Advice on purchase of 2011 Prius Five

Without seeing the vehicle or the carfax report, this could be a good buy. But with a hybrid, very low mileage isn't necessarily a good thing.

This car averaged around 6-7k miles a year. It might have sat around for periods at a time- not good for the hybrid battery. The traction (hybrid) warranty will expire sometime this year, which might be why the original owner sold or traded in this vehicle.

There is wear on the steering wheel, which is usually an indication of a higher mileage vehicle, so something might be fishy. Make sure you match the mileage with the carfax report over the past 7 years.

My personal preference would be to find a Prius that would have as much time as possible left on the 8/100k traction battery warranty. So, I would hold out for a newer model- but you'll also have many posters that disagree with me.

I'll let the more knowledgeable posters comment on how to check if an engine is burning oil during the inspection. The engine looking excellent could just mean it was cleaned and detailed. And there are different opinions whether the 2010-2011 models have an oil burning issue due to a design error, or if they simply have more miles on them.

 

Get a 2012 with slightly higher miles, avoid 10s and 11s if you have the budget. In your shoes, I'd get her a gas only vehicle if her commute aint far. Alternative option, honda civic hybrid. Personally I don't recommend prius and toyotas anymore to save headaches.

 

Welcome to Prius Chat .

Some questions:

• Why a Prius?
• What’s your budget?
• How long of a commute will your daughter have?
• How far away from home will she be?
• Does your husband DIY?

Answers to these will help us help you.

Keep us posted .

 

welcome!

who is selling it? history is very important.

do you know of a good hybrid repair shop, or will be taking to a dealer?

savvy dealers always make sure the inside is very clean, and no offense to your husband, but you can't tell much by looking at the engine.
with a prius, if there are problems, they are usually hidden. a compression test might help determine engine health, but if really only has 40,000 miles, you are a long way from oil burning problems, and proper maintenance may help to alleviate them.

 

If I may...I had to make a similar decision before sending my Son off to College "Part 2". I say "Part 2" because the drop-out rate for College Students during the first 2 years is >90%, so we had him do his BS 101 courses and get his AS locally first to make sure he could and would. During that time he used my VW TDI...which was NOT feasible for away College. Anyway, I have a 2010 Prius and traded the VW in on a 2015 Prius with the intent of rolling the 2010 down to him when he left. Well...I kept the 2010 for myself because I have a very nice custom sound system installed and did not want to go back to Toyota's crap systems...and let him use "my" 2015 to finish school. He graduates this month, already has a job set up and is ready to buy his own vehicle. If all goes as planned, I will remove the stereo from the 2010, install it in the 2015 and sell or trade the 2010 in to help him out.

The moral of my story is...the Toyota Prius is a very reliable car...but so are all Toyotas and Hondas in the category of College Car. Yes buying used presents unknowns with any vehicle, but if all you are just worried about is burning oil, teach her to check the oil and tires religiously so you don't get that "Hey Dad" phone call.

A late model Prius, Corolla, Civic and/or Fit should all be relatively safe purchases for your intended purpose...but "IF" you should get "that call"...the Prius will likely cost more to repair. Just my honest as another Dad.

 

Make sure the mileage of the vehicle is legit, there should not be much wear in a leather steering wheel with 40k miles on it

 

Unless it sat out in the hot sun beating on it all the time.

 

My 2010 leather steering wheel still looks pretty good after 8 years and 106k miles

If the owner wears a ring and always has their hand at one spot, it may affect it

 

If it sat out in the hot sun and wasn't in use very often, that would be bad for the battery. In that case, the premium charged for a low mileage hybrid wouldn't be worth it.

22 miles a day during weekdays- let's estimate 130 miles per week. That projects to 6.7k miles a year, which is probably high as it doesn't factor for time off between semesters. At that mileage, you won't save that much on gas unless you can be relatively certain that there won't be an expensive hybrid related repair.

That brings us to the important repair fund that will be available for the car. And that's also why I would look for a model that has time left on the traction battery warranty that could last throughout her time at school. With her projected miles so low, you should look for a 2014 at around 50k miles.

 

congrats, all the best!