Buying advice for 2012 Prius V 2

1. Verify the vehicle's pedigree.
If you're serious about buying the car, get it inspected by a mechanic - NOT A DEALER.
See if there's an independent mechanic in NOLA that can inspect the car fro you.
Toyota keeps records of their vehicle's service history performed at the dealership. Get records for this car.
Finally.....just before you buy the car, verify the CARFAX info.
What I mean by this is you get the report yourself and/or have the seller give you a hard copy of their report in case their are "mistakes" in the seller's copy of the report.
If the seller will not provide this info and they sell cars for a living, then they're either morons or crooks.

2. kbb.com.
This will give you a good idea of the street value of a 2012 V-2 with 90K.
Since Priuses are less sought after in NOLA than they are in SoCal, the price will be somewhat adjusted for the local variance.

3. Check the seller's pedigree on social media and also with old school places like the BBB and Chamber.

Priuses are pretty good cars.
A 2012 that hasn't seen fleet use, and hasn't been otherwise abused can be expected to be a very dependable car for another 5-10 years and 150,000 miles more or less.
Download the schedule of maintenance from the internet and get an idea as to what's been done for this car, and what needs to be done.
Also....read some threads about transaxle (transmission) fluid changes....
I would have this done by a competent mechanic (it should cost NO MORE than $120 or so) and also plan to change out the cabin air filter since most people overlook this item.


Good Luck!

 

Keep in mind, there are some cars out there that are owner maintained, and a check on the Toyota website will likely only reveal sporadic warranty and recall visits. I would venture that such cars are likely to be in at least as good shape, and very likely have underbody panels intact, no overtorqued/broken/missing bolts/fasteners, more complete basic maintenance, less "nonsense" maintenance.

 

Prii are good cars and the v wagon is arguably the best one for ride, stability and hauling ability. Not as good as a standard Prius on gas but still far better than any suv out there that basically hold the same volume in their small and midsized versions. The v has upgraded ac, bounce and pitch control and Toyota quality that matches any car on the road, exceeding almost all except it's wealthy brother, Lexus. Hard to go wrong. Once you have tried Bat its hard to go Back.

 

+1.
Excellent point.

 

I would also agree that an owner's choice of maintenance providers does not necessarily disqualify the car. The reality is the car needs no real maintenance in the first 100k miles except for oil changes every 10k and filters on occasion. Your car still has a hybrid system warranty until at least 100k and Toyota has been known to do free recalls way past the standard warranty period. There are many Prii on the road after 200, 300, or even 400k miles. My dealer says they have only seen three bad HV batteries since 2004! See attached with maintenance schedule toward back. If you get tired of reading about filter and oil changes, skip to the 100k mark where you can change coolants.

 

And if you want to read a list of the likes and dislikes of the car in one happy owner's opinion (aided by comments accumulated by reading this forum since 2012) then here. My daughter-in-law read it and we just took a 8 person family trip together, her in her red and I in my white.

 

Good reading. I will add I have the same 2012 v3 with fabric and it has held up very very well and I live in a hot and sweaty Central Texas environment. Well over 150k on the odo. My first set of michelins lasted over 100k and it still has original brakes. The paint looks almost new except for a few rock chips in the front. I use an aftermarket lumbar pillow on the driver's seat lower back area to good effect. If you haven't posted that list for comments you might consider it.

I too would like to see cheaper and diy map updates and an elimination of the sunroof on models with features you would otherwise want. And I find it possible to use voice commands for GPS destinations in most cases. A clear tip is to setup "favorites" for as many common locations as possible, especially "home" and "work" or anywhere where the significant other usually can't find if they are out by themselves. Then a quick and easy "Favorite Home" (or other favorite) works without a long destination entry. Even so, I can make voice entry destinations work. It takes a specific sequence voiced quickly. The system does not like slow speakers.

 

When the list was originally begun, I posted it for comments. Got very few. So as I've read the forums over the last 5 years, I have just incorporated any comments I thought might be insightful/helpful.

Anyone who has a suggestion, I'm listening.