1. Attachments are working again! Check out this thread for more details and to report any other bugs.

Greetings from Japan

Discussion in 'Newbie Forum' started by Dust, Feb 11, 2008.

  1. Dust

    Dust New Member

    Joined:
    Feb 11, 2008
    4
    0
    0
    Location:
    Mito, Japan
    Vehicle:
    Other Non-Hybrid
    I am an English Teacher in Japan, and I have been trying to gather information about a 1998 Prius I am looking at buying. It’s got about 100K KM’s on it, and I decided to join up and see what info I can find. I am honestly just looking for cruise control install info, and any problems to watch out for.
     
    #1 Dust, Feb 11, 2008
  2. jackalope

    jackalope Member

    Joined:
    Jan 21, 2008
    101
    58
    2
    Location:
    Connecticut now but from Vermont
    Vehicle:
    2018 Tesla Model 3
    Model:
    N/A
    Depending on where you live you might not ever use cruise control. We lived in Nagoya and in 18 months never used cruise. Heck we almost never even used high beams ;)

    For buying used you might check into 3, 5, and 7 year old models. That is when shaken comes due and they go for very cheap prices.
     
    #2 jackalope, Feb 11, 2008
  3. Tideland Prius

    Tideland Prius Moderator of the North
    Staff Member

    Joined:
    Oct 2, 2004
    44,973
    16,195
    41
    Location:
    Canada
    Vehicle:
    Other Non-Hybrid
    Model:
    N/A
    You might wanna check the Yahoo! Prius Owners Group too. They have a larger 1st Gen owners base.
     
    #3 Tideland Prius, Feb 11, 2008
  4. Dust

    Dust New Member

    Joined:
    Feb 11, 2008
    4
    0
    0
    Location:
    Mito, Japan
    Vehicle:
    Other Non-Hybrid
    the 3,5, and 7 year old cars are out of my price range, the hatchbacks are going for $15K-up. The 98 I am looking at will be about 500,000 yen, or around $5000. What generation is the 1998? I am talking to someone on another website, and we can't figure it out. Toyota Prius 1998, Prius Navi package Grade - specs and pics at AMAYAMA.COM also, there are several different yahoo groups listed under the toyota prius, can you help me out with a name or a link?
     
    #4 Dust, Feb 11, 2008
  5. jackalope

    jackalope Member

    Joined:
    Jan 21, 2008
    101
    58
    2
    Location:
    Connecticut now but from Vermont
    Vehicle:
    2018 Tesla Model 3
    Model:
    N/A
    1998 (H10) is Gen 1. Toyota Prius - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

    If you can read some Japanese, Yahoo.co.jp auctions often has a lot of older cars for sale. For example I just searched and found this 2000 Prius (gen 1) with 73,650 km for 538,000 円 (reserve).

    Yahoo!¥ª¡¼¥¯¥·¥ç¥ó - ¼Ö¸¡¤¬Ä¶¤Ê¤¬¡Ã¤¤!¿Ãµ¤¤Î¥×¥ê¥¦¥¹¡ù¥Ñ¡¼¥ëG¥»¥ì¥¯¥·¥ç¥ó¡¦¥Ê¥ÓÉÕ    For a listing of all prii ¥×¥ê¥¦¥¹ < ¥È¥è¥¿ < ... < ¼«Æ°¼Ö¡¢¥ª¡¼¥È¥Ã¥¤ - Yahoo!¥ª¡¼¥¯¥·¥ç¥ó
    I am sure that you already know but the price of the car is probably the cheapest part of car ownership there ;)

    Cheers
     
    #5 jackalope, Feb 11, 2008
  6. Dust

    Dust New Member

    Joined:
    Feb 11, 2008
    4
    0
    0
    Location:
    Mito, Japan
    Vehicle:
    Other Non-Hybrid
    Yeah, I have a spreadsheet put together, and the road tax and inspection, as well as the $4 a gallon gas have been intregrated into it. I am looking at three cars really right now. A Turbo Diesel Mitsu Pajero Turbo-keiWagon R RR and a Prius. Based on 9500 km a year, and a projected gas price, the Prius will stay about $500 a year more costly than the Kei-car, and the turbo-diesel will go up $1000 a year related to the kei-car. I can email the spreadsheet if anyone is interested. Your link shows 538,000, but that doesn’t necessarily mean that it is the price you will buy the car for. For example, the 410,000 yen pajero I am looking at is priced at 320,000 yen. The rest they just stack on for inspection if it needs it, taxes, and a whole lot of other stuff. I was looking at a 250,000 yen Saturn, and the take home price was 500,000 yen. For example, this Prius, listed at 398,000 yen, is, if you read low, and see the 支払総額49万円, is actually 490,000 yen.
     
    #6 Dust, Feb 11, 2008
  7. jackalope

    jackalope Member

    Joined:
    Jan 21, 2008
    101
    58
    2
    Location:
    Connecticut now but from Vermont
    Vehicle:
    2018 Tesla Model 3
    Model:
    N/A
    It sounds like you are well informed. I recall that we paid about $2000 above the price of the car for all of the registration and other documents. Insurance was also fairly expensive.

    We also spent about $3000 in 18 months on tolls for the *not*freeways ;)

    kei will be a lot less expensive (and easier to resell) but are a bit scary at speed. The good thing is that with shaken used cars tend to be in very good shape. Our 7 year old Civic had about 6,000 miles on it and had the original tires. No problems in 18 months and we resold it for just a bit less than we purchased it.
     
    #7 jackalope, Feb 12, 2008
  8. Dust

    Dust New Member

    Joined:
    Feb 11, 2008
    4
    0
    0
    Location:
    Mito, Japan
    Vehicle:
    Other Non-Hybrid
    The gf and I often make trips from Ibaraki to Chiba or to Tsukuba, and the cruise control is one of the main reasons I am considering the Prius, if I can find a way to get cruise control installed.
     
    #8 Dust, Feb 12, 2008
  9. efusco

    efusco Moderator Emeritus
    Staff Member

    Joined:
    Nov 26, 2003
    19,891
    1,192
    9
    Location:
    Nixa, MO
    Vehicle:
    2004 Prius
    Model:
    N/A
    Here's the Yahoo! Group (Prius Mk1) that you really need to join and ask your questions at. We have no one, that I'm aware of, here that is a regular poster that drives a true 1st gen Prius like you're looking at. The Yahoo! group is well versed and very specialized in that particular model.
     
    #9 efusco, Feb 12, 2008
  10. ken1784

    ken1784 SuperMID designer

    Joined:
    Dec 18, 2003
    2,940
    1,365
    67
    Location:
    Yokohama, JAPAN
    Vehicle:
    2010 Prius
    Model:
    N/A
    Hello,
    If you can read/write Japanese, please visit following Prius Mania site...
    priusbbs.jonasun.com/c-board/c-board.cgi?cmd=tpc;id=nhw10

    Please be aware that the target 98 Prius has the Toyota warranty card and it was inspected for the annual HV battery check, then you'll receive the lifetime HV battery warranty for the NHW-10 Prius.

    Ken@Japan
     
    #10 ken1784, Feb 12, 2008
(You must log in or sign up to post here.)