Buying a 2012

It depends on the deal and how many miles a year you put on. If its clean and on the bottom end of the KBB private party value (assuming it is a private party), then yes I might buy it. Especially if you are looking at 10k miles a year or less and expect to get rid of it at 150-175k max. The smart move is to take it to a trusted and qualified mechanic who knows Prius vehicles and pay a couple of hundred to check it out. They might use the "Dr Prius" app to get an idea about the high voltage battery condition, probably more important than the oil burning for most people. They might pull the spark plugs (an effort on these cars) and check for signs of oil burning. Some people think cleaning the egr cooling tube (not used on the Gen 2) and installing an oil catch can (see NutzaboutBolts on youtube) can prevent a head gasket failure later on. Brake actuators are another recurring issue and for some reason Toyota has a special extended warrant on most gen 3s but not on Prius v's which are also Gen 3s. My advice to most Prius owners is to sell in that 150-175k range before significant issues can be expected. But for every major maintenance item there are maybe 25 that have no issues at 200k. I NutzAboutBolts - YouTube

 

I had our 2010 lift back through 200k miles before I sold it to help someone out.

Otherwise I'd still have it.

Don't forget what you read here are the small sample size compared to the larger whole. If you want to take the number of members here and compare that to the number of Prii manufactured, it's a single digit percentage.

A Prius is one of the most reliable cars out there. As any car ages and approaches lunar mileage, you'll have issues. Some auto manufacturers are lucky to get to 200k miles with some of their product offerings.

I'd get it checked out and if you have to add a little oil every so often, I'd take that over some of the other issues that could arise.

 

I agree with Ray BUT you need to know what to ask for in an inspection. Not doing an inspection by a qualified Prius mechanic is risky. The gen 2 had no egr cooler to clog and was not known for oil burning with its 1.5L engine. The batteries did go out in gen 2 as well as gen 3 but the prices for new are about half of what they used to be. As I said before, "But for every major maintenance item there are maybe 25 that have no issues at 200k." My bottom line is still plan on selling by 150-175k. If that means buying a lower mile car because of your miles per year then I would do that. Interestingly, Toyota improved the 1.8L by 2015 on oil burning and in 2020 they offer a 150,000 mile warranty on all new hybrid batteries. Those batteries are not really different, they just know how long they will statistically last. Toyota is going all in on hybrid technology instead of EVs so they are stepping up their hybrid warranty. Yesterday I heard from a dealer that soon even Tundras will have a hybrid option! Again, in my opinion, with the third gen Prius, one out of twenty five may have one or more expensive failures before 200k, that's only 4%. All bets are off after 200k.

 

My 2012 I bought with 108k and now I’m at 118k hasn’t burned anything oil wise. It’s been running great. But from my experience in higher miles it starts to burn oil more and more.

 

Take this with a smidgen of salt...

From reading here on and off for quite a few years,
I actually read much more "good" stories then "bad"

Yes, there are some killer threads that talk about oil burning, or egr issues, or head gasket problems, etc
but then there are many a thread that talk about 150k, 200k, 250k prius that only
had to have (much less too) work similar to the best non-hybrid car out there.

And furthermore, while most cars can make it to 100k now, not many other than toyota had them
cruising past 100k, even 500k 20, 30, 40 years ago, while american made were so lucky to get to 100k in that day.
Today, toyota still has the highest mileage vehicles out there on the roads,
and the Prius fam is second to none. (aside from some other toyota/lexus models)

Lots of in service Prius (taxis) even Prius "v" have made it to 500k plus (with some work)

just my opinions and my observations from here and on the webs

 

Good Idea........... I agree........ : )
I did the same thing... really didn't need another vehicle..... got mine with high miles.... motor still ok but has cc and did have plugged egr. 250,000 2013 and has had many repairs..... some under warranty.
Plus just lost high speed on the heater ac fan.