2006 Prius Advice. bay area california.

IMHO you need to learn more about this car and gen 2 cars before making the commitment. First off, find a shop that is familiar with these cars and reasonable. Ask for a price to evaluate a car, replace a battery, ABS pump, inverter cooling pump front wheel bearings and touch screen. Those are good indicators and common failures for gen 2. Explain you are new in these cars and want one but need to find a shop you can rely on. Also, look into these failure issues and understand what is involved so you can show respect for the shop you pick.
This car, again IMHO, is not ready for a decision. You need to have someone experienced evaluate it. You didn't say anything about either battery condition, noises when driving or fluid leaks. I would keep looking, and tell the seller you are still looking as honesty is a great negotiating tool. All this is worth zero but is a start to your education.
Now the valuable part, skip the TPMS sensors. Buy a tire pressure gage and check them and oil level every month.

 

yeah that's way overpriced. If you need assurances that you won't get buyer's remorse then PriusChat is the best way to go but I'd say there might be other good deals for $6.5k other than a Prius with a broken console screen. With a used car, especially the Prius your luck depends on the quality of the goats and chicken you offered for sacrifice before the purchase (all about luck) nobody can predict when will that $2-3k HV battery will fail or the main ticket like ABS actuator will fail. If you're a DIY then at least you got 50% of the stuff covered..

 

Co part searches etc . Sounds like one of my 700 cars . You can do way better.07 to 09 loaded leather is what you looking that will mean you getting upper trim for You're money. I buy these all time . Have tow yards that call me wen they pick up. And I'm not dealer or anything like that.

 

With all respect, I would suggest avoiding a used Prius unless you want to spend a lot of time learning about these very complex vehicles. You can learn how to work on them and fix them but its not easy. You might get lucky with this one because its one owner and low miles, but after 40,000 more miles max you almost certainly will have a lot of issues. The price is high because that's how the car market still is today. Me, personally, I would buy this car for $3500-$4000 but I don't need a car. If you can accept that this car will need work, will not be "reliable" and that once you get it you're just starting the process, and you don't mind paying today's prices, then get it. But don't think you are getting a car you "don't have to worry about" or spend any money on. Good luck.

 

i just got 7k on my 2012 trade in. cali sure is a different beast. the price is only relative to what else is available in your area.

it's likely a great car, but you should be aware that expensive things can happen. cetainly the battery is due, and the brake actuator a future possibility.
reliability at 17 years old can't be guaranteed

 

Does it really need to be a Prius? You can buy a nice dependable gaser for that kind of money, without all the expensive headaches involved - especially if you don't know how to wrench on cars yourself. As you stated yourself; they ran over things and wack the curb a lot; so the suspension is probably pretty banged up - possibly needing wheel bearings and suspension parts - in the near future. The Cat-shield rattling is not a good sign - mine doesn't rattle, scrape, or ping - no matter how bad I abuse it...

Just my 2-cents...... It's your money, spend it on whatever makes you happy...

 

I would pass on this one. Too many issues for the price. You are buying a beater car. It has not been very well maintained and down the road who know what will show up. It was driven, just not maintained very well.
I have worked on cars all my life and the Prius I got for free was well maintained until the previous owner who just drove it. I have the usual problems, which quite frankly were very simple fixes for me(Plugs, wires, filters). At 220K so far I have only really had to replace the inverter water pump, which was quite easy to do.
Youtube has a ton of videos for fixing these cars, plus you need to by a good OBDII diagnostic module. A $30 module doesn't cut it. I bought an Autotel and love it. You need to learn how to wrench a car as even minor repairs that can be a simple fix can cost you.

 

BUY A COROLLA

 

But don't be surprised when the front bumper cover pops out on one side or the other. 2012 model and similar. Any sort of front end damage, no matter how minor, will put too much stress on the retaining mechanism in the corner and it will pop loose or break off the retaining plastic over and over again. They will break just even without overt damage. It is a well known (if minor) problem:

Help! Corolla loose Front Bumper Cover | Toyota Corolla Forum