Some questions, Or " A Dummy's guide to Hybrids."

If you want to step from a “conventional” ICE into a hybrid. The post 2020 gen4’s will do very nicely.

 

A gen3 from 2010-2015 over 100k miles has a high potential for being a mistake. Flawed rings (revised by 2015), brake booster, egr and inverter designs are responsible for head gaskets. blown engines, unsafe brakes and sudden stranding with little independent shop support. Clearly the worst Prius design in terms of reliability and ongoing maintenance.

It does not matter if the car was maintained at the dealer since new. Every week we see many blown head gaskets or engines with holes in the block. One of the threads today has 97k miles of dealer maintenance with a blown head gasket. Dealer wants $6,900. Another thread this week out of DFW has a blown engine because of the oil burning rings; that dealer quoted $12,000.

The brake by wire system had an extended warranty program because of flawed design. The class action suit remedy has expired. Now the brake booster system is the owners problem in most cases at $2,500. If they can find a part.

Keep the nice car in the drive and pay the extra $75-$100 a month in gas.

Why anyone would overpay for a 2010-2015 Prius today and still be likely to see repeated significant failures is beyond me. A 2015 is slightly better with revised pistons and rings. A 2016 and up is far better except for the 2016-2017 Prius v wagon which is still a gen3.

 

i can't compare, but yes, salt is a uge problem here

 

welcome!

there's a lot to learn about hybrids before making the leap. do you intend serious diy? if not, you'd be smart to find a hybrid mech before buying a car. they are hard to come by, and dealers are outrageous.

what is your budget? what year/miles can you find for that?

is the ct engine the same as gen 3 prius? if so, you need to keep the egr circuit clean and add an oil catch can. a lot of labor, but not much for parts.

i was interested in the ct at one time, but size and mpg turned me off. seems like a nice car though.

all the best!

 

you will enjoy a prius then. look into mini vci and tech stream for computer diagnoses. it will do the electronics for you, and guide you through the service manual trouble shooting.

there is a ton of expert advice available here, and lots of salvage parts everywhere.

beware of gen 2 oil burners, but if you can confirm low miles, you should be fine.

you might also consider a gen 3, and put a salvage gen 4 engine in if needed at some point.

 

Don't do it unless you like financial and mental PAIN....................

 

Imho, check out the 2018+ Camry Hybrid. It's bigger, much more comfortable, and will last for many miles.

A Prius is nice. But, in terms of comfort ride and space, a Camry is far better than a Prius.
A Prius is nice if you want/require a hatchback. Or, if you want better gas mileage, or a lower cost (cost to buy, and gas use) than the hybrid Camry.

Fwiw, a plug-in(like a Prius Prime, or Rav4 Prime), or pure electric-vehicle(no gas engine at all), doesn't make sense for your use cases.

Good Luck!