Um, flood water. Again.

Yikes, well any car would not be an idea to take through more than 6-12". Do you or someone living with you have a truck or SUV? That's when it's good to just leave the car parked, or if your out stop the car there and ride across with them. /shrug...

Yeah, saw your thread. That is so sad about the Prius, but you will find another one. If I remember right, you were more into the gen II's. If that still holds, then you could probably get a heck of a deal if your in the used car market.

-Brad

 

Actually, the main thing you need to be concerned about in deep water is to avoid getting water sucked up into the ICE intake. Whether the car is a hybrid or not is irrelevant.

I have seen more than a few SUV drivers (on a different forum) destroy their engine by getting water into the combustion chambers. Water is basically an incompressible fluid, so if you get enough in the engine something has to give and it will be a connecting rod. A side issue with deep water is getting water into the differential(s) or transmission through the vents that are present in those units.

The Prius transaxle does not have an open vent, so that wouldn't be an issue. Don't know about the Civic hybrid. However, the brakes won't work the same when wet, so if you do cross through some water, make sure to test the brakes and realize that they need to dry out to be normal again.

 

I might be wrong but can't you destroy your cat driving through a flood? Doesn't the shock of cold water on a very hot cat cause it to break apart inside?

Dread to think of the cost of one as I guess water damage isn't covered by the warranty.

 

A car can float in a few inches of water as you try to drive through it. This can turn your car (including your Prius) into a leaky raft as it gets taken with the current into deeper water. Flooding roads during storms are one of the prices of living in the mountains. Gotta love West Virginia. Don't end up on the evening news or in the morgue.

 

You might start with doing a little Ebay, market research. Search for "Prius" by decreasing price and then select "Completed" sales. Using just the completed sales, make a table of:

• year
• mileage
• sale price
• salvage or not

Knowing your price range, you can now start to concentrate on practical vehicles and their true market value.

This is a chart I made early in 2006 that shows what plotting such data can reveal:

By being patient, I might have gotten a better deal ... a Prius with lower miles for a similar price. The Red line is the highest price sold in that mileage bucket and the Green line the lowest. Everything in between is negotiable.

In my case, I bought my first car by looking at Ebay offerings and comparing them to Kelly Blue Book value vs. Ebay sale prices. It didn't take long to find one $1,000 under KBB and the deal was struck.

Bob Wilson

 

I went through some unexpectedly deep water with my Prius last year and was sure something would shut off or not work but was pleasantly surprised. I would say 8 ft across and deepest point to be 10-12 inches, it was an entry to a lot and it was a downpour!