Hey Prius Friends, I wanting to get a 2nd Gen. Prius for a while,but scared to do it. Most of the one I see are Over 200k mile or close to it. Price tag $4k to $6k . Are these a good Price or fair ? I hear the 2nd gen are very reliable than the 3rd Gen. Hope I get some Great advice and tip on this Forum. Thank you in advance.
2nd gen are great. trouble is, how do you know the service history? how do you know how much oil it is burning? can you afford to replace the battery or brake booster? newest is already 16 years old
Keep an eye out and towing lots places that tow vehicles and it's all down hill from they're . Typical scenarios are just replaced brake booster . And 8 weeks later hybrid batteries out. Paperwork mute be in glovebox . Etc this is my go to method for getting gen2 some tow lots call whilst enroute to pick one up.
If you can afford $6k, then a $4k car that ambushes you with $2k of work could be OK if that's the end of the troubles. But either battery or brake booster, if needed, are going to cost more than that, so good records and inspection sure seem important.
Where I live in North Carolina $6,000 will get you a very nice original condition loaded or as it came . Well maintained . Up to date . With whatever has been required to keep it properly on the road. Some maybe under 100 K but this is a stretch
Remember: a Prius saves you money at the gas pump IF you drive a lot of miles. If you don't plan on driving a lot, it can't save you much, and either way an older high-tech car will expose you to substantial risk of needing expensive repairs. So, do the math and make sure it's worth it.
are you a DIY person? do you know of a shop that you can trust and work on a hybrid? do you have extra $2-3k for a brake booster work or hybrid battery? do you really want an ugly, slow car? if you answer 4 yes out of 5 then go for it.. otherwise no.
Never have to worry about that car ever criminals won't be bothered . You could leave a 100K in my Prius daily with doors unlocked never miss 20 bux.. police will not interact with it . They get razzed by all their brethren for it . For life . That's exactly the vehicle I want . I arrive with in minutes of daily driven exotics . No tickets . No costs almost. Yep I'll take it.
Where are you located? Prius's are mechanically reliable but they will rust out like any other car. So if you are in a place with salted roads take that into consideration. If you are in a state where rust from road salt isn't an issue (California, Arizona, etc.) usually the car will at most have a tiny amount of surface rust, for instance, on the lowest parts of the suspension. If you see more than that assume the car was either flooded or is from a rust belt area, and walk away. I agree with the post above that the car will only really save you money (relative to a conventional reliable car like a Corolla) if you drive a lot. We are retired now and are not going on many long trips. My wife's Accord only gets 20 mpg, less than half what the Prius returns, but also only uses a tank of gas once a month or so.
