Advice for first time Prius buyer - which Prius to look for?

I have never owned a Prius before but my family is thinking of buying a used Prius. We are looking to spend 10k or under (preferably more like $7500 if I can find what seems to be a reliable car), so I've been casually browsing used 2010-2013 models. (I'm open to other suggestions but those seem to be the more common ones priced under 10k). We aren't in a rush.

I noticed a few people talking about oil burning issues, I believe I've seen it in 2010 and 2011 year models. My question is this: Are there certain years I should avoid, or years/models that I should target, given my price range?

I also read a little about age of car versus mileage. For example, if I had to choose between a newer model (ex. 2013) but with more miles (ex. 110,000 miles) versus a older (2011) with less miles, (ex: 65,000 miles), all else being equal, is one better than the other? Is it better to target low miles, or focus more on the year and getting a newer year?

Overall I'm just looking for some advice on avoiding any potential pitfalls. I'm pretty new to all this. Thanks for any input you can provide!

 

Thanks everyone for your replies and input.

To answer your questions:

Maybe it's somewhat anecdotal, but my Uncle drives a 2011 prius and has the oil burning issue. Thanks for your thoughts, so it seems if possible I'll look for 2012 or newer. In that case, in my price range, it seems more likely I'll have to get a little higher mileage car to make up for the fact that it's a newer car. For example, I've seen a 2012 or 2013 Prius for $9900, but it had something like 125000 miles.

I won't be doing my own maintenance. A couple thoughts: My father-in-law is a car mechanic with his own business. He does all our maintenance currently, however we don't have a hybrid (We have a subaru). I'm not entirely sure that: a) "normal" car mechanics know how to work on Prius/hybrids and: b) even if he could work on it/knows how, I know he hates Priuses. (prius'? prii?) It is what it is, I have heard him talk about them like they are the worst thing in the world. He's an older, old-school, burly, somewhat "macho" man who drives only American muscle cars. I'm not of the mind to try to persuade him of something he's convinced of (namely that Priuses are terrible). So anyway, there is a mechanic who works on hybrids not too far from my house. I've seen his signs/shop. And awhile ago I met someone with a prius who said he takes his prius there and it's a good shop. So I suppose we would take ours there.

We don't necessarily just want a GEN III Prius. We just want a Prius (any "reliable" prius that we can keep for a long time), doesn't necessarily matter which generation. My budget is the way it is because I'm trying to buy older than a couple years old to take advantage of some of the depreciation that naturally comes with cars. And we have extra money in case the car needs maintenance and/or a new battery. Obviously nobody wants to have to get a new battery. But rather than buy a $20k prius, for example, I'd rather spend $8-10k and take the chance it needs maintenance, even if it costs a few thousand in maintenance down the road.

So we prefer to stick with a Prius.

 

Regarding our commute:

We both work at the same place and it's only 1.2 miles away. It's fairly flat, no hills around our house or work. We run our kids around town but overall it's fairly flat around here. Some small hills but nothing too major. We are thinking of moving but we'd say in this same area but our commute my change to 2-3 miles from work is all.

Regarding all the potential issues with Prius (inverter failure, oil problem, battery, brake actuator, etc):

Part of the reason we started looking at making our next car a Prius is because I thought they are deemed very reliable? Consumer reports always seems to give Prius pretty good ratings I thought? Or maybe compared to other cars a Prius is very reliable, but you guys are just trying to make sure I'm aware of any of the issues that could come up?

 

Thanks everyone. I also just realized there is a newbie area in the forum. Somehow I missed that section before, so I apologize that I may have posted this in the wrong area of the site.

Regarding our commute, I wasn't being very clear. I was interpreting commute as just to and from work, but as far as our total driving we actually drive somewhere in the range of over 1000 miles every month. Our kids are involved in lots of activities, and we have a lot of family around but they all live 29-30 minutes away.

 

Good to know. I actually thought the plug in Prius just came around in the last year or two - I didn't know there were versions as far back as 2012. I mostly check craigslist and haven't noticed any older plug-ins there, but I'll keep my eye out. That's always a possibility, if I were able to find one.

 

Seems like if I stick to my originally intended price range ($7-10k) then a 2012-2014 Prius will be fine - I do appreciate everyone's input on the possible issues they may have. As long as we are aware of what could go wrong, we will be making the most informed decision possible when buying.

It seems if I am okay spending more money, a newer (2015 or newer) Prius would be "better." Although just like if you bought a new 2010 Prius in 2010, you wouldn't have known about the oil issue until much later (or any potential issues), it could be that a brand new Prius or late model Prius will eventually have an issue that becomes a known issue, but not for another 5-10 years.

Maybe my wife and I will just stick with our Subaru Forester. A little more background:

My wife bought the forester brand new in 2011 (it's a 2011 forester) before I met her. In 2013 I sold my car and we become a "one car family" with just the Subaru. Since 2013 we have been just driving the Subaru around. It now has over 106,000 miles. It's a great car. Our only gripe is the gas mileage. Gets about 22 mpg around town, around 25-26 on the interstate. With two kids now we seem to be driving more, and we were just thinking of getting a Prius instead for the gas mileage. So we don't have to change cars, the Subaru is fine. We just wish for a little better gas mileage. Some days we go on 4 random trips around town and put 50 miles on the car, and lately have been filling up the gas tank every 5-7 days. We have actually been thinking about a Prius for a few years now, but since the Subaru is reliable we have never pulled the plug and bought a Prius. So we will see.

Thanks again everyone.