Buying Advice: 2007 Prius w/ Oil and Cat Issues

Is the cat oem? Was the replaced hybrid battery a new oem version? Value largely depends on answers to these questions.

 

Because the engine is burning lots of oil you're going to clog the cat. But a replacement cat is only $100 and less than a couple hours work to replace so that's easy. What's not easy is your engine is bad. You could probably revive it with a piston soak recipe and get a year or two of life out of it. And if you're up for it a used low mileage engine for Prius are reasonably priced and a swap isn't much different from a regular car engine swap. Plenty of videos on YouTube to show you how...

Also, when people say they replaced the hybrid battery, sometimes that means brand new pack which will last for more than a decade and can be used in your next Prius too; and sometimes that means that means they replaced it with a rebuilt pack, which aren't much cheaper than new, but only last for 3 months to 3 years before they fail again.

 

An old Prius has the potential to be expensive. Generally can last longer (more miles) than "normal" cars but it is more complex.

It is best suited to someone who has decent DIY skills, tools, space and time to work on it as needed. Or someone who has enough money to be able to pay for repairs if (when) needed.

Posted via the PriusChat mobile app.

 

That's a slight discount on a $5,000 pile of parts, and there might only be $3,100 in useful parts there. Run.

 

Yes it can get expensive with a professional doing it that is a fact. Maybe get a gas Corolla for the sitting periods you describe Yaris etc

 

There's (still) strong demand out there, and very little supply.

Any car not actively spitting out hunks of wet metal is priced above $10k right now, and fewer than half of them are worth it.

Good luck!

 

Not to jack your thread too hard, but there's all sorts of stuff pointing towards greater availability of used cars in 2023.

Most aren't quite as alarmist as this one.

That thread, in a nutshell, suggests that banks are ready and willing to massively back-stab each other just to loan people money to get on the road, at a level not seen before.

Ain't gonna be pretty.

 

If there's any way one can wait now is not the time to be falling over oneself to put something in an empty driveway me personally if I was out a car right now I'd be riding my big bore scooter a lot and waiting till I found another generation too worth buying it's out there it's around the person with it is itching to get something new or they're old and getting ready to expire either way there's plenty of them out there I see them daily just in my state alone so I know they're all over the country these cars don't see a lot of what regular small cars seem to get these cars seem to stay on the road quite well. Generation 2 everything closes with a nice thud no rattling etc . The gen3 is a lil more flimsy.