2005 285,000 miles

The car was designed with a service life of 180k miles. This car is half through it's 2nd life.

Any major failure can cost you $4000. So if a major failure comes up in 10,000 miles, your car suddenly became a $9000 car with almost 300,000 miles

 

imo, yes. but if you like project cars, the only problem is the price,

 

If I were a dealer looking out for my best interest, I wouldn't stop you from buying the car. It's like having a potential $4000+ customer in the very near future.

If you're in the Los Angeles area and like project cars, I know of a 2005 with 400k miles on it for $2000......less the hv battery that I bought and a failed transaxle.

 

Not original battery doesn't mean anything. Anybody can replace a module.

If you have a tight budget, I would suggest you don't buy a Prius with high mileage. They can be very problematic and very expensive to fix. It's a roll of the dice and you don't want to crap out when you get a 7

 

Are these cars all you can afford or qualify for on credit? because if you bought an 08 medium mileage Prius, and simply used it for the trip, reliability would be much more secure and you could likely make most of your money back after you get your plug in hybrid. Of course I say this without knowing your situation.

As for the 01, not comfortable for a long trip. Not recommended.

I would look for a Gen II with less than 130k miles with a good maintenance record.

 

I would not buy a high mileage Prius for an imminent road trip, too many unknowns.

 

I agree with bisco and recommend always having a couple extra modules on hand for any long road trip involving a hybrid. If your battery fails it'd be easier to do a Band-Aid swap on the modules (assuming that module failure is the problem) than be forced to tow the car or take it to a dealership. It would also be wise to purchase an OBD II to self diagnose or to use as a preventative tool.
Jessica

 

OMG, what a downer that would be.....

"Kids you go off to Disneyland, I'll stay behind to do open heart surgery on this battery to get us home"

 

you've got a good point. i was thinking, take the rental.

 

A car with nearly 300,000 miles, the most reliable thing on there will probably be the HV battery. Everything else is a wear part that can break.

Just a few things that can break

AC is most likely leaking, so you might have no AC in the middle of your trip
Inverter pump
Inverter
Engine/transaxle/hv battery

 

If only everything was that easy to detect. We would all sell our cars before those components break

SM-N900P ?

 

I've done a few "emergency" jobs for people who are visiting Houston from the northern states and had their battery kick the bucket while here.

And no, the Prius will not be safely drivable after the HV battery dies. Just. Don't. Do. It.

In your case, I'd would probably buy the car (if a better deal didn't present itself), buy the OBD II some spare modules and tools, get it professionally checked out and maybe get AAA, lol. Then, I'd fix it up and flip it when I got home! That's just me though...

Jessica

 

You can always buy the car and put an ad on craigslist for travel companions. They'll chip in for gas and help push the car when it breaks

 

$2K