I should have said I am "" buying "" the car. My parents would probaby just give it to me, but I am " buying " it so my mom actually goes out and finally buys something nice for herself.
this was quite a thread, i don't envy oral surgeons. all the best with your new to you prius! 2008 was a beast, you should get many happy years out of it.
I have to respectfully disagree with this. I just saw 6 ( six ! ) gen 3 Prius in less than 15 minutes. Two were even parked beside each other, with a third parked around 75 feet from the others. 2011 - 14 and one 2015 ( based on tail light design. ) I got home to my apartment and noticed my neighbor has blue 2012 ish.. I look up to see another driving by. And then I noticed my neighbor on the other building also has one too. On a daily basis, I will see at the very least two to three drive by on the road behind the store where I work. Perhaps they sell to all the suckers here in Austin. BTW, there also happens to be a fellow that has a gen 1 Prius and I see him regularly on the same road behind the store. ( Just thought that was pretty cool to see it .) Believe it or don't, I see about twice as many 3rd gen as 2nd gen cars around here. Does that mean they are reliable cars since I see so many ? Of course not. But it is an honest observation. EDIT : I tried to add a "quote " from a previous reply from Rj Parker, but it didn't attach for some reason This was my reply to what wad said. I'll try and reattach it somehow
Editing is time limited, maybe hit report button, explain to our tireless moderator. I concur, 3rd gen will rise from the ashes, of untested, rushed=to-market EGR, head gaskets, piston rings and brake boosters. They will prevail, in spite of Toyota. a little optimistic perhaps, but what the heck.
I found out my dad's car has just over 170k miles on it. The battery is tired, Everything from the headlights to the interior display are worn and aged. I had no idea it was in such rough shape. My mom had told me it had almost 100k miles. She meant to say 200k. I gave her the money I was going to use for a car for myself, and she bought a better car. That's what counts. Unfortunately, now I have no money to buy one for myself. Besides battery issues, what else is going to fail soon on this car, and is it going to cost more to fix it than what it is worth ?
I guess people are not used to honesty on car forums where they expect to see fanboys. If the car runs now without codes, you have two options. One is clean it up nice (they do usually have good paint and interiors) and sell it. Buy a conventional Corolla or Civic to replace it. You get decent mpg and any shop can fix it with parts from O'Riellys. The second option is to clean it up, change the two coolant system fluids, change the engine and transaxle oils, change the brake by wire "brake booster" fluid and start a car repair savings fund. Start looking for small independent Prius shops to save half or more vs a dealer or Bearden Automotive. Don't take it on any roadtrips and have insurance that includes towing. Personally I did both in a manner of speaking. Three years ago we traded a 2017 Honda for a 22 Rav4 Hybrid but we also have resources to maintain our gen3 Prius v outside of the dealer environment. That does not have to mean quality compromises when oem hv batteries are available elsewhere and brake boosters, inverters and misc parts can be obtained for as much as 50% less from online Toyota dealers while on sale.
