Looking for my first car, need advice

welcome!

yes, the battery is a concern, along with other expensive hybrid systems. i would advise looking for a fuel efficient gasser in your price range, until your finances improve.
all the best!

 

I don't know if I'd be so quick to write off the Prius.

If it has been taken care of, merely being ten years old doesn't send the majority of Prius to the junkyard. Not even in Orlando, and I'm not far away in Bartow and I can say our 2006 is still going fine.

My mom's 2005 is having a problem with the battery pack, but that car sits outside all the time, and recently it wasn't driven enough for many weeks. With the Prius, in my opinion it needs to be run every day or every other day, sitting is terrible. So even at 134K miles it might still be fine.

If you end up getting it, you can drive down to Bartow and we can see about changing the transaxle fluid, which I'm thinking will be the one thing it really needs.

Good luck with everything.

 

I'm biased towards the Prius and to me that is a fair price and the miles are low. I paid a little under $3000 for my Prius --- it is a 2007 --- one owner --- but it has just over 200,000 miles!!! And this was dealer price as I got it from dealer auction...So I'd say you found a good deal.

 

I'm sorry, but once a Prius reaches over a decade old, fears about Hybrid Battery failure cannot be unfounded. It all becomes an unknown could go 6 years more...could fail tomorrow.
I could not in good conscious recommend a Prius, if your budget doesn't include enough to cover potential failure. The key phrase in the original post being " I have a very tight budget ".

It's tough, because it really is an unknown. The Prius is a well built and engineered machine. The chronological age of the vehicle really isn't the issue. But a battery is a chemistry based component. It is affected by usage, lack of usage and age. Eventually it will fail. At 11 years old, the Hybrid Battery is now within parameter where IMO failure has to be called possible.

At the buy in price? I think I'd take the risk, IF I had enough put aside to cover the "possible" Hybrid Battery failure. But OEM hybrid battery replacement, which IMO is the best, could easily cost you about what you are paying for the entire vehicle or more. That's an additional $3000 to $4000. This would not include of course any other maintenance or repairs costs that also "could" arise with a vehicle in it's age range.

Unfortunately the red flag is "I have a very tight budget", if that is the case, I also regrettably have to recommend perhaps looking at a vehicle that does NOT have a built in component that's failure is both expensive and inevitable within a 10-20 year range.

 

Your area my be different, but in Tx, the car you found would not be worth quite that much, unless in impeccable condition.

When purchasing ANY 8+ year old hybrid, the cost of a replacement battery must be considered part of the purchase cost. It is a matter of WHEN and not IF you will need one.

 

I disagree and we can agree to disagree! Used cars generally in the 3k range are not going to be great cars to begin with...You are lucky if it makes it a year without major problems when buying any 2500 to 3500 car.

Every car in this price range is going to have something wrong with it, and will be a risk.

You guys are making it sound like all gen 2s are worthless...and none of them are worth over $2,000 because the hybrid battery could one day go out.

Well, considering they get over 40mpg vs. most cars getting high 20s OP will save lots of money on gas....And considering the 200K mile and up thread where majority of posters are reporting they are on original hybrid battery I would say it is rare for hybrid failure to occur.

Again, 3k cars that are used will all have over 100K miles...and have many imperfections and wear/tear...The Prius is in my opinion top 3 (and I put it at number 1) most reliable and economical car EVER MADE!!

In my area if a Prius is in good condition no matter what it is over $3000...whether 120 or 200k miles...It might take a while to sell the high mileage one --- but someone will scoop it up...

Now if you can find a prius under $3000 --- 9 times out of 10 it either has over 200k miles or lots of wear/tear/problems.

Remember when you go to fill up the tank in these things you are putting 9 gallons in and driving for approximately 350 miles before refilling it again...

 

Then I highly recommend the Prius as he will love it when he goes to fill up and finds out you can drive all week for $10.

 

He's looking for opinion.
You disagree.
Hey...we all love or in my case loved the benefit of Hybrid fuel efficiency. But if the OP is at the edge of his budget in just purchasing?
That benefit becomes non-existent if the Hybrid Battery does fail. Hard to go for that $10 fill up, if the vehicle is not operational due to Hybrid Battery Failure. And then even if replacement is possible? That bill is going to eat up a lot of his gas saving profit, immediately. If budget makes that replacement or repair impossible? He has a nice ornament for his driveway or lawn.


