considering a prius. thoughts ?

Gen II is 2004-2009; Gen III is 2010 - present.

The Gen III cars have come in 5 trim levels, numbered I through V originally but changed to 1 through 5 when the Prius v wagon was introduced in 2012 (to avoid confusion).

 

Indy Auto Man looks a little scary to me. Half of his cars are rebuilt titles and the listing you linked to is extremely vague (seemingly no detailed photos of the actual car).
I'd be far more inclined to seek out a private seller or a Toyota dealer's used lot.

 

How about AT-13708352 on autotrader (at Indy Hyundai)? Plenty of photos!

Indy Auto Man's price looked so low, it just set off some alarms in my head.

My advice is to take your time and visit a few places with these cars. Your strongest leverage is the ability to walk away from any first encounter. Ask friends/relatives for recommendations of car lots.
If you're getting serious about a particular car, consider asking on this forum for a local member who could cast a second set of eyes over a prospect.

Look into Putting $50 towards a Carfax account. That will buy you up to 5 vehicle reports. They're not infallible, but can be a good tool.

 

My thoughts are...If the car at Indy Auto is truly a clear title car, there should be no problems with it. The only thing is, none of the photos are of the actual vehicle??? Why is that???? My guess is that there's something wrong with it (but that's just my guess). It's so close to you, why not go look at it and see (just be ready to walk away).

I do tend to agree w/ Css28 that the Indy Auto Man appears to be a small dealer but, the website looks fairly professional. I looked at the "ebrochure" and the title is listed as code 6 (whatever that means).

Here's the bottom line for me on these two vehicles:
If the 06 @ Indy is a clear title and appears in good shape, $7999 is a more than fair price. If it is a rebuilt/salvage title, I wouldn't get it. I would only buy one of them from Steve (since he gives a warranty).

 

I like my Prius, I liked the Prius I owned before that, but no car is perfect for everyone. This writeup is somewhat gen 2 biased, but applies to all Prius to a degree.

considering a Prius | PriusChat

 

Out of these, the 09 looks the best. The 07 has a scratch on the door that appears to have gone all the way through to the metal. It is now rusting and that will have to be addressed (seems small but its not an easy fix).

 

If your looking, if your asking, your probably already hooked. Why else are you here? Good luck in which ever package you pick! Get what you want and you'll never regret it. Skimp and you may be sorry and always be asking your self why you just didn't ...... Pick the exact color you want and inspect, inspect, inspect test and did I say inspect prior to buying. You want it to be pristine.

 

I figured that. 7999 was just too good to be true for a clear title. What I've found is that Prius (even salvage title Prius) sell quickly and the salvage title cars don't sell for too much less than the clear title cars.

Well, I guess now its back to the 09 or Autobeyours. Once again, you asked for my opinion and here it is:
If I was to buy a car from Autobeyours, I would buy the blue 08 (that is supposed to be ready the middle of March). I would also talk him down if possible. If you didn't want to do that or couldn't get a satisfactory deal, I would consider the red 09. It is just over 50kmiles. Its really hard to mess a Prius up in 50kmiles. The things I don't like about it are the tint (personal pref), the color and the lack of original floor mats. I would use all those to try to talk them down.

 

Carfax are most definitely not infallible, I was just recently in the market for a car and paid for Carfax. Just out of curiosity I looked up a car that I had traded into the dealer awhile back. Carfax came back 100% clean, no accidents. But I was involved in a not at fault airbag did deploy accident. And the accident was reported to my insurance company and they handled the claim. I don't know what the reporting parameters are to Carfax, but airbag deployed accidents are considered "serious accidents" by the insurance companies. Carfax IMO is a good tool and maybe works for title information i.e. clean or rebuild titles, and how many owners and some service information but don't depend on it for "minor" incidents.

 

i love when a newbie posts and stays on top of the situation. all the best detroit!

 

Newbie Prius driver, slightly less Noob at life

 

Well, the Prius is every bit as versatile as a minivan. I have put tons of stuff in it. When me and my fam travel, we bring the laptop and a power inverter and watch movies. Going from a minivan to a Prius should be the least of your worries. They are amazingly versatile.

As for the rest, now it just comes down to your decision. What do you want???? Less miles and less options?????, Salvage title, low miles, lots of options??????, high miles, more options or low price, high miles, less options?????

When I was looking, my criteria was, a Gen II, 06 or better w/ under 100,000 miles for 10k or less. I ended up getting a salvage 06 (from Steve) that looked and drove brand new, w/ 100,500 mile for $10,005, w/ a 12mo/12kmile warranty. I couldn't find a better deal (and I looked for a long time). You may be able to find a better deal now but w/ gas prices above $3.50 a gal, any better deal won't last long (as evidenced by the salvage 06 for $7999).

 

I hear ya. It is a tough decision.

100k on a Prius is like 70-80k on a normal vehicle. A good rule of thumb is, take the Prius mileage and multiply by .7 to give you an idea of what mileage you'd be looking at on a normal vehicle. The reason for this is 1) regen braking, 2) the engine shuts off and runs about 70-80% of the time (roughly), there is no alternator, or no starter and the transmission has 1 gear set (similiar in reliability to a rear end in a rear wheel drive vehicle).

I believe Toyota went out of their way to ensure the Prius delivered exceptional reliability (so the haters would be proven wrong over time).

 

This looks good too (albeit in Michigan though):
2008 Toyota Prius


This is nice too!
2007 Toyota Prius With Extended Warranty