new Prius vs used prius

As far as the car itself goes, 2004-'08 the cars are all the same generation. The packages change a bit from year to year and there were a few minor cosmetic changes after '05 I believe (tail lights, dashboard texture, badging etc.). So now you are left with the question of new or used and those arguments are the same for any car you buy. Obviously if you buy new you can maximize the warranty, you have the security of purchasing directly from a Toyota dealer and you can customize with the exact color and features you want. However, I'm in the camp that feels if you do your homework and are patient you are likely to save a lot of money buying used.

 

I bought a 2004 a couple weeks ago for less than $16K...60K miles, everything was clean, happy to save the money, but I've 06's and 07's going for as much as new ones. If that would have been the case I would have tried to find a new one.

Great deal for me...I'd like to get another at that price for the wife.

 

Notwithstanding the price of gas, new care sales are way down right now, so I would look at a new Prius and see how much under MSPR you can get one for. Resales are still very high and your better bet might be new if you can get the price down way below MSRP.

 

I was in the same boat myself. I was considering new and pre-owned. After looking for a month and seeing unrelenting used prices, I almost went new. Then, I happened to come across a Carmax listing for an '06 Pkg 4 with 25k miles on it for $20,900, more than $4k off new. It had all the options I wanted, brand new tires, thoroughly inspected, refurbished anything that needed refurbishing, and balance of the factory warranty. Wrote them a check, and drove it home the next day. They even give you a nice 5-day no questions return policy and a 30-day anything-goes-wrong warranty (they aligned the car at no cost and replaced a burnt out fog lamp) No haggling, no pressure, and friendly service. Got home, peeled off the silly Carmax sticker and I was golden.

Carmax is usually a terrible place to look for a deal, but I noticed a trend the week before I bought. Carmax has no idea how to price the Prius. Some listings were way overpriced, some were well underpriced. Some were clearly priced by year and mileage only, disregarding packages. Across different stores, I saw '04s priced above '06s. Mine was not the best deal, as what originally prompted me to look there was an '07 Pkg 6 with 15k miles for $21,900 (gone by the time I could get to it), but considering what some dealers are charging for the same specs used, it was a steal. This was in February of this year, and they had plenty listed, but now the listings for Prii are pretty scarce. Keep an eye out though, someone's bound to misvalue the Prius again (unless recent popularity surges have reached them too).

Toyota Certified provides a nice warranty, but you'll pay for it. Ebay provides even better deals, but no guarantees. I've been driving my car ever since with no problems and getting a consistent 55MPG tank average.

As for getting a deal on a new one. Good luck with that depending on which part of the country you're in. When I started looking, dealers were throwing deals at me left and right to consider new over used, as there were more than 100 available in my metropolitan area. I'm in Houston and a co-worker of mine is looking now for one and has a choice of a dwindling 17 in the entire city and none for a penny under MSRP.

Hope this helps. Good luck with which ever route you end up choosing.

 

Good luck trying to find a used Prius for a reasonable price. High mileage 2005's were selling for almost the same price as a new 2008. I finally tired of my 6 month long futile attempt to find a deal on a used Prius and bought a new pkg#2 instead for $600 below invoice (including the $400 military/college discount). Granted, sub-invoice new 2008's have disappeared from the face of the planet. So who knows what's the best advice now. What do you think the price of gas will be? If it keeps going up or at least doesn't drop back down much, then a Prius even at MSRP will hold it's value. If spot shortages (of gas) start to become the norm (i.e., periodic gas lines) - then a new Prius for even a few thousand of MSRP or todays 'overpriced' used Prius will still be a deal. But if oil drops from $120 to less than $80/barrel later this year, then you'll likely be able to find a cheap used (or new) Prius.

 

I went for new because there are so few used ones for sale not to mention the much shorter warranty period. Now I know I have a full warranty (good piece of mind considering this is our family hauler) and got to pick the color *I* wanted. The feds give a $2,000 rebate so that helped me spend the extra $$ up front.

Besides I didn't want anyone else's cooties LOL