Everyone says don't buy an old Prius!?

Not sure about the Civic but a Corolla would definitely be better. In fact, I still have my 2008 Corolla.
If you need more room, consider a user Toyota Camry. They are both very reliable cars.

A Prius, if well cared for and driven reasonably, will last a long time. Older Prius, older tan 2012 either have high enough miles to need expensive repairs or have low miles because they were not driven enough., Ones not driven enough tend to have expensive battery issues at that age. Some people here have even resorted to replacing te engine in their older Prius.

An older Prius is only good if you have the budget for expected repairs and have other transportation in case it is down for repairs. Most people buying older Prius tend to perform their own repairs too.

 

It is a good reliable car when properly cared for, especially for the first 100k+ miles, assuming it is driven regularly.
For me, the new Corolla is too ugly with that black grille and I needed more room for my dog inside the car.
My son is on his second Prius, so I know they last well when cared for. He had a 2005 and traded it for a 2015 Prius v station wagon. He bought both new.

 

Good news, the Prius is a very reliable car that rarely needs repair.
Bad news, because few mechanics can repair issues, wholesale replacement of entire subsystems is the common fix ($3000 to $5000 repair bills are possible)

As such it is hard to recommend a used Prius to anyone without the resources to pay for repair, if needed.

So if you have $13,000 in onhand cash, a $8,000 Prius is a great used car and most likely you just get to invest $5,000 in short term investments.

But if you only have $8,000 and something goes wrong, it will seem like a horrible car.

(New battery, $2,500 (parts) to $4,000, New inverter $4000, New transaxle $5000*)

* To prolong the battery life, try not to overheat it: use A/C, use B going down long hills, park in shade, etc. To Prolong the Inverter, never jumpstart your Prius twice, and never jumpstart other cars even once. To prolong the Transaxle, change the ATF WS at 30,000 miles, 90,000 miles and then every 90,000 miles (just my opinion)

 

From personal experience and several years of posting and reading on Priuschat, the vast majority of Prius owners praise them to high heaven UNTIL a costly repair is needed. My Waterloo was the HV pack. I repaired it myself and drove it for another 7 months afterward but I never felt the same way about it again. Until that happened, I thought it would last a very long time so long in fact that I bought a new car three years ago planning to give the Prius to my daughter when she started driving. Lo and behold, that's the time when the HV pack failed and I became disenchanted.

So, in summary, Prius owners are fiercely loyal until the inevitable happens and their opinion of them sinks faster than a Polish submarine. That is the main reason for caution when shopping for a used Prius - its previous owner might have fallen out of love with it.

 

my daughter has an '08 with 100k on it. we live in a 150/10 hybrid warranty state, so she has another year. after that, the $3,000. battery, or any other major expense will be hers. i'll encourage her to look for something newer, simply because she does a lot of long distance driving in rural area's and has no mechanical skills.

if she were closer, and just commuting with it, i would be comfortable with her keeping it to 150k+.

 

The Prius is a more costly design.
Right up front when it is new AND way down the road somewhere when the more costly components start failing due to age and use.

This happens to ALL mechanical things but parts for things with 10 million siblings on the road are easier to find and less expensive than parts for something with only 20,000 units out there.

If you REALLY want to own a Prius, by all means go for it.
Just be careful and realize that the odds are that some expensive repairs might be in your future.

Summary: Regardless of your budget, you likely will get "more car" for your money with an economy gas model.
The difference in gas mileage will likely never offset the additional cost.
And repairs likely will be less expensive too.

The people you have been talking to are just trying to paint you a realistic picture.

 

The people who say so in my experience have been the ones who don't have a Prius.

I've had a great experience with this Prius so far!

 

Those of us with Prius and who have helped many here say this. Do not buy an older Prius if you do not have additional money available for major repairs.
Search on this site appears to be broken. If you were able to search you would find sad stories of people who bought an older Prius and had major issues a short while later. There are also those like you who are happily driving their older purchase.

 

o/p created a new thread today, regarding choice of 2014 pri.

 

My Toyota garage told me that my Gen2 Prius was the most reliable of any Toyota car in their view.

The used Prius is very very popular in this country with Taxi (cab) drivers presumably because of a combination of reliability and low cost of ownership.

Also, it has much higher second hand (used) sale value in the UK than other cars of similar size age and mileage for the same reason.

Posted via the PriusChat mobile app.

 

"Older" is going to vary based on different people's opinions. I bought a 2009 Prius last year and consider it to be one of the most reliable cars I've ever owned. The risks stated above that a number of the components are very expensive to fix if they fail are true. But it's also fair to note that those components rarely fail.

From what I've seen on Dashboard Light, True Delta, Consumer Reports, and other websites, the Prius is and continues to be one of the most reliable car models on the road. That doesn't mean they're perfect or immune to problems, but the total number of problems and cost to repair those problems is going to be in the same neighborhood as number and cost to repair problems in a Corolla or any other reliable car over 95% of the time, and you'll be getting better fuel economy along the way.

Just keep in mind that an older Prius is no different than an older car of any type and understand greater age and number of miles means on average greater risk that something will go wrong. But the Prius is more reliable than most.

 

This is sound advice and was what influenced me when I first lurked here to get insight on buying my first Prius. Like the OP, I had a budget of around $7-$8k. But that was it- I didn't have a reserve fund for a costly traction battery or other large ticket item repairs. The posts that I read were similar to what Prodigyplace and others have written in this thread. You need to have a reserve fund for repairs, or someone (like parents) willing to help.

That put me in a tough spot. Although I looked for a while, my budget simply couldn't get me into a well maintained Prius that had ample time left on the traction warranty. I eventually raised more money to get a newer year (2014) with low miles. Based on another thread started by the OP, he might be looking at a '14 model, too. I think the advice is sound here.

(I recall reading this thread about this person purchasing a 1st gen. I hope everything works out well for her.)

 

I'm inclined to say that if you have $8000 to buy a Prius, don't buy an $8000 Prius... although then, an $8000 Prius in some areas is probably perfectly fine. Like, in my area, $8000 could probably get you a thoroughly decent Gen 3.

But, if you're worried about it, buy a $5000 Prius (in some areas that's easier said than done, and avoiding a Gen 1 is probably a good idea), and put the $3000 that you would've spent in the bank, in case you need to buy a replacement battery, and then you'll be able to buy the official Toyota battery.

 

Installing a new hybrid battery is roughly half the cost of installing a new engine. Batteries are getting cheaper each year. A hybrid battery is easy to DIY install compared to swapping an engine.

The PC forum is noticing Gen 3 head gasket and oil burning problems. The supported theory is that the engine problems are caused by the introduction of cooled EGR for this generation. A clogged EGR system will increase the engine combustion chambers by hundreds of degrees as well as increase the internal stresses from additional vacuum and knock.

If you want a gen 3 and don't want a project car try to avoid one with a head gasket or oil burning problem. Have the car thoroughly checked out by a certified mechanic and perform an extended test drive. These two symptoms may not directly cause a check engine light. Once you're an owner, become familiar with maintaining a working EGR system.

 

A lot of people buy used high mileage Prii and find out it was dumped because of a bad HV battery, buyer beware. Same way with engines.