You have a point about ANY vehicle in that price range being used coming with risks.
But at least anything outside of a Hybrid won't come with the inevitable reality of a hybrid battery that WILL fail sometime between 10-20 years of operation.

IMO the Hybrid Battery is a pretty durable component. But failures do seem to manifest anywhere from about 10 years to 16 years, with exceptions to the extreme on both sides of that ledger.

Because of this, I can't recommend the purchase.

 

I would say go for it. If you have $1500 to make repairs, you can get the hybrid battery back online for much less than that with a refurbished battery and buy some more time that way. Remember, replacement battery does not have to be a new Toyota battery. It would be nice, but not necessary.

With any 10 year old car for $3000 you will end up spending close to $2000 in the next few years on it. ALL cars have both expensive and inevitable repairs waiting to happen in them. Gasser or hybrid. Nothing will last beyond 10 years and 130K miles without some repair not looming in near future. As I said, you can get the battery taken care of for way under $1500 (I see people doing it for $700 around here) if you go refurbished. But if you buy a gasser and its ABS module goes or ECU module or exhaust or fuel pump or any other number of things that can cost you as much or more than refurbished hybrid battery, then what? It's the same thing. I would go for it, but have a plan to fix the possible battery problem. It could still go another 10 years without needing one, but you must be ready. Same goes for a gasser you may buy for $3000. You may be in for an expensive repair soon. From what I see so far these Prii are made better than average as far as reliability, so that is a good thing. I considered a Toyota Echo before the Prius. It's another great choice, but I found my 07 Prius in great shape one owner with 175K miles for about $3400. I went for it. It felt right. I am prepared to deal with the battery if and when it goes.

 

I didn't see any mention of the trim level. That can make a big price difference. Even so, that price doesn't look bad at all to me compared to over here in Tampa. And, by the way, we have a great resource over here at Tampa Hybrids in Lutz if you do need work done. The battery is a legitimate concern at that age, but it doesn't have to cost a fortune to fix. And, as has been said, you'll save a ton on gas. That savings can go into a repair/replace fund.

 

If the OP cannot afford to replace the HV pack, buying an older Prius would be a bad choice. The HV pack is the Prius' Achilles heel IMHO. The other powertrain and electrical components proved to be very reliable.

Other than a weak HV pack, oil consumption, needing to do a passenger side front wheel bearing soon, and the need to eventually replace struts and shocks, there was a good chance my 05 would have lasted to 300K miles and beyond even though the odometer would have stopped at 299,999.

If I hadn't bought a brand new Nissan Altima in 2014 (in retrospect I wish I hadn't but not because it's not a nice car - I really like it) I probably would have put a new HV pack in my 05 and driven it ever ever ever ever, but it was not to be because my teenage daughter did not drive the Prius often enough so I bought her a used 2015 Mitsubishi Mirage DE equipped with a CVT instead. The Mirage is as slow as f*** with its 1.2L 3 cyl engine but it gets 40 mpg easily and has been reliable thus far. And no HV pack to fret over.

 

Your right the hybrid battery is the biggest concern. They don't do well in Florida heat.
My bought new and driven daily at 110k miles is starting to show it's hybrid battery age.

I would include a hybrid battery charger in the cost of your used Prius. A lot of us have the hybridautomotive charger/discharger .

But if it was me I would not buy a used Prius. I personally think a 10 year old Prius is a really bad choice for your first car. It's the best little car ever but there's that ticking time bomb in the back.
Get a used Hyundai or corrola.

 

Not sure how many high mileage 10+ YO vehicles you have owned, but we have owned dozens and I cannot recall spending $2k in unscheduled repairs on ANY of them, regardless of ownership length.

If you get fleeced and buy something with hidden issues, even on a 2 YO vehicle it can cost thousands, maybe tens of thousands (ask anyone who purchased a used Boxster and then had to purchase an engine for it ).

People who purchase only new vehicles can also get fleeced on unnecessary repairs and needed ones that Kaputi just does not recommend, because it's not high profit and I see it almost every week.

