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For Sale 2005 Prius, Fully Loaded, has never failed me

Discussion in 'Private Sales' started by dragonrand, Oct 15, 2016.

  1. dragonrand

    dragonrand Junior Member

    Joined:
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    Location:
    Springfield, MO
    Vehicle:
    2005 Prius
    It's still driving and running fine; I just want a new car. :) Here are the details:

    It's a Package 6 - I bought it used in 2007 when it had 56k miles. I'm now at 295k miles, still on the original 12V and HV batteries. I use about 1.5 quarts of oil every 5k miles. My average milage has dropped over the last couple of years by about 5 mpg. I used to get from 44-50 mpg depending on the season, now I get 39-45 average. In an effort to slow oil usage, I began running heavier weight oils a year or two ago. My best guess as to the cause of my dropping milage would be a combination of the heavier oil, a weaker HV battery, and lower engine compression due to age.

    I've replaced both rear taillight assemblies due to problems with the brake LED panels. My combination meter began having troubles three weeks after Toyota's extended warranty on the part expired. It still usually initializes, and when it occasionally doesn't, I can usually employ a trick to get it working if I'm on the ball. A few months ago my airbag warning light began showing, though it occasionally still goes off after startup. The airbags are fine and have never deployed, so it appears to just be an intermittent electrical issue. I replaced the water pump myself just a few months ago, and put all new Toyota coolant in it.

    I've had a P0420 code for a couple of years that used to go away or stay away with a reset, now it's pretty much always there. A couple of months ago a new code, P1121 started showing up, which is the coolant control valve. IIUC, neither code should affect the reliability or drivability of the car. I still enjoy driving the car, and I love the JBL premium sound. I added an iPod integration kit years ago, and still use it daily, so you can connect any iPod or iPhone to it - old-style 30-pin directly, or newer ones with the lightning adaptor.

    My mother drove it a few years ago while I was out of town, and a deer hit her. (It literally ran into the car, rolled across the hood, and bounded off into the night.) Dented the fender and hood, and cracked the windshield and driver's-side headlight. Insurance repaired it, which left one headlight looking new and one yellowed and fogged. I got tired of the cataract look recently, and replaced the passenger headlight assembly, so now they both look clear and new.

    Air conditioning was recently recharged. The system checked out as pure, no leaks, and it works great.

    Tires are good, it's still comfortable and quite clean inside for its age. I have an extra set of floor mats for it.

    NADA says it's $2,700 trade-in, $4,600 retail. I'm asking $3,900 obo.
     
    #1 dragonrand, Oct 15, 2016
    Last edited: Oct 15, 2016
  2. WilDavis

    WilDavis Senior Member

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    Location:
    Top RH Corner of RH Coast on L side of The Pond
    Vehicle:
    2009 Prius
    Model:
    II
    Original 12V AuxBattery??? :eek::cautious::eek:o_Oo_O;)
     
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  3. dragonrand

    dragonrand Junior Member

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    2005 Prius
    Right?!?o_Oo_O
     
  4. WilDavis

    WilDavis Senior Member

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    Vehicle:
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    Model:
    II
    …OK, so you mentioned something about a trick? (for the combo-display) …so do you have a trick for the AuxBattery also? …please share! ;)
     
  5. JC91006

    JC91006 Senior Member

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    II
    Well after 299999 miles, it becomes a better deal. It'll never go higher in mileage
     
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  6. dragonrand

    dragonrand Junior Member

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    Vehicle:
    2005 Prius
    Ummm, don't leave accessories on when the car is off, and drive it a lot? That's all I've done!

    I wonder if my driving style has helped to make both batteries last longer than they normally would. My commute for most of the years I've had it was about 45 minutes each way, highway with no real slowdowns, and plenty of hills to exercise the battery.

    Oh, and for the combination meter - it originally seemed to be worse in damp/cool weather. Initially I couldn't seem to do anything to influence it. But I eventually figured out that when I powered on the car, if I saw that the dash remained dark, I could *immediately* power off the car, turn on the headlights, and power it right back on again. Since I discovered that, it's only failed me once.

    The additional load on the system from the headlights must change the voltages going to the meter just enough that it initializes properly.

    ...or something!
     
  7. kinglew

    kinglew Member

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    Location:
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    Vehicle:
    2020 Prius Prime
    Model:
    XLE
    Way to much more like 1000
     
  8. Aaron Vitolins

    Aaron Vitolins Senior Member

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    Agree. Sorry but it's true. It might have been worth around 4 thousand a couple of years ago with around 200k MAYBE
     
  9. dragonrand

    dragonrand Junior Member

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    Thanks for the feedback - I'm still trying to get a feel for what it's worth. Dropped by $1k.
     
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  10. kinglew

    kinglew Member

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    Try trade it in maybe thats they way to go good luck
     
  11. ILuvMyPriusToo

    ILuvMyPriusToo Senior Member

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    Location:
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    Vehicle:
    2009 Prius
    Model:
    II
    With all those DTCs, someone would have to do a fair bit to get it to pass a state inspection (out East, at least).
     
  12. dragonrand

    dragonrand Junior Member

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    CarMax was interesting to me until I learned there's not one in my city. I'd have to drive 3 hours to have it appraised (Kansas City). I'm not willing to make a special trip, but if I happened to be up there anyway I might get it appraised. But if they bought it, I'd have to figure out how to deliver/leave the car with them and get back to Springfield. Seems like a hassle.
     
