Newb getting ready to buy a 2005-2007 Prius

Greetings, and welcome to the list! In general the Prius' have proven very reliable, so I would say you can be pretty confident buying one used. The '04s did have an issue with a trace breaking in the MFD (screen on the dash) which can be a bit pricey to replace. Of course you can always find a used one and swap it out yourself for much cheaper. There was a TSB on the previous gen ('01s maybe?) to reseal the HV battery pack, so if you're looking at an older one you'd want to make sure that had been done otherwise it could lead to early battery failure. In general if you are looking at a PHEV conversion you'll want to stick with an '04+ anyway, maybe even stick to '04-'05. The '06+ have a different MFD, so if you want to use something like a CAN-View to put info up on the built in screen you'll want on '04 or '05. IMHO the biggest down side to buying a used Prius is that they hold their value very well. The current estimate is ~70% retention over 5 years. You've no doubt noticed that you don't get that big a discount over new on the used market. Thats part of the reason we went with a salvaged car. It was the only way to get down into our price range. On top of that we were also planning a PHEV conversion, and so were less worried about not having a warranty anyway. The trick with a salvage of course, is finding someone who you trust to put it back together right. A number of folks from the list and from PHEV community have used this guy, and I personally went out and inspected his shop (as others have) and was very impressed by his work:
http://www.autobeyours.com/Rebuildable Pruii.htm

On the PHEV front, you have to be realistic about what it will and won't do. At the current time, its hard to make your money back from the conversion. The technology is developing rapidly, but still in its infancy and still dealing with occasional hiccups. There's also the added challenge of having to work around all of Toyota's existing systems, rather than being able to design from the ground up. If you are doing it purely from a financial motivation, you may want to wait. If you ascribe an additional value to using much less gas from either an energy independence or environmental standpoint and/or want to help push the technology forward by supporting it then its a good time to get involved.

You may have already come across this, but about the cheapest upfront conversion you can come up with is the open source project from cal-cars:
PriusPlus - EAA-PHEV
This kit basically consists of a lead acid battery pack of ~20Ahx240V, a big switch (contactor) to connect and disconnect the secondary pack, and a controller to monitor the car's network traffic and figure out the ideal time to connect and disconnect the secondary battery for best performance. If you assemble and install this kit yourself, it should cost ~$4k. You can get the whole kit pre-assembled including a very nice battery box that lets you access the spare tire for a little over $6k from these folks:
Plug-In Supply Inc of Petaluma California
Depending on the exact batteries you use (and driving style/conditions of course) you should get 10-15 miles of pure EV driving out of this kit. Normally that means <34mph, but the folks above do have a hack to get you up to 52mph. Driving faster than EV mode, you should be able to get ~100mpg for 20+ miles. The biggest down side to this method is the lead acid batteries will need to be replaced every 1-2 years at a cost of ~$1k. Maybe even more often as the current setup does nothing to maintain battery balance. So the upfront cost is good, but recurring cost is high. The Cal-cars volunteer/open source folks are also working on a NimH version, buts its not as mature as the lead acid version and the upfront cost will be higher (maybe ~$7k?).

Another big development in the last few days is the announcement of the Hymotion pack being available to the general public at $10k. This is about the same size (capacity wise, physically smaller/lighter) as the cal-cars pack, but is Li-ion with a 3 year warranty (will most likely last much longer). You should get ~15 miles pure EV range (sub 34mph) and they're claiming 30-40 miles at 100+ mpg. Hymotion is partnered with (maybe now owned by) A123 batteries, which is a US company generally acknowledged to make a very good battery. These are the same people that make the batteries for the Tesla Roadster, and Dewalt power tools to name a few. This is not do it yourself though, you'd have to get it installed in CA and have it shipped probably.
Hymotion :: Enabling the new generation of hybrid owners to maximize their fuel efficiency

Here in AZ, our electricity is ~9c/kWh peak, 2c off peak. Green energy is a 1-3c surcharge. The Prius is frequently estimated to cruise at ~230Wh/mi. Lets assume an 85% charging efficiency and calculate at 270 AC Wh/mi. So in AZ at least charging at night the PHEV Prius in electric mode should cost about 0.54c/mi. For peak green energy you'd be at 3.2c/mi. At 24c/kWh in Hawaii, you would be looking at 6.5c/mile. A 1kW DC rated PV system in Hawaii should put out about 4kWh per day on average. That would be enough for about 14.8 miles of Prius EV mode travel. A 1kW system should last 20+ years and cost ~$5k before any incentives. This would equate to ~17c/mi before any incentives or rebates. In many parts of the country you can get up to about half of that back, bringing it down under 10c/mi. Assuming you wanted to charge at night you'd need to make sure your area has a net-metering program though.

At the current US average of $3.60 for gasoline, a 50mpg Prius would cost about 7.2c per mile and a typical 20mpg car would cost 18c/mile. At the Hawaii average of $3.82 that would be 7.6c/mile, and 19c/mile.

Rob

 

I hope you got either seaside blue or barcelona red, those are the only colors worth paying over bluebook for. The other colors I would expect to pay about $1,500 less because they are not pretty.

last spring I bought a 2005 fully loaded seaside blue prius with 22K miles for $19k. It bluebooked for $23K but the stupid chevy dealer didn't know they had a 'diamond in the rough' & I it was such a good deal I purchased it immediately & had it shipped cross country.

the chevy dealer was stupid & didn't know anything about HID headlights, JBL premium sound system, or the fact that seaside blue is worth a lot more than the other colors. A Toyota dealership would never make those same mistakes, I got real lucky with cars.com. Now if only my 2005 had the standard features of 2006 like tpms, mp3 & backup camera? . . .

you can buy a smaller antenna, but I would recommend a temporary roof rack on ebay.
ebay item #330233332125 is a temporary roof rack attaching by suction power
ebay item #300222856294 is a temporary roof rack designed for surf boards
i remember a year ago there was a soft foam roof rack that was temporary but I can't find it, do some searching & you should be able to find a temporary or permanent roof rack for all your sporting needs.

 

I paid $19,450 ($19,950 - $500 'cause they had to over allow on my trade instead of calling it $19,500 for the Prius), 2006 pkg #4 white with 21k miles.

 

You really think color is worth that much? I would have been surprised to hear that the color changes the value of the car by even $200.

For reference, Edmunds' used car appraiser adds $88 to the price of a Prius for having that color. $1500 is approximately equivalent to 28,000 miles on the car. (i.e. a car with 22k miles costs $1500 more than an identical car with 50k miles.)