Looking for advice

How many miles do you drive a year? The Prius is designed to go about 180,000 miles....so you have to figure out from your starting point of 75,000, how long it'll take you to get there. Once your car gets to around 180,000 miles......then anything can happen in terms of breakdowns and repairs (although many go way past that before any major repairs). Up to 180,000, the car should be pretty reliable.

 

Also, in order to get an accurate gas mileage reading, you need to see what a tank does and some times 2 fill ups. The computer is getting used to your driving style and will constantly readjust. Give it two tanks to get a better reading. As for the other one with less miles, less miles with any car is better.

 

I'd suspect it's just trip length: short trips, the car's warming up, puts a dent in mpg. Speed is a factor too: mpg will drop at freeway speeds. AC's lowers mpg too.

Having got a 54 mpg, I'd say you've no problems.

 

congrats and welcome! agree with all of the above. 75k isn't much, but it depends on how many more miles you intend to add. if you trust your mech, i would let him look it over. did you get service and accident history?

 

Hmm....
A used car, always comes with a certain amount of risk.
The mileage is only one aspect.

That is to say, you could have a great Prius with 75000 miles on it, and change it out for a lemon with 37,500 miles on it. There's no guarantees.

If you're happy with the one you currently have? I'd stay with the one you are happy with.
Since you have 5 day window? Maybe less now?
I might try to take a longer road trip before the window closes, just to try to reveal any "problems". OR if you can find an independent or dealer, have it checked out.

But if you are otherwise happy?
A difference of roughly 37,500 miles on the odometer, wouldn't motivate me to make a change.

Your bigger problems might be if you are unhappy or uncomfortable with the Toyota dealership. You NEED to find a repair facility that is knowledgeable and supports Prius maintenance and repair. Regardless of which Prius you eventually end up keeping.

Good Luck.

 

Also, I do always tell "newbies" to not worry so much about trip to trip gas mileage. Shorter trips will result in lower gas mileage. Other factors like outside temperature also can impact. Make sure your oil level is good, and your tires are inflated, check PSI on the drivers side door jam.

Start paying attention to tank to tank gas mileage. If it is good? You're good.
And I would get an average over the course of a couple of fill ups.

 

we're having website issues, to say the least.

 

well, they had a lot of dealer 'nonsense', but that means to me that they were concerned for the condition of the car, but didn't know to come here for advice. sounds like a keeper.

 

I will go against the grain here and caution you against the car. Based solely on the dealer's reputation.

I bought and returned a Toyota Prius 2015 with only 12,000 miles on it, a few weeks ago. What Carmax really neglects to tell you is that their inspection process, when they buy a car off someone for resale, is a joke. The Prius I bought just didn't 'feel' right, in spite of being a one owner car. Creaks and groans started to manifest over a matter of days. Took the Prius to a dealer, and basically found out that the oil was really dirty and needed to be changed and tires were at 3/10. A Carfax revealed that it was driven as a rental vehicle.

That was the last straw for me, and being within the return time frame, I took mine back. Now, I am not saying any of that is necessarily applicable to you. You may be much more knowledgeable about cars than I am, but a year newer car with 1/2 the miles is well worth it to me, if it is from another dealer. A Toyota dealer preferably.