  13. JC91006

    JC91006 Senior Member

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    Vehicle:
    2008 Prius
    Model:
    II
    Car max will not buy a car with 300k miles.
     
  14. dragonrand

    dragonrand Junior Member

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    Well, there it is.

    Maybe I'll use the dealer-trade-in-fuzzy-math negotiation method. :) They want to sell the 2012 Prius Four for 16,296, and I want to buy it for 14k. I have a trade-in of indeterminate value. I'll tell them it doesn't matter to me how they reach that 14k, but with some combination of discounting and their offer to buy my trade-in, if they can get to a balance due of 14k, they've got a deal.

    I might not reach that number, but hell, at least I'll get partway there.
     
    #14 dragonrand, Oct 17, 2016
    Last edited: Oct 17, 2016
    Aaron Vitolins likes this.
  15. ILuvMyPriusToo

    ILuvMyPriusToo Senior Member

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    Let us know how it goes.
     
  16. dragonrand

    dragonrand Junior Member

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    Vehicle:
    2005 Prius
    I no longer own my Gen II; I'm now the owner of a 2012 Prius 4.

    The dealer was extremely tight in negotiating. In the end, after about 5 back-and-forths, they only came down about $500 off their asking price. They gave me only $650 in trade on my car. I was hoping (but not expecting) to get the bottom line down to 14k with negotiations plus my trade-in, but I just squeaked it down to 15k. For a certified dealer car, I suppose that's right in line with the going rate. I wasn't actually under any pressure to buy quickly (since my car was still working fine), so I could have walked away from the deal. I considered doing so, but in the end, decided I just wanted the process to be over and move on.

    In truth, I DO have a bit of remorse, but as I think about it, it isn't so much buyer's remorse as it is seller's remorse. I'm only now realizing how attached I was to my car! I miss it, as absurd as that may sound. It really has been a fantastic car for me over the last 9 years, and I loved driving it. Right now it doesn't feel like I'll attach to the new car as strongly as I did the old, but time will tell. But I'm definitely having a hard time letting go of my old car. It all happened quickly enough, I didn't really have time to get used to the idea of saying goodbye to it.

    All of this reminded me of my first car, and how I felt when it got totaled. It was a used 1976 Datsun B-210 "Honeybee" with honeycomb hubcaps that only cost $300, but it was a great little car. I drove it for about two years shortly after I got my license, from maybe 1987-89. While driving in a neighborhood, as I was approaching a T-intersection, a girl who wasn't paying attention pulled out right in front of me, trying to make a left turn to go the direction opposite the way I was heading. I slammed into her going about 30 mph. Of course the car was totaled and not worth fixing. When I visited the car in the junkyard to get my personal effects out of it, I had a sudden impulse to stick the key (which I still carried) into the ignition and turn it on. The dashboard lit up and it made all the beeps it was supposed to make, as if nothing was wrong, and I found myself, an 18-year-old kid in a junkyard, getting choked up and emotional! It's amazing the things we attach to.

    I do hope that over time I come to appreciate my new Prius as much as I did the old one. I've already had some wierdness with USB playback of my iPhone. I hope that it was because my USB cable is flaky/shorting out, and not because Entune really is that crappy. I didn't think I was all that demanding in the way I use my phone, but the USA-SPEC iPod interface that I added to my Gen 2 was way more responsive than the Entune has been so far. Using the controls on the phone to skip forward or back in podcasts or audiobooks, for example, would work instantaneously, whereas playing thru USB on my new car, there's definitely some latency. And if I try to skip too much, it can sometimes just stop passing the audio, even though playback is still advancing on the phone. I was able to unplug and replug my phone on the way home from work to fix that, but on the way TO work this morning, I had to actually pull over and turn off the car to restore functionality. Madness!

    I'll keep posting here if there's interest, but I should probably start posting my Gen 3 questions over in those forums. I've already observed some things, such as:
    • Tire pressure at delivery was about 29 PSI all around. They're Yokahama's, and when I checked the max pressure on the sidewall it said 40 PSI, but 29 still seems way low to me. My Gen II tires were rated at 44 max pressure, and I typically ran them at 42/40. I aired my Yokahamas up to 39/37, but I need to read up on the optimal pressure for the factory tires.
    • I think I hear the battery pack intake fan a lot more than I did in my Gen 2.
    • I hear some sort of whine or drone when I'm electric-only at low speeds. It sounded like electrical noise coming thru the audio system, but then it occurred to me it might be intentional external noise to alert pedestrians that a hybrid is creeping up on them. Want to check that out.
    Thanks for all the advice and commentary here. A part of me wishes I'd bought the new car, but pulled the trade-in offer and handled the sale myself. But done is done. Moving forward!
     
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  17. JC91006

    JC91006 Senior Member

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    Why do people accept crazy offers from dealers yet ask an arm and a leg from a private party?

    Surely someone here would've benefited from a $650 car. Who would've known you would come down from $4000 to $650
     
    roflwaffle likes this.
  18. dragonrand

    dragonrand Junior Member

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    Ouch. But fair.

    Think buyer's remorse will let me go back to the dealer and say I want to pay the difference and buy my car back?