We have owned our 185k Prius ~1 year and spent <$200 in repairs, granted that would have been somewhat higher at a dealer. It's also not even the monthly payment on the average new car, let alone 12 payments

Now, if you are borrowing $$ to purchase an inexpensive used car and have little or no cushion, IMO you are setting yourself up for a disaster, regardless of the make, model or miles.

 

My "new" car before I got the '07 Prius was a '98 Volvo S70 I bought new in 1998. That one has about 170K miles on it right now. The other car is a 1993 Volvo 940 with 185K miles. That one replaced the same make and model and year car with >250K miles on it. It was totaled in a rear end collision (would have kept running way past 500K miles). I am very much familiar with older high miles cars. And I spoke from experience. Some of those repairs are not "unscheduled" At 220K miles I had to have a head gasket replaced on the 940. It wasn't exactly scheduled, but at 220K I also thought it was a reasonable repair to have to make. This is what I meant. Unexpected, but not unreasonable repairs. Water pumps, alternators, shocks, springs, ball joints, CV joints, various electronic gadgets like ABS modules (big $$ unless you find and aftermarket refurbisher), electronic throttle modules. All of those have an equal or greater chance of failing as a hybrid battery. They all have finite life span. That was my point. If the OP buys a 10 year old gasser with 130K miles for $3K I would not be surprised if they had to spend another $2K on the car in the near future. I would also not be surprised if they didn't have to do that. It's the luck of the draw. Just like with the hybrid battery.

 

I purchased a Nissan Altima for my daughter's 18th birthday in 2015. I paid $3,200. The car is 2002 and it had 235,000 miles on it when I bought it. It had an engine replacement at 180,000. So far nothing has gone wrong with the car except the 12v battery, although it could use new struts. I have no concerns about her car leaving her stranded somewhere.

Now that being said, it does not have the main hybrid battery, of course - which, being chemical, does have a limited lifetime and there are many factors that can contribute to the battery's lifespan.

If nothing else is wrong with the Prius in question, I would probably buy it for that price. But I would start immediately saving for maintenance costs.

 

After 13 years and 180000 miles the Altima needed an engine. Maybe in a couple/few years or 50000 miles that 2006 Prius will need a traction battery. It seems to me 6 one way, half a dozen the other. Most of us start in the low end of the market. Hope for the best, plan for the worse, and bank your fuel savings.

 

I would. ANY hybrid with that many miles actually.

The odds are great that the repair costs will be much more than with a conventional car of similar price; partly because it will be newer with less miles if it isn't a hybrid.

 

My 2007 (in avatar) has 205K...and I just bought it...at an auction...without even test driving it because the battery was dead when I came the day before auction to drive it. Runs like new...Bought it with 201K.

The fact of the matter is in the price range I was at...you are getting pure junk! What are you going to get for $3,000? An Altima, Civic, Focus, Chevy Aveo, Ford Fusion? They are junk cars that are lucky to get 30mpg.

The guy a few posts above said he paid over $3000 for a 2002 Nissan with 235K on it? That thing must have had moon roof, heated seats, mint leather, and brand new tires, with receipts showing he paid thousands of dollars for engine replacement...Because that to me...seems like a $1500 or best offer type of car (based on year and miles just like a 2002 Prius with 235K on it is a $1500 or best offer car).

Want to know the odds that you will hit 300K miles in a "conventional car"????? ZERO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

As for the Prius, there is a 299K mile club pinned at this forum that people are posting in and reporting very little problems...I believe last person to post is on original HV battery with 461K on it: 299,999+ Mile Club | Page 50 | PriusChat

The gen 2 Prius is so legendary and reputable it is probably time for a 400K and up thread.

 

Some good points MW, but in Michigan (anywhere in the rust belt really), almost ANY car over 10 years is junk, if not from corrosion then from potholes.

In TX you see 10+ YO vehicles every day and would not even notice they were that old, nothing gives it away. Plenty of 300k+ vehicles here too, Camry, Prius, F-150, Subaru Outback, CR-V, Accords and a TON of 4Runners! Oh, if you want an Excursion, EXPECT it will have over 200k on it and cost you over $8k to purchase if in decent shape.

How a vehicle was cared for has WAY more to do with value and reliability than age or mileage. A trashed 1 YO car with no oil changes or other maintenance is a much worse bet than a 12 YO Prius in good condition and a clean history, at least IMO.