Hoping to buy used prius.

I would not buy a Gen 1 Prius (aka NHW11 aka 01-03 Prius) at this point. See Who should and should NOT buy a 2001-03 Prius | PriusChat.

Your savings on a Gen 1 might be blown by future repairs.

 

welcome to pchat, glad everyone is okay! whatever you decide on, make sure you have enough set aside for a major hybrid repair, in the very unlikely event of a failure. all the best!

 

Few questions, since its not filled out in your profile and Prius values vary from place to place, where do you live?
Whats the range of $$ you are able to spend?

 

I'd go for Gen 2 and favor miles over years. But I don't have cashflow issues.

With any used car, but particularly with a Toyota-like hybrid you should make sure you have spare for a repair, even if it's a good credit line. A Prius isn't more likely to need repair. If anything it's less likely, but if you're one of the unlucky ones there can be a large bill.

More information would help so we know whether a Prius is appropriate. It's best for high mileage drivers who can afford bad luck.

For resale the 2004 should have more value. Depreciation depreciates. ;-)

 

I cant honestly recommend an out of battery warranty, early gen2 Prius to you with high mileage, especially on a student budget. If it wasnt maintained properly, you could easily be looking at a 4 digit repair bill after you drive the car away from the sellers driveway.
I wouldnt discourage you completely from buying one of them... but just me personally, I wouldnt do it. Or I'd at least buy the newest gen2 I could afford, but the one you cited in your first post has 150,000 miles. If you had the disposable income, I'd say go for it.

Just to give you an idea what Prius are going for in my area, heres an 2006 with 12x,xxx miles and a new transaxle, going for $8k. Its at least a level 4, it has fogs, smart key and backup cam.
2006 Toyota Prius - $8000 (Royal Oak)

Heres a 2007 with 102k miles going for $8300 in my area
2007 TOYOTA PRIUS - $8300 (NEW HAVEN)


Good Luck

 

if you read my post, i said 'very unlikely'. that being said, a hybrid repair can run into the thousands of dollars when out of warranty. i wouldn't advise purchasing one to people on a very strict budget, even tho it is 'not likely' that they will have a problem.

 

We're looking out for ya! Did you look at the couple Prius's I posted that were for sale in my area? They are much lower mileage, newer Gen2's and real close to your price range. I can check them out if you are serious, fly in, drive home.

 

I'm surprised there weren't more defenders of the GEN 1s. With the spread of cash she has- she could invest the extra 3,500 or so into an interest drawing money market account and have plenty of cash for a repair and sweet rental while its in the shop!

 

You know, you cant be good looking AND smart at the same time.. you're going to have to pick one or the other

Not a bad idea though. And KellBell is a chick.

 

There are lots of cars in your price range you could buy and all of them have parts that fail, some sooner and some later. Think of part failures as occurring on a bell curve with most in the middle but some going almost forever and some failing early.

When I think of a Prius it has three major components that could fail where a "normal" car has two. But electric motors are very reliable, think your refrigerator compressor motor that runs for 20 years. The gas powered engine it uses hasn't really changed much in 10 years so it is a well tested design. And, since it only runs sometimes, it gets less wear than most and it runs in a more narrow RPM range so less high speed stress. And then the transmission and every car has one. But if any of those go ON ANY CAR they are expensive. Had a transmission go on an '03 Honda with 60k miles last year that cost over $3.5k.

Buying a car isn't the only cost, there is storage, insurance, regular maintenance, gas, etc. You can buy a lot of train trips to VA for the money you'd spend keeping any car on the road.

Everyone I've talked to who has a Prius loves them and has had good luck with them. Consumer Reports rates them highly. Yet there can be the exception.

Only you can weigh the risk/cost of buying a car with warranty from a dealer and perhaps spending more or a private sale car without one where on day 1 you have all the risk. As to the warranty, read it very carefully and understand what it covers and who is backing it. Many car warranty products are just profit boosters for the dealer.

Of the last 5 cars I've bought, 2 have been used and I refused extended warranties because I had the cash to survive the worst case failure and I don't buy insurance for things I can cover figuring over a lifetime I'll come out ahead. At 69 I'm way way ahead.

 

i think you have it right. it is less likely than a lot of cars, but as likely as some other toyota's. if you care to search thru some threads here, you will see the occasional need for hybrid battery, inverter, etc. wgich can run into the thousands of dollars.

 

You can have repairs that reach into the thousands with any car and much less likely with the Prius. You can weigh the number of repairs reported here with the over 1 million sold in the US alone. There is a reason the Prius has one of the highest reliability and customer satisfaction records in the world. With that said, your mostly short drives may be better suited to a conventional compact. The Prius is more comfortable with some distance driving.

 

You seem new here and your experience w/Priuses appears to be limited to the '12 Prius v wagon. Sure Priuses are generally reliable but I believe you're unfamiliar w/some of the more costly things that can fail or tend to fail on a Gne 1 Prius. See Who should and should NOT buy a 2001-03 Prius | PriusChat that I linked to earlier.

I would not still not buy a Gen 1 Prius at this point. A lot of improvements were made w/the Gen 2 and that's the earliest I'd recommend. Also, look at the posts I linked to from Going to be looking for a 2001-2003 Prius...Seeking some tips. | PriusChat, specifically New member | PriusChat and Specific Info/Advice for buying older Prius? | PriusChat.

Patrick Wong is a respected repair expert here on Priuschat. Oh, and ignore tpfun, the (former?) troll here.