Looking to Buy, Need information on longetivity

Welcome. That's an interesting user name you have there.

Lots of questions. Most have been answered scores of times already, but here are some quick answers.

I would guess that on a Gen 2 Prius, 150k on the engine would equate to about 140k on a regular car.

Battery. There is no starter battery. The 12v battery powers the computers and closes the relay to connect the hybrid battery to the car. The hybrid battery powers MG1 and MG2 which are the motor generators that start the engine, propel the car, and charge the hybrid battery during braking and coasting. You should be able to get a new one for $2500-3500. Or get a used one from a wreck for less.

Regarding the question about whether the engine or battery should take priority, my answer would be, "yes." Both are essential to hybrid operations, hence the term "hybrid." As for the two '08's you're looking at, it depends on when the new battery was installed and a lot of other factors like overall condition, maintenance records, and so on. If the battery is really new and not rebuilt or installed seven years ago, I'd lean toward that one, but I also would not be afraid of an 80k car. Both our first two Prii had over 100k when we bought them.

 

welcome!
a lot of good questions, with very few good answers.i'll echo jerry and add that with a used car, there's no way of knowing much for sure.
prius is one of the most reliable cars on the road, but that doesn't specifically apply to any you might look at.
we have members with 2,3,400,000 trouble free miles, and members with low miles, bad head gaskets, blown a/c compressors, bad tranny's, dead batteries, defective brake actuators, all costing in the thousands of dollars to repair.
all the best!

 

I would add that any statistician, looking at a "we have members like this, and members like that" kind of statement, would immediately follow up with "ok, how many like this, and how many like that?"

But that's the kind of important statistical info that you can't really get from PriusChat (as awesome as it is), because there is a certain selection bias going on. A lot of people driving trouble-free Prii may go years without even knowing about PriusChat, but people having problems (or even worrying about problems they might have) tend to show up here, skewing the numbers.

So to get the important, balanced sense of longevity that you want, in addition to asking here, you should also be checking some of the non-Prius-specific sources of longevity information, like the Consumer Reports used-car reliability guides, Edmunds TCO, etc. One recent year (was it around 2012?), Prius models on the CR reliability list were leading their categories, in every category where Prius had a model, if I remember right. Recently there have been more other contenders, but the showing is still very good. Likewise, Edmunds has been showing total-cost-to-own numbers for the Prius beating even some substantially less expensive (to buy) cars.

What that information gives you is that statistical sense, in the whole Prius population, how many are having the relatively trouble-free experience, compared to how many are having large expenses ... the sense you don't so much get from PriusChat, just because issues are overrepresented here.

-Chap

 

Why specifically are you interested in a Prius?

 

my 2004 prius which i gave to my daughter has 300,000 miles on it...i've had 3, 12v batteries over the years...easy replacement...just like a normal car would...12v only fires the computers...as far as the 240v hybrid battery...no replacement as it continues to perform as expected...used mobil1 5w-30 over all the life of the engine...car still gets 45-50mpg...

 

I haven't run the numbers, but most likely the battery and engine wear at roughly the same rate, although the battery seems to be more sensitive to time and the engine is likely more sensitive to mileage. So new battery ≠ new car. Also, there's a huge difference between an actual new battery from Toyota and a "new" replacement, salvaged, or rebuilt battery from somewhere else.

 

+1 to that. Time and heat are the battery's enemies. Miles are the engine's enemy. I believe Toyota engineered the battery and its control systems to last as long as the engine. Sometimes the battery wins and sometimes the engine wins. But, statistically, you'd have a hard time finding a cheaper to own motorized vehicle.

Another +1 to what @ChapmanF wrote. Check out the reliability and total cost of ownership comparisons in Consumer Reports, Edmonds, and so on.

Buying a used car is like playing poker; it's a combination of skill and something most people call "luck."

 

make sure the battery is new from toyota, and not refurbished aftermarket.

 

Sometimes people get very unlucky with buying used g2 s even though they do everything right. You never know how it was treated in its previous life.So with that your probably better off getting back in the Camry.
As there's a very steep learning curve if the car developes expensive problems. Unlike the Camry which is pretty straight forward,
The gas savings are really not that much of a savings these days unless your drive substantial miles every year.

 

I don't know about do-it-yourself difficulty level for the Prius and Camry, but overall repair costs and percentages are very similar between them according to True Delta. And fuel savings between 27 mpg and 43 mpg over the average 13,500 miles driven in a year at $2.50 per gallon leads to a yearly fuel savings of $465. That's substantial enough savings for me.

 

Really depends on where/how it was driven, then highway or city.. and oil change interval including the oil / filter quality. Just like any other engine for the most part.

It is possible to obtain a new factory battery for less.

Not all Prii have a 10y/150k (or 100k) warranty

Won't go into dead, dying and EOL, as they have been covered ad nauseum before -and the search feature currently works

12v batteries wear out, replace as needed

Many levels regarding HV battery maintenance, from drive it and forget it.. to not parking it when fully charged, to parking it in some type of shade (you don't have an air conditioned garage? ). The other extreme would be buying or building a grid charger/discharger set up

Who would be doing this, a hybrid specialist?

Best to do some research on a specific vehicles history by entering the appropriate VIN at Toyota Owners Official Web Site

 

Here's to great smileage!