Howdy! I'm Seraphim (actual name!), a 27 year old software engineer and dad of 2 from Michigan, and this is my Prius: It's a 2004 base model with package #9. Despite the exterior deficiencies, mechanically it runs quite well. Only pressing concerns are an exhaust leak somewhere by the engine and a faulty catalytic converter throwing P0420. Thankfully, it doesn't look like there are any holes in the exhaust or the cat, so I'm hoping that it's just a gasket or even just the exhaust manifold and it won't be a ton of effort (or cost) to replace it. The seller I bought this from was very transparent about everything going on with the car. I paid $2,000, which I'm sure in some markets is probably not great but around here that seems to be the minimum to get a functioning car (usually with a lot more rust and issues). Otherwise, the suspension has been nearly entirely replaced. Hybrid battery was replaced 2 years ago with a used battery from a 2014 model (60% life expectancy on Dr. Prius, so not too shabby), 12V with that. Brakes entirely replaced over the past couple years. Could stand to use new tires but I'm gonna hold off until we get closer to winter. A/C compressor was replaced well before him. ABS actuator seems to be fine but has not had a replacement that I can glean. Other quirks/add-ins: The seller put duct tape over the high-beams, which was apparently to mitigate an issue where installing LED bulbs led to the high-beams being always on whenever the lights were on - as if the bulbs are getting some sort of weak current (without selecting the high-beams) that's good enough to give it power. I am not all that proficient in electrical work beyond some basic soldering experience, but this doesn't make sense to me and I've never heard of this being an issue for anyone. I'm wondering if he just fully rotated the light dial instead of the single click. The fog lights were replaced with 4-bulb yellow LED fog lights placed in front of the normal locations for them. The passenger side works as intended, the driver side ones flicker white. I'm sure it's basically a dice roll on what random unpronounceable Amazon merchant produced them. The radio was replaced with a double-din tablet acting both as a tablet and a headunit for (wireless) Android Auto and (wired) Apple CarPlay. This car had JBL speakers in it but they either did not age well, did not work well to begin with, or were replaced with the hottest tin cans money could buy when the radio was replaced. Airbag warning light is on and the clock spring needs to be replaced, but seller got the part and just hadn't put it in, so it's sitting in the backseat waiting to be installed. Good ol' liftgate handle ain't handling right, need to replace it with something stronger. Lower glovebox button likes to throw itself onto the floor when you open it. Sometimes a clicking noise on the passenger side from what sounds like a piece of plastic hitting the fan when you have the A/C recirculating. This could well be from the little vent mount he installed for holding your phone, but I've usually been able to just wiggle the mount a bit and it stops. Yeah, yeah, that's great, how many miles? The other, much bigger quirk is the odometer. The odometer currently shows just shy of 238K miles. However, it's the odometer that suffers the 299,999 display issue on the combination meter. I would stand to replace it with one of the newer ones, but looking back at the service history for the car creates quite a story. On Valentine's Day 2017, the car gets an oil change and the odometer gets reported as 289,123 miles (prior to this, all odometer readings look fine). Later that year on December 29th, it gets another oil change with the odometer reporting 299,999 miles. By now, this thing is certainly over 300K miles. Some time passes and mere days before the seller buys the car on June 7th, 2022, the car has an oil change with the odometer reporting 179,084 miles. The greater likelihood is that they swapped out the combination meter for a random one they probably found in a junkyard, didn't bother reprogramming it since they wouldn't have known the mileage post-299K anyway and just shoved 'er on in. So, two big gaps in mileage reporting from February 2017 to December 2017, and from then until June 1st, 2022. What's certain is that: The car has at least 358K miles, reaching 300K sometime in 2017, and 58K more miles from the seller. It is likely well over 400K miles. Predictions from Carfax's car care portal suggests the car is somewhere around 413K miles. Naturally, it refuses to accept the 237K odometer reading I can give it. Thankfully, the state of Michigan doesn't care about odometer readings on cars 2010 and older. Despite being 22 years old and past its prime, it's still kicking. While I may not ordinarily be cool with a car that old with that many miles as a daily driver, there's something charming to this one keeping on only with some exhaust issues.
