Best gen 2 year

congrats, and welcome to priuschat!

 

2008

 

all good except you will likely soon need a hybrid battery, $3-4,000.

 

Welcome to PriusChat. I don't think you can go wrong with any of the years. I loved all the Gen 2's I had. Some years had subtle changes. I think the most important thing is miles and how they were cared for. ie. if you had a choice between a 100k mi. 05 that you just Knew had impeccable maintaince and looked like new and a 07 that had the same miles but had a few scuff marks and an unknown maintaince history for the same money, I'd take the 05. The Prius is really not any different than any used car purchase, it's the price and the value received.

 

I'd say 2009. I bought one last year. It's the last model of the generation, which means they had the most time to work out the kinks. And on Car Complaints and Dashboard Light, 2009 models have fewer issues than surrounding years.

 

Obviously the 2009 is the best year. No bias here. None what-so-ever

The 2007-2009 have a refresh with small changes to the exterior and interior. I think the touring models in the 2007-2009 are the very best for the 2nd gen. Granted, if you go for aftermarket wheels and sway bars, you'll have a better performing car than the touring model.

 

Of course! It's a commonly known fact (among drivers of 2009 Prii)

I think the refresh happened in 2008, so it's 2008-2009 models that have the changes, but not 2007.

 

I thought that some 2007 models got the refresh (but not all), but I could be wrong.

 

I'd go for 2009...make sure it has a CARB certification (orig a CA car or other CARB state)

 

As wjtracy wrote, California has a 10 year/150k warranty. Make sure the car isn't from out of state. I'd try to take advantage of that, which also means to stay away from salvage titles, since it likely will invalidate the warranty.

A '09 will have a battery under warranty, if the miles are low enough, for up to another 2 years. Unfortunately, the '07 won't be covered.

 

I had a 2009, second owner bought it at 31K miles, had a about 225k miles on it, never had a problem. Did oil changes every 7k miles with Mobil1 oil and filter, tune-up at 100k. 98% of the millage was highway. I was totally pleased with this car. When it died I was still averaging 46 mpg's. I did a bunch of mods on the suspension and when it was totaled the insurance company still gave me about $9,500 for the total.

Also had a 2007. Same thing as above never once a mechanical or any other problem and did the same maintenance intervals, same miles when it died by impact.... :-(

This is why I now have my 3rd Prius... a 2014 Prius 4... and yes I will be doing the mods again!! I love the low maintenance, and the battery... never an issue or had to replace it!!

 

Really the only factor here is the age, miles and service record as mentioned before.

If anything, if snow is just a normal thing for you, the 04 and 05 Prius may not be advisable. I believe the over aggressive TC in the 04 - 05 was remedied in later versions.

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That's so true; if you take care of your car, wash it, wax it, all the maintenance with high quality products, all theses cars, and most other cars will last for a long time. My son bought a Honda Civic with 175K miles on it and eventually ran it into the ground with almost no maintenance at 310K miles! While some cars can handle more abuse than others the Prius, IMHO, is one of the great commuter cars!