Looking to buy used

Greetings Prius Owners,

My Chevey lumina is on its last leg (over heats everyday because of head gasket and intake manafold) so I thought I would look at picking up a used prius. Our local toyota has several used prius and I just wanted to get your opinon on the matter. There are three different years I am looking at which are all toyota certified. There is a 2004 with 54k miles for 13,988, a 2007 with 42k miles for 16988 and a 2008 with 36k for 17988. My wife and I are on a tight budget which brings my eye to the 2004, but i am concearned about it being the oldest car. I would hate to spend less up front only to pay for a major fix later down the road. Also what is a good starting price to negotate with the dealer on the three different years. When I went to the dealer the first time he flat out told me he could come down in the price with the 2007 and 2008 but said he couldn't go down much further with the 2004. Thanks for your help and sorry for yet another buying used thread.

Zachary

 

Thanks Paprius. I checked kelly blue book and found that all of the dealers prices are bellow the cpo kbb listing.

Should I stay way from the 2004 and pay the extra to get the 2007 or 2008. As far as I could tell they all drive the same and have the same features.

 

Thanks Jim and Paprius!

Jim I am not sure what packages the car have I only have a list of what is included in the car. From what i can tell the only difference between the 2007 and the 2008 is that the 2008 has the back up cam where the 2007 doesn't. Both cars have home link which I had to look up what is even used for. The 2004 seems to have the least options. I am going to test drive the 2007 next week and if all goes well I hope to get him down to around $15000. I should be getting my tax return next week which will be used to put 20% down on the car. The last time I was the dealer, the salesman seemed somewhat desperate to make a sale. What kind of salesman come streight out and say the prices listed are just asking prices? I am guessing it has been slow for the dealers with all the bad news that has come out.

 

Thanks Jim!

I will have to ask about the package when I go back to the dealer this week, but looking at the of options I have I see that the 2007 does have a 6 disk cd changer. I will have to see what is up the the camera.

I do have a concearn about the 2007 which I forgot to mention. The 2007 has a trailer hitch which scares me because well what were the first owners pulling? What is your take on the trailer hitch?

 

Thanks for the input Son of Gloin. When I saw the hitch I thought to myself that it could be trouble.

 

I am now a prius owner! I bought the blue 2008 with 36k miles. The car has package 4. I got the dealer down to 16400. I will post pictures as soon as I can. Thanks to all who posted.

 

Thanks paprius. I took my wife for a ride last night and she just loved it. I even let her drive but I can tell she isn't going be a good prius driver. You all have me a little worried about the HID lights. I hope I don't have issues with them.

 

For those of you who are following this thread I have a question for you. I just realized that you do not need to insert the key into the termanal. Now is there a benefit of putting the key into it or is it just fine staying in your pocket?

 

Thanks for your concearn Carguy but I am happy with my buy. All cars have there issues. I have had nothing but troubles with my GM. The 3.1 and 3.4 engines all had the same problem and never lasted as long as they should and of course you didn't see any effort in fixing the problem from GM. My wife family has only driven toyota's and one of the cars is pushing 250k. Our camry has 160k with no issues.