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Advice on buying a 2002 Prius

Discussion in 'Gen 2 Prius Main Forum' started by econgrad, Jul 3, 2007.

  1. econgrad

    econgrad New Member

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    so I'm new to this group, but was hoping I could get a very quick answer to a question about buying a 2002 Prius. The car is at a good price, but there is a possible risk involved which is beyond my automobile understanding.

    First of all, the current owner bought it at auction from a local government. The owner took it in to Toyota and they told her it needed new oxygen sensors, which she never bought. She says that it runs great in spite of this, still gets good mileage, and that I'm welcome to take it to a mechanic to get it out checked out before I buy it (which I'll do).

    I know the general gist of what oxygen sensors do, but is there any way that needing new ones could cause permanent damage to the car? How much might they cost to replace? I saw them online for about a 100 bucks, but not sure it's so simple and cheap to replace.

    The car has a 110,000 miles or so on it. Also, she says it's missing the 'hybrid sitcker' inside the door, which gave her a bit of trouble with the title. The car has a clean record, no accidents (according to Carfax).

    Anyways, sorry for the long first post. I think the owner genuinely thinks it's a good buy and she was up front with me about all of this information. Any advice and answers to the questions above would be greatly appreciated. Thanks!
     
    #1 econgrad, Jul 3, 2007
  2. JimN

    JimN Let the games begin!

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    <div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(econgrad @ Jul 3 2007, 04:03 AM) [snapback]472128[/snapback]</div>
    Welcome to the site. Since I'm not a mechanic I'm not going to be much help. I believe a bad O2 sensor will cause a rich fuel/air mixure. The car should run poorly before any damage is accumulated. Don't know about the "hybrid sticker". Is that a state specific thing? At 110,000 miles the car is just starting to get broken in. Taxi fleets have more than doubled that mileage without major repairs. What is the current owner's "good mileage"? Keep in mind that fuel economy is VERY dependant on driver ability and terrain. In last month's rally there was an approximate 20mpg swing (60's to 40's) between best & worst for the Prius. Same terrain, basically the same cars. Good luck.
     
    #2 JimN, Jul 4, 2007
  3. econgrad

    econgrad New Member

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    <div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(JimN @ Jul 3 2007, 11:10 PM) [snapback]472754[/snapback]</div>

    thanks for your reply. I appreciate your input. She didn't specify a number for the gas mileage. In case it informs anyone, I called a toyota dealership about the O2 sensors. The guy who services prius pretty much doubted my claim that they were broken; he says that he has never had to replace O2 sensors in a Prius-- he doesn't even bother to have the parts around to do it. He also added that the check engine or some light would go on as a warning, and the owner said that there are no warning lights on. He did say however that if it goes bad, they'd be about 240 bucks a piece to replace, and broken ones can lead to possible damage to the catalytic convertor, a more expensive repair. He reiterated that he thought it was an unlikely dysfunction.

    I think the car will be good purchase if the owner doesn't sell it to someone else before I can get to her town. It's at a great price and I'm excited about the possibility of getting an environmentally friendly-fuel efficient car. Hope it works out!
     
    #3 econgrad, Jul 4, 2007
  4. onlynark

    onlynark Member

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    has it been any accidents or floods? Did u get a carfax report?
     
    #4 onlynark, Jul 4, 2007
  5. burns_fisher

    burns_fisher Burns

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    I have an 02 Prius that I love. Makes sense to me that the O2 sensor failure would give you a warning light, but I am no expert here.

    02 was (I think) the first year that had side air bags available, but they were optional. I don't know how much that matters to you, but you might like to know if it has them or not. (All Priuses have left and right front air bags). Also, 02 made cruise control, Navigation, and Daytime Running Lights optionally available. Same thing.

    I hope you are able to get it, and have fun!
     
    #5 burns_fisher, Jul 4, 2007
  6. econgrad

    econgrad New Member

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    <div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(nark @ Jul 4 2007, 05:52 AM) [snapback]472834[/snapback]</div>

    Yep, the carfax report is clean. Good point about the floods though. I recently read an article about used vehicles flooded by Katrina making their way for sale around the country. Cars don't seem to recover well from flooding.

    <div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(Burns @ Jul 4 2007, 07:49 AM) [snapback]472845[/snapback]</div>
    Thanks! The price is cheap enough that I'm not anticipating there being many options installed, but I'll ask about all of the above. By Thursday I'll have a chance to buy it if it's still there. I'll let you all know how it goes..Thanks for the help
     
    #6 econgrad, Jul 4, 2007
  7. Jack Kelly

    Jack Kelly New Member

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    I loved my Blue Moon Pearl, bought new (for $18 K!) and driven trouble-free for 55K mi. before being sold (for $16K!).

    But you've got a tricky situation, and you may or may not want to go to the trouble to look into one or more of these questions:

    After (presumably) a government agency owned, drove and (maybe) serviced it, for how long/how many miles has the woman owned it? If only 10-30K, why is she dumping it?

    If car servicing was done by the jurisdiction that owned it (it cvould have been subbed to dealers after warranties expired, and likely was the whole time since it was a Prius, even if "standard" cars weren't. Assuming SOMEONE serviced it, did the woman get copies of those records when she bought it? If not, can you contact the jurisdiction and see if they still have any record(s) of it, possibly on computer?

    O2 sensors, as stated, may or may not be a big deal. But you can't just "take it to a mechanic" to check that. You'll probably have to take it to a Prius tech (meaning a dealer) and have more than the O2 situation assessed---unless galaxee hops in here and says otherwise. B) You should have malfunction codes read and other testing equipment used that no ordinary mechanic has access to.

    Does the woman have any maintenance records during her term of ownership?

    I worked for government agencies my whole career, and saw how vehicles were driven and serviced when driven by a variety of employees. Some government vehicles are badly abused, a few actually babied. You have no way of checking that out.

    Don't mean to sprinkle water on your parade (I well know what it's like to get the bug), but you aren't looking at an ordinary "second owner" scenario.

    Good luck!
     
    #7 Jack Kelly, Jul 4, 2007
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