Don't purchase a Prius Gen 3

how many miles on her?

at what interval did each problem happen?

 

180,000 miles on my '14. Nothing but oil changes, 3 sets of tires, and wiper blades. No need to add oil between oil changes so far. Will be doing plugs and brakes before long. I know it wont run for ever without breaking down, but I am looking forward to many more miles with this car. If I needed to buy another car today, it would be a '14 or newer Prius. Hands down the best car I have owned.

 

The OP is in Houston. A "flood" car?

 

Damage history?

 

In my book, if a used car makes to 179,000 miles in perfect condition, it is a super reliable car. What year is it? Is it 2013 V showing on your profile?

 

How many miles did you put on your 2013 V in how many years? For me to reach 180K miles takes over 12 years. Our Sienna lasted 12 years but only 100K miles with rusted out bottom. In the last two years of the ownership, I spent ~$3K all rust related repairs. I still think it was the one of the most reliable minivan we have owned, compared to previous Nissan Quest and Dodge Grand Caravan we have owned before Sienna. You should be glad living outside of rust belt.

 

I think the 2012-2015 v's did have more problems (most of which are shared with the standard prius). There is little doubt that the Texas heat and 30k miles per year will do a number on these cars, especially the battery, egr and brake booster around the 175-200k mark. If I were you I would fix the brake booster and sell it especially if it stills looks and drives good like mine. You have not had a head gasket repair yet and some of the previous repairs could return in three to five years, especially is the battery was not new. Sell it private party for $5-8k and put that money into a 2017 v if you like the form factor or step up to the 2019/20 Rav4 LE hybrid (msrp around $28k). If you were not putting lots of miles on the car I would suggest a standard Corolla or Camry, even a used one in your desired price range.

PS: The inverter and water pump were extended warranty recalls. If you did them yourself or paid full price, Toyota might reimburse with some documentation.

 

We were renewing auto insurance the other day, and they asked if our car has autonomous braking: if it did there was a 10 percent discount. We're driving around 7~8K kms per year (get it under 5K and you save another 10%); the economic benefits of high mpg start to ring hollow.

We may just do an @The Electric Me one of these years; I looked it up: all the base level of Honda Fit have autonomous braking...

Yeah the new Prius have that AB, but I don't much like a car that looks like a 'toon, and has an iPad jambed into the dash in lieu of ergonomic controls.

 

i feel like prius are designed to be super reliable to 150k on the whole, even though the brake actuator, egr and pistons/rings are design defects, not build problems or longevity.

toyota set the bar too high with some last vehicles but yeah, if you're going to buy used gen 3, you really want to know what has already been replaced, what hasn't, and what has extended warranty

 

Which insurance co do you use? We're using Farmers

 

ICBC (Insurance Corporation of British Columbia). They're a quasi-governmental company, a "crown corporation". We recently changed provincial government, and the new party in power has looking at the books of ICBC, trying to stem the bleeding, and give breaks where owners are doing good.

The insurance agent had two new questions:

1. Are you driving under 5000 kms per year?
2. Does the vehicle have autonomous braking?

A yes for either drops your insurance by 10%.

FWIW, our rate for the year, with neither reduction, was $1236 (CDN). That's with minimum third-party liability (maybe 1/4 million), $500 collision deductable and $300 comprehensive (vandalism etc).

That $1236 was $5 more than last year for us, lol.

 

You might want wait and see what the future for the North American sold ICE Honda Fit becomes.
Right now a lot of RUMOR that Honda is not going to sell the ICE Fit in North America.

Can't get solid confirmation at this point. But I would be disappointed if Honda follows the recent trend of turning away from producing Sedans, Hatchbacks and "cars" to concentrate only on SUVs.

I might be fighting a losing battle, but not all of us want a large vehicle. I really enjoy owning a small hatchback. Unfortunately there might not be enough of us to make that a profitable undertaking for Honda.

 

I guess there's nothing wrong with having a discontinued car; it is disconcerting though.

I've heard the rumours about Fit being discontinued, at least in North America. Also, that a Fit Hybrid is in the works (or on the road already?), but more'n likely will not be coming to North America. Oh and there's a CR-V hybrid, but it's not likely to be coming to North America. This is getting monotonous?

 

I'm in agreement. If I didn't have the Prius V, I'd go with the Honda Fit. The car already gets impressive MPG for a non hybrid, so I'm guessing Honda doesn't see any profit coming out of it to make it a hybrid would be my guess. I like crossovers/wagons/hatchbacks over SUVs.

As other users have said, they are issues with the 3rd gen/Vs but its always a gamble on what can go or what will go once the car starts approaching 200,000. They are people who have zero issues past 200,000 other than normal maintenance. Its still a gamble at this point for you. You could keep the car and you already know its history, whats been done since you took ownership or cut your loses and see what you can get for it as a trade for a newer model of a V or something similar to its size that suits your needs.