I'm a newbie Worried about buying high mileage Prius

HI, Newbie from Jersey, I'm planning to get a 04up used prius w/navi and with my low $8,000-$10,000 budget it looks like I will be getting a high mileage one, I'm talking about 100K mi + cars, even in the mid 150k mi. That's what most dealers in my area show in that price range. I'm really scare about the expensive batteries that go bad on hybrids after a certain mileage that's all. Any takes guys?

Read a bit some have 150+ miles with little or no issues, look around I got a 04 with 58K Mint for 10K out the door

Search Autotrader for your area. You should be able to get one with a lot less miles around $10K. It doesn't matter what they are asking. Sign up for Carfax and run the VIN's on several cars. Find the ones that have been sitting on a lot for several months. Take a look/test drive, and make your offer in your $$$ range. Tell them you are ready to buy, but only for what your goal is. Be patient and persistent.

the biggest thing is don't rush

Agreed! When gas was $4+ per gallon these cars were selling well and even older 2004-2005 models were selling for new car prices. I purchased my 2004 for $14,800 in November of 2008 for $14,800. Mind you it had every option plus added ones. It also had 70K miles on it. I believed and still believe it was a very good deal.

Today I could purchase an 06 or 07 with similar mileage and options for the same price. 04-05 Prius are going for much less. It is a great season to shop for these cars.

As with any purchase of a used vehicle get a Carfax report. Take it to a Toyota dealership and let it be looked at by a Toyota Certified Mechanic. My experience (abeit short) is that these cars are maintained well, because the people that purchase them are not your run-of-the-mill car buyer. They want these cars to perform their best.

I had it explained to me by a Toyota mechanic one time that "a Prius with 70K miles is like a regular car with 35K miles." Take that for what it's worth but you will find many people here with little to no concerns about their cars reaching and exceeding 150-300K.

My car now has over 90K with not one issue and getting +50mpg on the highway.

On the 2G Prius the HV battery is warranted for 8 years/100,000 miles in federal emissions states, 15 years/150,000 miles in CARB states (a requirement of the AT-PZEV classification). See Prius Warranty at Toyota's website.

The batteries often don't go 'bad' after a lot of charge/discharge cycles, they just have a lower capacity which is still plenty driveable. Toyota claim a failure rate of 1 in 40,000 outside the warranty period. There are many cars that have well over this number of miles, still on their original batteries.

For the independent mechanic perspective, see the following links:

Luscious Garage | Blog | Hybrid Battery Failure
Predictive battery failure analysis for the Prius Hybrid

Gen 1 batteries generally have lasted 130,000 - 200,000 miles, and you can read about replacing them - including costs - here:

Luscious Garage | Blog | Gen 1 Prius Battery Failure
Installing a Prius HV Battery

Thanks for the links great reading!

I'm hoping my battery fails at 149,000 miles or 9 years, 11 months - whichever occurs first. :madgrin:

great info guys thanks, and yes I will be very patient until I find the right prius for me.

The other possibility is to go without the navi option and put your own GPS unit in it. After all, any maps on a 2004 will be 5 years out of date anyway and a new DVD is not cheap, from what I've heard.

you can download maps 2009 online free.

This is one of many sites http://www.torrentreactor.net/find/toyota-navigation-map-tns-300-2008-2009

I really want one with navi because of two reasons, I can't have any gadgets hanging around or hung inside the car, I even hate driving my school parking permit on the windshield it makes me nervous to the point I have to take it off before driving. I really hate clutter inside the car, second I'd love to showoff my oem navi to my friends that don't have it on their fancy cars :rockon: but I do.

I got one without it and bought a garmin 360 which i use once in a while I also love navi bought go for what you can afford