Gen 2 underside rust?

Just from the picture, I see nothing that appears to be abnormal for an 8 year old car with that kind of mileage.
The really heavy metal parts around the frame don't get much rust protection because they don't need it.
Even what might be considered "heavy" rust might take 50 years to weaken them to the point of a problem.

Unless there is a place where it looks like the integrity of the piece might be compromised by a DEEP pit, I wouldn't worry about it.

 

OK, so does it just LOOK worse......or is there some serious damage ?
Like pits so deep that they could be measured........or just a very rough surface ??

And it's an anti-sway bar that you might not even notice if it breaks........except for sparks from scraping the pavement that is.

 

Rust is not really a problem on the Prius in the UK. The item your talking about is actually the axle, the round bar inside is the anti roll bar. Both components are substantial and it would take a large amount of rust to give problems. You could use this as a bargaining tool to get the price down.
The voltage of the battery you are measuring is with the car in ready mode at 14.2 volts, and is the charging voltage not the voltage of the actual battery. To check this you need to press the start button once "WITHOUT your foot on the brake" then check the voltage, then press the start button again "WITHOUT your foot on the brake" check again, then "WITH your foot on the brake" check again. The last reading is the reading on charge and if it is in the region of 14.2/14.4 volts the other readings you get will be low as the charging voltage drops to 13.8 when the battery is healthy and fully charged.

John (Britprius)

 

From your description it does not sound like the rust is serious. Obviously if you have the choice to purchase another Prius without rust that would be better.

The rear antisway bar is not particularly difficult or costly to replace should that be necessary, although if the pitting is only 1 mm I think you won't need to worry about that for a long time.

 

Is this actually rust as Toyota us a sealant in that area that is the same color as rust. On some cars it is not unusual to find water in the battery well due to a small leak round the rear light or in a body seam above. This would normally give rust in the bottom of the battery area though, but has not caused any significant problems.

John (Britprius)

 

Good Lord. You're in Ireland. It's a Prius. Yeah it's got some rust. Drink some whiskey and buy the damn thing.

And please: try not to kill any Englishmen.

 

I've bought many cars in the UK, and have found that cars from NI are some of the worst

My 08 T4 came from Glasgow and only has a small bit of surface rust on the anti roll bar (had it on ramp yesterday). There doesn't appear to be rust anywhere else.

In my experience, cars tat have spent most of their lives in cities, eg London have less rust. My last few cars were from London and were virtually rust free

Welcome to PriusChat btw!