Advice on a prius 3 purchase?

it is a huge concern, and no, there is no way.

make sure the owner is referring to the hybrid battery, that it is new oem, get the receipt and contact the dealer for confirmation.

old prius need a lot of work. do you know a good prius mechanic? dealers are expensive and will rip you off every chance they get.

 

Yes, engine could be knackered: runaway oil consumption, and/or failing head gasket. Especially if it’s only been dealer serviced, owner being hands-off.

 

Depends on where the miles come from. If it was mostly freeway miles and was well maintained there's several years or more left in the car. If there's signs of a lack of maintenance and it was used as an Uber in a major city, probably gonna have more problems.

 

If you have $5000 for a car, don't buy a $5000 car. There will almost always be something coming up that needs repair or maintenance so don't spend your entire amount on the car with nothing left for emergencies. Especially an older Prius which repairs are more costly than gas powered cars.
Find a good running Corolla or a Honda Civic would be a safer bet.

 

Scotty Kilmer says highway miles are equivalent to about 10% of city mileage. So he might say 241,000 highway miles are equivalent to 24,100 miles in the city so it could still run perfectly fine. With a gen3 Prius, miles are miles and 241,000 on the odo is only worth $5k with a recent replacement engine AND a four year old Toyota battery.

The 2010-14's have poor pistons, rings, defective brake pumps/master cylinders and flaky inverters. The egr design is bad and clogs. The rings frequently cause excessive oil consumption and blown head gaskets. The head gaskets slowly die leading some engines to hydrolock and throw rods. Even with a new head gasket, poor rings remain so the better repair is another engine, ideally completely rebuilt.

Budget conscious buyers should consider a Corolla, Civic or Camry with reasonable miles. Exclude the 2007-2010 Camrys which also have bad rings.

 

Matrix is a great first car, really like its design. It's a very well-made and reliable car with 25-35mpg.

Posted via the PriusChat mobile app.

 

if you’re looking to save money in the long run and avoid headaches, this is not the car to buy. If the Prius bug bit ya and there’s no cure, save another $5,000 then buy a high mileage prius. Saving gas costs a lot of money.

 

Stands for Original Equipment Manufacturer I believe. Colloquially means “stock” or “Toyota”, as opposed to after-market.

 

Here we have one more.
OE (Original Equipment). Those are factory parts made by manufacturer. Sold by dealer.
OEM (Original Equipment Manufacturer). Those are same parts as above but not for factory. Sold by manufacturer.
Aftermarket. They have rights to produce parts but quality depends.

So in a nutshell: OE>OEM>Aftermarket

 

Original Equipment Manufacture
as opposed to after-market part which are most often way less expensive and sometimes lower quality.

Finding a friend or local mechanic who can work with you to keep this car on the road for lowest repair expense possible is essential.

Taking this car to a dealership for repairs will quickly cost more than what you paid for it cause dealerships don't need to save customers money to maintain customer loyalty.

 

they’ll tell you the things you want to hear to sell you their car even if it’s not true.

 

Trusting people is always the best way to start... If they start throwing red flags/information doesn't add up then trusting them less is wise. But whatever you do don't think everyone is evil and out to ruin you because what you pay attention to is what you get more of.

 

A media article on three reasons to think twice. He neglects the master cylinder fiasco and misses the 2014s with the same issues. Notice the hv battery is not even mentioned because everyone knows about that concern and it costs less than these problems.

3 Reasons To Steer Clear Of A 2010-2013 Toyota Prius | Torque News

 

this is the 1st major publisher that actually talks about the egr issue so I’ll bite that this is an accurate review.