Are these true drawbacks of a Toyota prius or just myths?

I'd suspect a prospective purchaser of a 2001 Prius is not comparing it to vehicles of the same age but rather vehicles of the same price. If not why not?

Well you need to look at total cost of ownership so take into account the anticipated difference in fuel costs over your anticipated duration of ownership. My fuel costs for my Prius are about half of a similar size conventional car so I could add about $1000 per year of ownership. If I'm only going to keep my Prius for 5 years I can spend an additional $4000, pay additional interest and still be ahead. I was going to buy a new Corolla when I saw the used 2004 Prius I now own for about the same price as a new Corolla. I have a better car, for lower cost of ownership. OH, I'll keep my Prius for at least 10 years.

I'm not sure about the early Japanese Prius though, I have my doubts about how well sorted they were. There was a reason Toyota went to a different battery architecture. Personally, I'd spend a little more and get a 2003 or better still a 2004 model.

Can a NHW11 battery pack be retrofitted into a NHW10?
There were also cases of transmission failure to consider but I think it has gotten this far so it is likely not about to fail.

 

'91 Mazda 626
'91 Eclipse GSX
'92 and two '93 300ZX Twin Turbos
'87 RX7
'95 Lexus SC400
'01 Corvette
'01 Nissan Pathfinder SE.
'03 Infiniti FX45
'04 Dodge Durango Hemi Limited
'09 Prius Touring #6.

The '01 was awful. The non touring Gen IIs I've driven were bad but not as bad as the Gen 1. The Touring Gen II is like a different car compared to the non touring Gen II. It corners about on par with my SC400.