Does this Prius have problems, or is it okay?

you can probably save $1500-2000. per year in gas, will that make the deal work for you? any idea what your suv is worth?

 

I don't have enough experience yet, but I would have expected better mpg in that scenario. Hopefully one of the "experts" will chime in now that there is more info to go on.

 

Sounds like a lot of stops to me, but mine doesn't get that low in similar traffic. Might have been interesting to watch the energy flow display during the test drive. Looked like a pretty good test drive to me, I wonder what the display said the mpg was when the car was turned off.

 

When my 12v battery went bad it had no effect on mpg. The one or two battery bars for your whole trip would worry me cause you would not have a warranty left. Mine only does that if I force ev for a mile or so or I sit for 5-10 minutes with ac on.

 

Seems to me, that if your sole reason for considering a Prius is to reduce your gasoline expenses, coupled with being on an admittedly tight budget, with the caveat you cannot afford to make a mistake?

Then all the bells and whistles of a package IV shouldn't really even be on the table.

People can offer advice, but nobody can really tell you how problematic that vehicle may or may not be in the next 1-5 years. It's a used car, with a 115,000 miles on it, even if it wasn't a Prius, it would come with inherent risk.

If your ONLY reason for buying a Prius is to reduce gasoline expenses, then I think there are numerous other options possible for reducing gasoline expenses that would not necessarily come with the concerns you have about this particular Prius.

I would consider trying to find a 2009 or maybe 2008 Gen 2 Prius, with perhaps a whole lot less mileage.

Or I might even "Blasphemy"- consider just buying a regular ICE vehicle. Depending on what you were driving before, something that get's 25-30 mpg, while not "Hybrid" levels of efficiency, might be efficient enough to reduce your gas expenses.

And given your tight budget, this might allow you to look at vehicles a whole lot nicer and/or lower miles than a Prius hybrid offering.

I mean, on one level, buying a used car is ALWAYS a gamble. So just like someone gambling in a casino, if they came up to me and said " I can't afford to lose this bet"...my answer would be don't gamble.

In short, if you can't afford a lower mileage Gen 3.
And you cannot afford to be wrong about this vehicle.

Then maybe this isn't the vehicle for you.

 

What Electric Me said, but that's not the answer to your question.

The State of Charge of the battery fluctuates. My battery will be "fully" charged when I come off the highway. I then drive on 25mph residential streets using as much electricity as I can to goose the average to get home. When it's cold enough I'll drop to the 2 bars and finish the trip with the ICE running & 2 or 3 bars. I know I'll take the hit next time. When it's warm enough I can make it all the way home and still have 3 bars.

Short hopping in NJ hasn't taken much of a toll on the fuel economy. In three months I went 2238 miles on 44.849 gallons for 49.9mpg. Does mid 40's in 100+ temps at high speed with the AC blasting running on sticky tires with a weak 12v battery sound reasonable? Maybe. Give us a number & we'll find a scenario that fits. What matters is what YOU get when YOU drive it.

I would expect high 40's in the given situation. The climate control would be set at 80F and speed would be 70mph or less. Again, not enough detail for the judgement call.

Tires have a make & a model molded into the sidewall. Look at tirerack.com. If the tire is low rolling resistance it will be labelled LRR. We are also presuming the tires are the correct size.

You should have asked to reset the display for the test drive so you could see your average for the trip. The other thing to look for is how the SOC behaves over the trip. Does it fluctuate wildly going from fully charged to fully discharged rapidly & often? If so, you're looking at a serious problem.

My real concern is the slop in the pedal. Were the fluids & spark plugs changed at 100000 miles? Are you getting two fobs?

Whenever you are buying a high mileage car something is going to fail sooner rather than later. Do you have the cash to cover a major repair?

 

To quell your concerns about the acceleration response compared to the gas pedal range of motion, DRIVE ANOTHER GENIII PRIUS.
It is different than other cars I have driven.

 

That is a darned good suggestion.