Mixed Messages on Gen 3

They aren't all bad. Not even most of them.

But the ones available for purchase aren't so hot, which is exactly why they're available. Everyone is clinging to the good ones.

Used cars are in short supply overall. Good used cars are still getting very high prices. Add in that a Prius is a sophisticated car with a lot of technology, making it harder for an inpsector (lay or professional) to sort the good ones from the bad ones, and you get the current situation.

So it's easy to produce an article that truthfully says "hey these cars are great, the stats say there aren't a lot of problems" but they're just looking at the raw fleetwide stats rather than focusing on the inventory actually available for purchase.

What you're reading here on Priuschat is almost the opposite: Lots of threads with results of people who are picking over the same few not-very-nice cars while everyone else whose car is running great has little need to ever post here.

Good luck!

 

I think the Gen two's are not too old anyway...find one with about 150k miles and you should be ok. Some here currently still prefer them over the Gen threes.

 

2014 w/120K miles for less that $6K sounds great. 2010-2013 seems to be the ones that blow their headgaskets prematurely. Also the cars that have piston rings go bad prematurely. Toyota made some incremental changes to 2014-2015 to address most of these problems, but they were NOT entirely resolved until 2016 when EGR system was put further downstream of the exhaust system.

Adding an oil catch can and regularly cleaning EGR system to this 2014 will probably address most of these issues.

How many mile a year do you drive? If it's not too much and 200K miles is years away then go for it. But it you can drive up to 200K miles in a year or so then maybe hold out for a 2016 or newer.

 

For a budget like yours and little mechanical ability, I'd advise you to straight up avoid the Prius and look for something simple like a Corolla. Every mechanic in town knows how to fix them, and also how to spot problems in them before you buy, should you hire one for a pre-purchase inspection.

With gasoline prices as low as they are right now, the extra fuel costs are pretty small vs. the risk of expensive failure in a complicated car, at least until you are driving a zillion miles a year.

 

That's not nothing, but for many drivers the real savings a Prius gives you don't arrive until you're driving upwards of 15,000 miles per year. And that's for a new one with extremely little likelihood of an expensive problem.

Also consider that while Prius mechanics are easy to find near home, it'll be the opposite when you are out on your trips.

 

I'm same but opposite... Up in the Seattle area and elderly parents in California and 2400 mile round trip... Prius are great cars for taking the cost and hassle out of dealing with elderly parent visits. And freeway driving puts way less wear and tear on the the car than driving in SF Bay area traffic commuting long distances every work day and parking in a big parking lot with no shade is really hard on a hybrid car.

All that being said, let talk more about this 2014 with only 120K... Why is the price so low? We'd like to help you decide on if that's the right car to buy so please give us as many details as possible!

 

My other advice for Prius-shopping: buy the youngest one you can afford and ignore the odometer, for the most part. Prius hybrid batteries will go bad over time whether you use them or not, so get a fresher one that has more future utility left.

As far as catalysts go- I understand the one in the 2nd generation cars was particularly desirable due to its large size and relative ease of access.

It's smaller in the newer models, and at least somewhat harder to get to.

 

Gen2 Prius take less than 60 seconds to steal a cat... Gen3 and Gen4 are much more difficult to steal and were mostly done mistakenly because thieves didn't realize that the Gen2 cats are the ones with the most precious metal in them. In general we're past the cat theft days because all the primary buyers got taken out so thieves can't find people to turn them into cash quickly anymore.

Once you get the VIN# it'd be worth paying to get the service history through car fax business, but first try to enter Vin # at Toyota Owners Portal & Account Access | Toyota.com because they'll have the same information for free.

If the engine was replaced we definitely need more vehicle history information. It'd be ideal if the engine swap was done recently...

 

Yep... When you're dealing with parents that are starting to fall apart with old age you need those visits to feel as affordable and effortless as possible because there's already going to be lots of stress in having to watch parents get old and deteriorate. Also if you can drive mostly at night that can greatly limit the wear and tear on the vehicle in the Southwest.

 

Turd gens are ticking time now. Go with a 4th gen with bat man tail lights or gasser. If you don’t want to wrench away on the turd gen, stay away.

 

If you get a 3rd gen get a 2015, that's the only year that got revised piston rings and that seems to have increased reliability of the engine. But that does nothing for the potential brake booster issues. The holy grail prius would be a 2022 as that was the last year of the 4th gen, not much that can go wrong with those but they are pretty pricey for a used prius.

 

^ Hoo boy…

 

maybe he means that it has the updated pistons and rings. some '14's got them.

 

If some 2014s have them we'd want to find out the month that started and OP will need to check the date of manufacture sticker on the driver's door frame edge...

 

The attached TSB has a specific VIN, when the change happened. I believe @rjparker has a graphic that further clarifies it.