Aloha! 2015 plug in I’m looking at has 79,000 miles. Runs like a top, but battery does not go over 18% charge after running for 15 mins in maintenance mode. Also, Carfax shows one owner, only 57,000 miles, no oil changes, just emissions checks. Toyota offered free oil/filter changes for two years on this car. Body, paint, interior are perfect. Title is good. Any opinions on battery and Carfax info appreciated! PEH
The system only partially charges the battery when not moving. The accurate look at it is when driving and it can take 5 miles or so. Don't drive in maintenance mode. Carfax would show free dealer oil changes. A lot of other places or diy do not report to carfax. There is no legal requirement to report to carfax. A comprehensive set of records in a folder or in carfax is good. However the lack of records proves nothing. The best indicator is if the engine does not burn oil in 5,000 miles.
sounds like a gem! I would plug it in and see how far you can go on battery until the engine comes on. you should get a good 10-15 miles on back roads around 30mph
2015 should not burn any oil at all. It needs to take a long offramp while braking and it should come back to life in the low 20% SOC. These factory Lithiums last forever and then some.
I believe they changed the rings out in Feb 2014 so they don't burn any oil. If that's true, I agree with that second part for sure. It sits at 20-27.5 SOC relatively all the time, it's barely working!
Yes, the plugin battery does not have a charge mode as gen 4 PHV does. You can only charge the hybrid battery (word confusion caused by Toyota themselves) on these vehicles. Use a basic scan tool to check Voltage and especially charge/discharge currents (measured in kW). For the hybrid battery, all Prius generations can charge this one on demand with shift in P and brake held down, then apply gas.
'Looking at?' The car might be a gem - might not. With only 80K on the odometer you have a pretty good chance to put lunar mileage on this car without much muss or fuss. You should not worry about the Li-Ion battery....much. No.....they do NOT last forever!! NOT EVEN CLOSE. Calendars and charge-discharge cycles are still a 'thing' with these battery types! HOWEVER (comma!!!!) The 2015 PiP is as close to being a non-plug-in car as you can get - and if you only use the battery as a spit can for your regenerative braking you're still going to have a very fuel efficient car at (hopefully) a bargain price, and the 4.4kw Lithium battery will easily outlast the Nickel-Metal Hydride (NiMH) hybrid traction battery that comes in the 2015 wireless Priuses. Besides....how many miles can you PUT on one of these things in Hawaii??!! Range anxiety isn't going to be much of a problem for YOU - but manage those expectations wisely!!!! DO NOT confuse a 2015 Plug-in Prius with a real PHEV. The EPA-estimated electric-only range for the 2015 Toyota Prius Plug-in is 11 miles under "blended" operation AND real-world conditions (like......elevation changes!) sometimes means that all-electric operations are 'significantly' less than those 11 miles before the gasoline engine turns on. In ANY Prius the car stops being a car if the traction (big) battery fails.......and the PiP battery is "probably" a little more expensive than the wireless model's NiMH battery - but it will last a lot longer before it stops being enough of a battery normal ops. Good Luck! Hope it works out!!
