Possible Purchase

A 2017 should generally be good for 250k to 300k miles, but the HV battery may or may not last that long. This is only a 6 year old car and the HV battery should still have life in it as time is more important than miles. The HV battery in a 2017 2 wheel drive Prius is lithium and I have not heard of many early failures.

Watch for a coolant leak in the heat exchanger that is part of the catalytic assembly (many have leaked). The heat exchanger can be bypassed (there are instructions here on PC) inexpensively. It's only purpose is to speed up the engine warm up cycle. The high miles are not an issue (except for suspension wear)

JeffD

 

and if you do need a major repair, it will be expensive unless you can diy.

 

It's actually not a transmission in the normal sense, there are no gears or any shifting. You can think of it as an eCVT (electronic CVT) but it's actually called a Power Split Device (PSD) by Toyota. You can Google/Youtube this term for more information, but it might cause your head to explode with concept and detail.

The only maintenance required is a fluid change, and this should have been done by 195K miles, but unless you can find documentation of the service, you should plan on doing it. The spark plugs should also be changed by 195K miles.

Two coolant reservoirs, one for the gas engine and one for the electronics should be filled to the MIN line (COLD) with clear/not cloudy Pink Toyota Pre-Mixed Coolant only. Do not cheap out with off-brand.

Engine oil is printed on the fill cap, usually 0W-20 or 0W-16. This will be full-synthetic. You can go 10K miles between changes, but the car will remind you with a "maintenance due" message every 5K miles because Toyota wants you to rotate tires and do fluid level checks every 5K miles. It's a simple miles counter that you can reset from the steering wheel buttons.

 

the transaxle has been near bulletproof in every generation.

very few reports of sudden battery failure. typically, the battery gauge starts acting wonky because the battery capacity is so low, the charge discharge cycles are very short.
then, a cell goes outside parameters and you get a warning light.
eventually, you have to clear the code to start it, and sooner or later, you won't be able to drive it, but it is usually a drawn out process.

lrr tires are probably good for 3-5 mpg, and some non lrr tires are good for losing 3-5mpg

all the gen 4 idiosyncrasies are minor, like the infotainment screen constantly rebooting,funny vision through the windscreen, peeling steering wheels, stuff like that. the heat exchanger is the only major one i can think of, which has led to some blown head gaskets due to running low on coolant, and the warning light doesn't come on until it's too late.

 

All the fluids should be checked every 5k, among other things in the maintenance schedule.
That’s why the reminder comes up on the screen.
Oil level when refueling or once a week until you’re comfortable with it, then slowly extend the frequency

 

Toyota.com/owners, you can plug in the vin.

gen 4 got different batteries based on package.
You can find the specs pinned in the main forum I think

 

Gen 4 is a much better option than a gen 3...they rival the reliability of the Gen 2. If you can DIY a Prius is a good choice. New suspension at $700 in parts????? and if you can do that yourself and the heater bypass you should be good. The other thing is how is interior stains? smoked in? cig burns?. cloth or softex? How bad is the UBER bodily fluid smells? . A carpet shampoo and OZONE treatment along with filling the car with wet newspaper and letting it bake in the sun for a few days works well also. I passed on a few cars that still smelled like shampoo and puke...just be careful. LRR tires are a must IMHO..most Uber drivers privately take good care of the cars because it is their livelihood.

 

The overwhelming factor to me is a clean 2017 for $7000 asking price. Plus shouldn’t be a salvage title.

 

Way low these days I think. I think you see what dealers ask even with high miles. 17 is when they started many of the new safety features.

 

great price compared to this:yes, gen 3 was an anomaly.
Several expensive issues