Buy it or Pass, 2017 Prime with 6000 miles?

I would not worry about the drive battery or electronics at all. I mean, I would make sure it will take a charge and run in EV at least 20+ miles. About the only thing that could be an issue is the 12V (aux) battery. Unless it has been kept on a tender, it may be degraded and not hold a good charge. A mechanic could do a load test to be sure. The other thing I would say is perhaps the gas has gone stale. I would put fresh gas in and run the gas motor (HV and/or CHG mode) maybe 500 miles or so to make sure the gas portion of the synergy drive is tested and fresh gas is circulated around the system. As far as price, you’re looking at a unicorn with those miles, so expect to pay a premium for such low miles.

 

I’d buy it in a heartbeat if the price is right

 

Kelly Blue Book is always a consensus tool.

 

Buy it. There is no “safe” price, just average wholesale and retail prices. Price is whatever you and the seller are happy with. Family member means you are not paying a stupid profit to a dealer who adds nothing of value.

 

We have a 2017 and have had zero issues. Did you mean to say 60,000 miles instead of 6000? Ask them how often they changed the oil...hopefully every 5,000 miles. It's now over 5 years old so will need transmission and coolant changed out. (Spark plugs are good for 10-years or 100,000 miles, whichever comes first.) And, it it hasn't had them cleaned, the MAF sensor and Throttle Body could use a cleaning.

 

I believe ColoradoBoo has a regular Prius, not Prime. My owner's manual says the spark plugs are to be changed at 12 years or 120K miles. We have no transmission, so no transmission oil to change. The manual says to replace the engine/inverter coolant at ten years or 100K miles. Not sure what "inverter coolant" is.

 

cools the inverter and ecvt

 

Is that the same coolant/radiator system that cools the engine? Or is it a separate system?

 

separate system.

 

I had wondered the same thing. 6,000 miles on a 2017 doesn’t seem right

 

Changing your coolant in the radiator and transaxle in the Gen 4 (2017-2022) is SUPER easy:

-Get 2 Gallons of Toyota Super Long Life coolant (You'll only need a gallon and a half)
-Get the car up but level...remove the big plastic cover underneath.
-Open up the radiator cap (if yours has one, some don't) and open the fill cap on the two coolant tanks
-Put a large coolant drain pan on the left (drivers side) of the radiator and you'll see two drain cocks...mine are white and yellow...and open both up....it will take a long time to drain all the gallon and half so needs patience.
-Then you just refills the two tanks and put into Maintenance Mode and top off as it gets sucked down. If memory serves me right, you need to wait for the radiator electric cooling fan to come on twice to ensure it's coolant is full...can take over 20 minutes.

There's an excellent video on the Car Care Nuts' channel...some hybrids have drain plugs on the transaxle but our 2017 didn't have that...but the drain cock worked great, just takes a lot longer.

If your Prius has the radiator cap, and you change out coolants in multiple vehicles, getting this thing from Amazon is great...has adaptors that fits numerous makes:
Ultimate No Spill Coolant Funnel Kit - 19-Piece Spill-Free Radiator Funnel Set, Spill Proof Radiator Bleeder Kit, Coolant Filling, Radiator Filler, Extra Funnels and Adapters for Universal Vehicle

 

there's a separate reservoir, coolant loop and pump to keep the electronics cool. same type of coolant though.
you'll find the small reservoir in front of the bulkhead, driver side

 

"put into Maintenance Mode"
What is this?

 

It's a way to make the ICE engine run without being turned off by the computer in order to do various maintenance things. (But we are cautioned from using it for long periods of time...not good for hybrids.)

To turn on maintenance mode can be tricky....took me a while to get the hang of it:

(Before starting, put emergency brake on)

No foot on brake, push the start button.
Push gas pedal to floorboard twice
Push the start button
Press brake and put car in neutral
Push gas pedal to floorboard twice
Push brake and push the start button...engine should start and display says something like "2WD Maintenance Mode" (My AWD says something else but I don't remember what it is.)

The Car Care Nut has a video of him doing it for you....very useful when draining/filling coolants to get the ICE engine running normally.