Considering buying a 2012 Prius V with a few problems... Please help!

The Prius v parts are unique to a v. Sometimes ebay has the seat covers as do salvage yards. LKQ is a good nationwide yard. The 12v battery is probably dead, there is no telling on the hv battery other than driving it. Check for oil consumption, brake booster and inverter problems, all chronic issues on gen3s and each more expensive than a hv battery.

 

i would start with the kbb price and subtract 50% of the cost of a new battery and engine, the rest is cosmetic

 

That would be next to free at a time when used cars of this age might be getting a $4k-5k premium due to the new car shortages. His going in price of $5k is already well below kbb. In my mind its a buy or no buy decision. On an early gen3, buying is an unprecedented gamble considering it came from Toyota. Most thumbs down cars have one killer concern, here we have three or four.

 

agreed. that is sort of implied in my post

 

No......unless your a mechanic.....................and have hybrid experience.

 

$1600 battery ready to go out at any time. Possible HG just out of the blue........

I know first hand.....

 

10 years is next year. HG Head Gasket..... If you want to be tortured buy it.........you'll see....

 

I say buy it. You know you want it. You are not looking for advice. You could get lucky. Or you could be out another $5k a year from now with a couple of stranding events.

 

none of that is quantifiable. we see a lot of clogged egr's and oil burning, a lot of blown head gaskets, but we don't know the percentage of total.
a battery that sat for a year will have a shorter lifespan. cannot tell you how long.

extended brake actuator warranty runs out next year.

no one can tell you what will happen with this particular car, just letting you know the risks involved. you have to decide the best way to mitigate them.

2010 is simply the oldest gen3, somore are having problems. unlikely that newer ones will fair any better until the 2015 which got newly designed pistons and rings

 

Would the seller let you do some disassembly? Taking off the tube that goes between the EGR and the intake manifold, would take an hour or two at most. An inspection of the inside of that tube would give you a clue about how plugged up the EGR system is. If you can't see light through it... walk away.

Even better would be to pull the intake manifold to take a look. I'll let others comment on how thick the sludge would have to be to give the thumbs down on the engine. You should get a new gasket to put it back together. The dealer price is under $20 for that. Fel-pro sells a set that includes the gasket for the EGR tube as well for about the same price.

As you may or may not know, the head gasket blows when too much oil gunk plugs up the EGR system. This causes the ignition temperatures inside the cylinders to get too high, and the head gasket goes. A failed PCV valve or the notorious rings can lead to oil consumption that will accelerate the gunk. This is made worse if the owner changed the oil every 10k (the Toyota recommended interval), instead of the well accepted 5K that is recommended by experienced Gen3 owners.

Your job is to figure out it the engine is consuming oil. Look for any evidence you can find. My 2013 is not consuming a drop at 95K of hard Uber driving. It seems I misread the owners manual, and have been changing the oil every 5K since I bought the car at 22K miles. With 115k, you might get lucky.

If you do buy the car, you should plan on doing the whole EGR system: EGR Cooler + EGR + EGR tube + Intake manifold pretty soon. The car probably has the original plugs, and they are due for replacement. To get to the spark plugs, you have to remover the whole tray that holds the windshield wipers (takes an hour, the first time you do it). So with that tray removed, you now have an excuse to clean the EGR cooler. If you have a nice climate controlled garage, it is possible to do in a long weekend.

As for the back seat, the Prius V interior is identical from 2012 to 2017. I have both a 2013 two and a 2017 four, and I am pretty sure the seats could be swapped. I actually prefer the cloth seats in my "two" to the faux leather seats in the "four", but the faux leather is easier to clean.

As for the bumper cover, there are body shops on eBay that will sell them painted to your paint code for about $350 + shipping. Shipping is by truck, and is not cheap. You can't ship a bumper by UPS. I replaced my front on my 2013 last June. I was able to save a bundle on shipping because the seller was only 70 miles away in North Jersey. The match for Barcelona Red was absolutely amazing, and it was 1/3 the price of what the body shop in my neighborhood wanted. Took only a few hours to swap.

If you can get it for $5K, and you feel confident the car isn't an oil hog, I'd say you have a pretty good deal given the current used car market. Even assuming the Hybrid battery goes, you would have a deal.

 

Looks a lot cleaner than I expected. You can certainly live with the seat and bumper for a while. Couldn't get a look at the tires, but that is chump change compared to the engine. That is hopeful news about the battery. I recall that you know these people, so you feel you can trust what they say(?).

I noticed that the doors have moldings on them. I think they are aftermarket. I bought the ones in the Prius store on this website for my 2013, and they came painted to match. My Uber passengers are not always that careful, so it was a worthwhile investment. Shows that the current owners intended to take care of the car.

I also noticed that the headlights are nice and clear for the age of the vehicle. Which trim is this: three (Halogen headlights) or five (LED Headlights). I suspect it is a five, since those look like 17 inch rims. 17 inch rims (only on the five) was a no-go for my Uber driving in pothole filled Philly.

The oil consumption is unfortunate, and I would blame it on the dealer following the 10k Oil change schedule. To me the oil consumption definitely requires attention, but it is not so bad (yet) to be a deal killer for me, if I got the right price. You could get really lucky, and changing the PCV valve (a $5 part) could fix the consumption for now. Or you could be pouring Marvel Mystery Oil through the spark plug holes down the road. I think I even heard of someone who transplanted a Gen4 engine into a Gen3. I would love to connect a Techstream laptop to get the value of the "EGR FLOW INSUFFICIENCY", or a look at that EGR pipe.

It is obviously your call to buy it or not. This car definitely will need work to keep it running. If you do wind up with the car, you will have friends to talk to here in the forums.