he has I saved $2500 and walked away from a car that looked ok on the surface. No doubt would have cost at least that to fix and then some.
That's all!
ProDarwin said:MrChaos said:John Welsh said:EDIT: the ad says, just passed NC State inspection. Is inspection an annual thing in NC or is this a salvage car that was just inspected recently to be reclassified as rebuilt?
Yes NC has yearly inspections. Safety and emissions(depending on county). but ive passed with a seatbelt held together with duct tape. so passing NC safety inspection isnt a very big accomplishment.
NC inspection is pretty typical. Not super thorough, but you need lights, wipers, brakes, steering, etc - general safety functions. As with any state, its effectiveness often boils down to the person doing the inspection.
also since the shop only gets $13.60 for it, they dont care that much.
So, i guess I need to update.
Im hunting hard. Ive driven and looked at four now, and none were worth buying. I like them though. The seats are pretty bad, but i think fixable without a whole seat swap via a foamectomy. The audio sucks, but crutchfield and i can fix that.
So, brett is looking at one in Raleigh for me, floatingdoc is looking in deland Florida. John Welsh is scouring Facebook.
Requirements: clean title. No salt, ever. 150k or less. Price depends on condition, willing to go to 8k or so. Must have cruise.
Lower mileage is better, and condition is the biggest factor.
I guess well start hunting all over! Fly and drive could be cool for the right deal like that white one in deland.
In reply to Indy - Guy :
Thanks! Too many miles though.
Even if they are a bit out of the budget (maybe?) for you, you should test drive a 2010+ third gen just to see what you think. A lot of the negative's I've read in this thread I feel like they fixed in that generation, I find the seats really good (just did 8 hours in the car today), the braking is better (automatically brings on the real brakes as you slow to a stop as regen fades), the sound system is decent etc. There's a bit more power and if you really want you can do the pedal dance turning of traction and stability control to do a burnout lol.
Hey John and Prius people... My daughter is looking at Prii and I see a couple in the area that are in her price range, but high mileage. A 300k mile Sequoia can be a reliable truck, how high do we trust Prii? I see one at 318K miles (2007) Looks very clean and nice. Is that too many miles for a relaible commuter?
How about 250K (2013) ? Where do you draw the line? Thanks.
In reply to AAZCD-Jon (Forum Supporter) :
I'm in a rust climate but I suspect you are not.
I would say that Prius rust less than their counterparts rusting less than similar Civic or even Corolla but 300k mile is a lot of exposure to rust where I live.
The highest mile Prius I have owned is 228k but it was running fine and is still on the road.
So, if maintenance has been good (and/or the price is low enough to make up needed maintenance) then a 300k could be good too.
04-09 are Gen2 and 10-16 are Gen3. Similar but different ice motors.
The Gen3 s are known for bad HGs at high miles. The Gen2 doesn't seem to have the same problem.
At 300k miles I'd feel better about a Gen2 unless the Gen3 had proof of HG done and then done correctly.
I recommend the Toyota owners section of the Toyota website. Set up a username and password where you can see the past dealer services of any VIN you enter.
It's good to see a history of repair but what I tend to look for the most is the "smoking gun" reason for why the person is unloading the car. Might be something like the car was recently in and the dealer told them HG or battery needs to be replaced.
In reply to John Welsh :
Thanks John, I really value your opinion on these. Rust is not a thing here as long as the car ownership has remained local to Oklahoma. As near as Missouri, rust starts being a factor with age for cars.
Toyota account set up now. Looking at the 300K mile car: The most recent service entry is 2017 showing "CHECK ENGINE LIGHT ON ~|~P300 PA80 P3022 BLOCK 12 ~|~NEEDS HV BATTERY - customer pay". So I'm guessing it had a factory replacement HV battery about 70k miles ago. Seems like a good thing. No other services shown except regular maintenance and Warranty replacement of C/S info cluster and water pump in 2013.
How many miles were on the car in 2017 when battery replaced?
John Welsh said:How many miles were on the car in 2017 when battery replaced?
235k miles in 2017. I'm actually thinking it could be a good car for my daughter and 'pretty much son-in-law' for a 1 hr daily commute.
I looked up the 2013 with ~250k miles and the last entry (December '21) was that it was in for a normal service and "COMPLETED YOUR MAINTENANCE QUICKLY AND IDENTIFIED ADDITIONAL NEEDED WORK TO KEEP YOUR TOYOTA OPERATING AT ITS BEST." I'm not comfortable that it was sold just after that and there is no follow-up service/repair.
Thanks for the tip to log in and get service records.
Man, what ya'll are willing to pay for one of these has me wondering if I shouldn't drop a 2016 motor into my oil-burning 2010 and sell for a price that'll make it worth my while.
In reply to pheller :
Yes, aside from HGs the Gen3s are also known for oil burning. 2010 & 11 seem to be the worst years for the Gen3 engine which was the first 2 years of that motor. It's not to say that Gen2s wont burn oil too but it seems rare for them to do it under 200k.
I know it seem like a lie, so I web searched again to verify on car-part.com
Gen2 engine: $300 for a 2007 w/ 97k (and many, many places to choose from)
Gen3 engine: $1,850 for a 2012 w/ 110k (but other places can be as much as $1k more for the same)
It's just a supply and demand thing. No one needs a Gen2 engine but many cars get in accidents every day so the supply is high. However, there is a high demand for Gen3s which dwindles supply.
pheller said:Man, what ya'll are willing to pay for one of these has me wondering if I shouldn't drop a 2016 motor into my oil-burning 2010 and sell for a price that'll make it worth my while.
Sell it as a known oil burner to someone else. That someone might be less ethical than yourself and they'll offload it quickly. Even as a known oil burner, it should sell quickly and for what seems like crazy money.
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