Second car

Prius is a good option, really depends on your budget range. Gen 2 (04-09) would be my personal recommendation if you're looking in that ~$5k range or less. You can get a Gen 3 for that money, but they can suffer from some issues that would lead me towards not recommending one (IMHO).

If you're shopping with $10k+, a used Gen 4 would be my recommendation.

Gen 2's are solid, but they're getting older so there's stuff to look for.

• Rust of course.
• Brake actuator is another big one that's becoming a little more common as the cars get older, a used unit is like ~$300 I think? Can't remember how much they are from Toyota, but they ain't cheap. It's essentially a combination electronic brake booster/master cylinder/ABS
• Inverter pumps are a fairly common failure, but they're not hard to replace, it's just a 12V water pump. Only replace with OEM.
• They have a bit of an oil burning problem as they get older, mainly due to clogged oil control rings. This can be mitigated somewhat with regular synthetic oil changes, or maybe consider a flush (or run Valvoline R&P) if you're buying a neglected one.
• The rear axle is just thin steel. Something to look at since you're in a rust-prone area... i've seen a few that start getting pinholes in them and they become weak
• There's a capacitor on the gauge cluster on some cars that fails as it ages and the dash won't light up. If you can use a soldering iron, you can replace it yourself for a few bucks if it happens.

The battery is honestly not that big of an issue if you're DIY handy, which it sounds like you are. You can get a battery from a wrecked 2017 NiMH Prius from some junkyards for ~$4-500, swap out all the internals, and you're good to go for many years to come. You can also open them up and service them fairly easily, or do what I do and grab up a cheap one on marketplace when they come up for sale and rebuild it in your spare time, use it for parts, etc. The heat kills them, which it doesn't get very hot in Northern Michigan anyway, but make sure you clean the battery fan if you buy one.

I hate to say mileage is irrelevant, but these things are like cockroaches if you keep oil in them and stop the rust. Transmission failures are so rare I've only ever seen a handful on the forum, and I'd wager like half of those are from people improperly towing it. It's still a car at the end of the day, so stuff like control arm bushings, shocks, etc. Usual used car stuff. Many of us are in the 299,999+ mile club (early gauge clusters don't go past that number). You can also pick yourself up a bluetooth OBD2 reader and the Dr Prius app to read Hybrid system codes (red Triangle on the dash) that most normal scanners won't pick up or read properly.

What? Tesla only owns and operates Tesla Superchargers (and destination chargers, which are usually free anyway), not all public charging infrastructure. Even *if* you did buy a used Tesla, you would presumably just charge at home, like you should be doing with any EV in the first place (you can also choose to use non-tesla charging infrastructure with an adapter). And since you have a second car, you'd presumably never use it on trips, so you wouldn't interact with public charging probably ever during your ownership of the car.