Generation 1 - Which to buy?

1) yes

2) no

3) why do you want great gas mileage in todays environment?

 

In whatever environment, it's volatility insurance.

We have low fuel prices now, in part because of the Russia v. OPEC spat, in part because of recessionary effects of COVID precautions.

In the event supply-chain disruptions also become a thing, low fuel prices could become high fuel prices.

In the event personal income disruptions become a thing, low fuel prices relative to income could become high ones.

If car A gets twice car B's MPG, car A's driver cares half as much no matter what the fuel prices do.

If car A cost a bit more up front, that's an insurance premium, a known deliberate cost taken on to reduce one's exposure to unknown unpredictable costs.

If I had to pick one word for the environment going forward, I think "volatility" might be the word I'd pick.

What's the rust status of these cars for sale? One thing I'd wonder about with the low-miles 2001 is maybe it sat in one place a lot. That, strangely enough, can be bad from a rust standpoint.

 

You need to say more about the echo. Mileage? What can you say about the maintenance history? In the long run, a car like an echo could be kept on the road far easier than a hybrid. The comparative simplicity of the systems is the advantage. But if it has a bajillion miles and hasn't been maintained all that well, then it might be only as good as scrap.

And once you're onto cars this old and cheap, the little things matter. How soon does each need tires? A decent set of tires and an alignment on such a car is half or more of its book value, for example.

I'd lean echo, but you haven't given enough info...

 

One thing I would think about is how many high way miles at 70 or above are you planning on driving weekly - if most of your daily 120 miles are at highway speed you might think about another car

I personally think I killed my 2002 after two and a half years putting 60 000 miles on it with roughly the same commute - averaged 38 - 39 mpg the whole time but on long 200+ mile runs at 70 to 75 mph gas mileage was often down to 34 mpg - currently trying to figure out if fixing head gasket or installing new engine makes sense

I like the 1st gens better because they have a trunk and are easier to see out of but you might want to think about a gen 2 - I have heard they do better at highway speeds and get equal or better gas mileage - I will let others with more gen 2 experience comment on that

 

Buy the Echo....

But I get the feeling your already sold on a Prius. So keep some cash on hand. Just saying.... There are sooooooooo many threads here of people buying these used Prius with a tight budget. Then, couple months down the road a battery, inverter or something craps out.

I really think you'd be better served buying a used Yaris or something. My old Yaris got around 40mpg's and it wouldn't come close to the repair costs of that used Prius.

 

Never bad advice to put cash in a repair fund when buying a used car. If you later become one of the people who posts on PriusChat about, say, inverter failure, because it happened to you, you have the cash to cover it.

If you later become one of the people who never posted on PriusChat about that failure because it didn't happen to you, the cash carries over to the repair fund for the next car you want.

 

while i agree in principle, i don't see a 20 year old hybrid as insurance, i see it as a liability. unless you are a serious diy'er

 

We have been on both sides of that coin - we bought a 2001 Prius in 2012 that my wife still drives - 70 000 trouble free miles only tires, 12 volt battery and shocks and struts

I liked it so much that when I needed a more fuel efficient car I looked at Gen 2s but wound up buying a 2002 with 198 000 miles for what I thought was a good deal 2200 dollars - a new oem battery, 12 volt, catalytic converter, tires, shocks and struts later it looks like the internal combustion engine is toast - but I did get 62 000 miles out of it - deciding now do I fix or pull parts off it and store them for the 2001

It is always a gamble buying a used car -

 

My past experience with a vehicle approaching 20 years is that it gets increasingly likely you check with the dealer for a part and they say "no longer available". Then with any luck you can find something aftermarket or from a recycler or some outfit that caters to restorers and has new-old-stock. But having to do that kind of a search every time you need a kanuten valve gets to be an increasing drag.

Not hybrid specific....

 

100 percent agree with Chapman on that - and here in the North Bay California no shops want to work on 1st gen Prius - because of the difficulty in getting parts and they argue the 1st gen is obsolete - not as big of a deal for me because I like to work on my own cars but it leaves no safety net for when I get over my head

 

This. ^^

Question slightly revised:
Which 19 year old car should I buy ?
Answer: NONE.......especially any hybrids.

 

+1.

If you're depending on a $3000 car for reliable transportation the VERY last thing you should be worried about is the 'cool' factor.
The very second to last thing you should do is buy a hybrid in this price range....particularly since the $$$ delta in fueling a 40 MPG G1 Prius and a 30MPG something else is not going to justify the extra repair liability.

Project car?
College car?
Teenager training car?

HECK yeah, but NOT something that you're counting on to get you to work on time and consistently....200 some odd times in a year....especially if getting to work on time and consistently is important to your employer.

Bad Idea.