Thinking of buying a used '05 Prius.

Factory leather was unavailable on the Prius until the 06 model year. Whatever that car has is aftermarket leather or "pleather".

http://priuschat.com/forums/knowled...andard-optional-equipment-some-countries.html and the brochures at http://priuschat.com/forums/knowled...al-equipment-some-countries-2.html#post612688 might help.

I would find out what the exact codes are before buying. Make sure one of our repair experts (e.g. Patrick Wong) chimes in on it. Replacement inverters have 4 digit price tags.

These other posts might help a bit:
http://priuschat.com/forums/dealers-pricing/88518-18-000-please-help-me.html#post1241833
http://priuschat.com/forums/gen-ii-...ed-prius-need-help-what-look.html#post1215778
http://priuschat.com/forums/newbie-forum/88979-used-prius-buyer-best-model-year.html
http://priuschat.com/forums/gen-ii-...g-buy-have-12000-14000-spend.html#post1283859

(Since my post mentioned D4R.) If the car has factory nav, it should have HID headlights. On the 04-05 models, they apparently used D2R lights and not the D4R lights that were the subject of the 06-09 class action suit settlement. It's unclear (to me) if the D2R bulbs were any better but they had mercury whereas the D4R are mercury free and use a different ballast.

 

I'd keep looking a bit longer if I were you. Usually if somethings easy to fix then the dealer will already have done it.

 

I vote on keep looking as well.

 

hell yes hell yes danger danger

 

Keep looking.Why is it not repaired before selling$$$$$$$. Hal

 

I think the only bigger indication would be blood suddenly dripping from your walls to spell out the words "Don't Buy It!".

 

Probably the inverter cooling pump. Tell mom and pop to call Toyota to see if the recall needs to be performed, they should do it for them for free.

 

Even if it were and it were fixed, I think it's imperative that the OP get the codes read and get a diagnosis from a repair expert here.

 

I agree with the other posters with regards to the red triangle. With regards to your comment of "Thinking of buying a used '05 Prius", I just bought a 2005 Prius last month.

I like it. I bought it just as gas prices started to rise and the car has probably increased in value now that gas is more expensive.

I bought mine with 119K miles off of E-bay, sight unseen. Great car, no problems so far. The only things I've done to it is:

1. Oil change
2. Transaxle fluid change
3. PCV valve
4. Spark plugs

One additional thing I found (It was afterwards but certainly would have been helpful before I bought my car) from this site was that you can put in the car's VIN number in Toyota's website and it will give you the service history of the car. If the car was maintained there, it will give you that maintenance history. I believe any recalls or warranty items should be there as well.

I did it and found that the previous owner brought it back every 5K miles for service, which reinforced my decision that the car I bought was a good one, or at least a well maintained one.

Get those codes checked out before you dump a bunch of money into it.

 

go to toyota.com/owners and register. Good luck with your search! Prii in Texas seem cheaper than elsewhere. I know several people in NM who have bought cars there.

 

Since it sounds like your budget is limited, if the options aren't that important, I'd get one more lightly equipped so that you can hopefully either keep the price down or get one that's newer or has lower mileage.

 

I didn't carefully read the report (hard to read w/the scaling down of the image) but that is very strange that it looked like it got repossessed a few times. I do worry about how the owner(s) treated the car...

The car looks clean from the pics. It is interesting that it looks like a cover is missing from one of the fuse boxes (behind the air cleaner, near the firewall). Also, it looks like stickers are missing from the black plastic cover that sits atop the radiator. Perhaps that's related to the accident?

Not a biggie, but it looks like all the plastic wheel covers/trim rings are missing. Some people take them off anyway but having them on helps protect the alloy wheels from scuffs and curb rash, a bit.

 

You MUST assume when buying a used car with any problems that there is a big reason the seller has not fixed a problem they are advertising. E.g. "Needs brakes", really? Then get them done so that i know that truly all it needs is brakes.

There is and has been for a while a 2004 prius by me with 120k miles for $7995 asking. I see a 2006 with 99k miles for $10,500 also. And a 2006 with 110k miles for $10k private

 

Hi Anthony. Unless it's just a huge coincidence that this car happens to get repossessed (again and again) on the 10/01/20xx of every year, I'd say it's a pretty safe bet that it was just repossessed once (in 2008) and it's been reported every time the car is re-registered.

They clearly show that the car has "a lien or loan" against it every year that it's registered up to the time that it's first shown as repossessed.

BTW. The car looks in nice condition from the photos. How does it drive?

 

I did the same as FirstFlight last summer and so far had a great experience.

I think I paid 7700 for 05 package 4 with 85,000. If you are comfortable and knowledgeable, in regards to ebay/internet, I feel as though you can get a much cheaper price and better guarantee.

When I was looking, I only looked at the auctions, especially those with no min. I bought mine from autobargainz and was very pleased (if your located around pa-philly region). The pickup was a little shady, occurring in a warehouse area, but I think I got a great deal and car.

And I agree, don't buy it unless it fixed. Not many things go wrong on the prius, but when something does and you take it to the dealer, its realllly expensive.