New& looking at 2003,156K, new battery

I would see if he has any receipt or verification that there was a new hybrid battery installed.

 

if you take this thing for a ride. dont go to the screen on the dash that shows gas mileage. make sure your on the energy screen where it shows the wheel, the engine and motor. and watch the battery meter. rarely if ever should it be full, it should be at the 3/4 mark and stay there if that battery is any good. if it goes full to half to 1/4 or whatnot relatively fast and often, than I would say that battery was never replaced.

 

mine rarely moves off of 3/4 mark.
if its decent weather out the engine once warmed up should shut off. if the engine is constantly running make sure its in drive and not in 'B' mode, make sure you have defrost or a/c off. above 42 mph the engine will run regardless. below that depending on pedal position and load. the engine may or may not run.

 

wow, that seems expensive! 2001-2003 are the first generation and are a bit of a project. you would be better off with a 2004 or newer, it is a completely different system and much more advanced. have you tried steve at auto be yours?

 

5500 does seem expensive. i paid 4k for mine 2 years ago with 149k on it. my question is why would you replace the hybrid battery in it, then get rid of it in 1000 miles, dont make sense.

 

most definitely without a doubt, get some sort of paperwork on the battery.

 

battery probably went bad and he decided it was worth it to put another one in to sell it rather than try to sell with bad battery. question is, did he put in a new battery, rebuilt, replace cells, etc. and like you said, what's the warranty?

 

ahh, yeah, good point.

 

if he replaced it, your golden,
rebuilt: who did the rebuild and find out their procedure and reputation for doing so,
replace cells, no way would i pay 5500 for it.

 

Time is as much an enemy to the hybrid battery as mileage. Plus the Gen1 batteries weren't as good, so really, if the battery hadn't been replaced, it would be just a matter of time before it would die.

Definitely try to get a Gen2 if you can afford it. It'll be bigger and get better mileage.

 

don't buy a car with a rebuilt title. sounds like you would prefer a soccer mom car, but are trying to talk yourself into something that is better for the environment and the country and the world. all the best!

 

Nothing wrong with a high mileage hybrid, not much different than any high mileage car. A trade off between a car with wear and tear parts at the upper end of the failure bell curve and saving money. Prius' are reliable cars but lots of miles and/or a crash says you aren't shopping for the most reliable.

Rebuilt titles say that there was serious damage, not just a superficial scrape here and there and replace the bumper cover. Can there be hidden damage and a compromised ability to withstand a future crash? Sure can. All depends on what was damaged and how it was repaired. I'd never buy one that hadn't been laser measured for frame straightness and had the sheet metal designed to crush in case of an accident examined by someone who really really knew the crash protection on the specific car.

 

iirc, warranty is void. but that may be a salvage title, not sure of the difference.