Buying a 2003 with 140,000 miles

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(Bob the Bob @ Jun 21 2007, 10:08 PM) [snapback]466154[/snapback]</div>

Don't do it




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Price must be some kind of consideration -But I would not do it.

 

By the way, I'm curious why the negativity on a high mileage Prius. My wife just bought a new Prius. I am currently driving a Mercedes C240 wagon and have already racked up a little over 100,000 miles. At my current rate of 35,000 - 40,000 miles a year I will have around 200,000 miles when this car is paid off in another 2-1/2years. I was thinking of taking the wife's Prius or maybe even buy another new one, when that time comes. I average around 24 mpg on the Benz (Premium) and at 45mpg for the Prius (regular) that means a $200 a month saving in gas. Will I have problems if I need to drive the Prius to 200,000 miles? (I was actually considering trading the Benz for another Prius, but I found none of the local dealers willing to give me a decent trade in, so I've deciced to run the car into the ground.)

 

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(Barry123 @ Jun 21 2007, 07:52 PM) [snapback]466169[/snapback]</div>

I think the negativity is due to the 2003 model year Prius that OP was considering. The 2004 and later Prius have a lot of features that were not available in the 2003 and the price diferential is not great.

 

I have to explain my reasoning...

1) It will most likely need major service in the next 60K Max 100K If it was a regulr car i wouldn't care much, but it would be most likely expensive on the prius. There were cases of the planetary gear breaking and they were quoted 4k to repair, and thats just for the gears.
2) Its old generation, much smaller car, and less mpg, you're better off with a corolla

 

I would suggest a test drive before you make any kind of decision. I couldn't live with the acceleration of a first gen Prius. You may be better of biking to work because the first gen Prius is sooo gutless it probably wouldn't be much faster to drive. And for not having any power they get worse gas milage than a second gen Prius, I would definitely NOT get a first gen.

 

You Prius owners should know better than to give such bad advice.

I purchased standard tiresfor my older Prius at a Goodyear, stuck them on my 2001 Prius and it gets the exact same mileage it did before -- 50 MPG.

My 2001 Prius has 120,000 miles on it and drives exactly as it did when it was brand new.

Of course the PSD fluid doesn't have to be changed any more often than with any other car.

The newer Prius doesn't actually have many more "features". It has stereo controls on the steering wheel, a keyless ignition, different graphics on the screen, and is black on the interior instead of beige. Other than that, the feature set is the same. Yes, side curtain airbags, leather seats, etc., were available on the classic Prius.

There are no reports of the Classic Prius needing "major work" after a certain number of miles. In fact, most of you are recommending the 2004 Prius instead as being more reliable -- when the 2004 Prius was the one that would shut off at highway speeds until a software patch was applied.

And since I'm getting 50 MPG on my Prius, obviously it is capable of getting good mileage if you follow the Prius driving rules (pulse and glide, drive for more than 15-20 minutes each trip, etc.)

My advice when looking at a 2003 Prius would be the same advice for buying any used car. Go and look at it, inspect it. If the interior is clean and it looks well-maintained and you like it, buy it. My 2001 model is still running strong, I don't see any reason why the 2003 model would be any different.

 

Since we are discussing changing of the transmission fluid, one might make that part of the used car deal. Test the fluid and buy car if it turns out to be OK.

As more people are looking at this, there are more reports of the fluid coming out smelling burnt, etc. It's time for us to treat this issue seriously.

I believe that with the toyota hand held tester, the sate of HV battery health can be assessed in a couple of ways. You could pay for them to do that during a vehicle checking over.

This is about all we can do for the major systems in this car. The ones you don't want to blow up on a used vehicle purchase.

 

I bought a 2002 w/ 59000 on it last July and I currently have 81000 on it . It has been great. It came with Michelin Pilot tires that are not LRR and in the warm weather I'm around 50 mpg so I don't think the tires are an issue. It does have side airbags that were an option then.
I expect to get at least 200,000 miles on it before I think about selling it. I see no reason why with proper maintenance it would not last that long.
Last fall I changed the PSD fluid to the Castrol synthetic that is listed as being T-IV compatible. I'll find out how long that is good for, but I'm sure it will be well over 15000 miles.

Mike

 

I am also a bit confused about the negativity. Admittedly, I'm driving an '04
<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(gippah @ Jun 21 2007, 11:36 PM) [snapback]466231[/snapback]</div>

However, I have nothing but good things to say about Toyotas in general. I have friends who still drive their 280000 mile Camry without major issues.

As with any high mileage vehicle have the brakes, transmission, etc. inspected, and in this case you probably want the battery/charging system looked at. Replacing the main battery can be expensive. Also, be aware that our lovely prii are indeed a little more costly than some to maintain, in that there really aren't a lot of machanics shops who can handle them, and you have to go through the dealership for most service.

Consumer reports says it best. When they are predicting expected reliability, the top three are:
Toyota
Honda
Lexus

Have a good Toyota dealership inspect it, buy it if it's good, and drive it for another 100k miles.

 

Any modern car should easily go 200K miles if not 300K miles. I'm not sure why people seam pick 100K miles as the magic number that makes a car "High Mileage" Be advised that ALL cars require maintenance. Parts that will need to be replaced during the life of a car are:

Brake pads and rotors
Shocks, Struts, and Springs
Control arm bushings
Exhaust systems
Clutches

Yes, some of these parts are expensive, but even if you have the work done by the dealer it is far less expensive to maintain a car and keep it then to keep buying or leasing a new car every couple of years. Even a new or rebuild engine will only cost you $3K to $4K. That sounds expensive but when a new car is $20K it starts looking pretty cheap in comparison. The key is to have a car repair fund with $500 to $1000 in it so that when you have a large car related expense the money is there. I can't count how many of my friends have traded in a car because they didn't have the cash to fix something relatively minor and took a HUGE loss on the car too.

I'll use my VW TDI as an example. It has 140K miles on it and still looks and drives like new. Why, because we have taken care of it. That care has been expensive but worth it.

Examples: At 100K the timing belt needed to be changed. I had the water pump changed to because it is only another 1/2 hour labor now vs. another 8 hours labor if it fails latter. That was $1200 but it only happens every 100K miles so we will only have to do it twice. We started saving for it a year ahead of time because it's not like you don't know that 100K is coming.
At 110K miles we had the entire suspension replaced / rebuilt with performance parts. Struts, Shocks, Bushings, Springs, etc. That was another $1000 but it made the car handle better than new and it will be ready for another 100K miles. At 200K miles I can have the quality Bilstein shocks and struts rebuilt instead of replacing them.

So I wouldn't shy away from a car with only 140K miles. If the unibody is in good condition and not rusty then you should be fine. Just be aware that some of those consumables like brakes and suspension parts are going to need to be replaced. Take your savings over buying new and start a savings account for maintenance. You'll still come out ahead in the long run.