Hi - I'm new here and am thinking of buying a 2007 Prius at a local dealership. The car and deal seem great but when I went to test drive, the display showed an MPG of around 26. It's a 2007 with around 78k miles. It has had one owner and everything else seems normal from the post and drive. Is this a red flag? Should I walk away? The amount they are asking for is well below blue book. Was the previous driver unskilled and got bad mileage? Is there something wrong with this car? Shouldn't the mileage be cumulative and better than this? Any help would be much appreciated.
The car has most likely just been driven on short test drives which is the worst for mpg. If you are really serious about the car have the salesperson reset the trip data and then you drive it like you would drive if you owned it.
Thanks! By using the car that way does it do anything detrimental to the engine or anything like that? There's no bearing on future performance? It's a great deal so I was worried that might be why.
No. The car will always take care of itself. The only negative to short trips in the Prius is the lower mpg. Other than that it is no different than driving a non-hybrid car. Nothing to worry about.
If you take the car out for a test drive on a flat road or downhill, AND drive very conservatively, 35-40 MPH you should be showing at least 50 MPG. If not, the car has a problem. Precisely the HV battery is SHOT. IF THE DEALER says the battery is OK have him replace the 12V battery with a new one, and....go for another test ride. If the dealership bulks, at anything, find another Prius. Also, normal operation should show full charges on the MFD. Do not hesitate to give the car a really lengthly wring out.
When I did a test drive, my dealer let me drive it overnight. I zeroed the MFD and trip Odometer and got 42 MPG on a 30 mile drive. I was sold! The dealer should let you prove to your self how well you do. (Once my Prius trained me how to drive better, I actually average 46 MPG, mostly via wiser braking)
The first point would assume that the tires were well inflated. Although normal dealer pressures (~32 psi) won't count for a major hit in mileage, I certainly saw a good MPG increase after inflating to 44 psi. The second point, in my experience the MFD will only show a full (all green bars) battery regeneratively braking down a significant hill. At steady moderate speed on flat ground, it should stay close to 6 blue bars. Running A/C in stop and go traffic may make the battery go down more than that. The real warning is if you see all green bars and sudden drops to two purple bars and back again in short time intervals. This is a sign the traction battery is in trouble. If possible drive the car until it reaches Stage 4 operation, which means that the engine turns off when you come to a complete stop, usually after ~10 minutes of use but varying with load and ambient temp. As you drive in varying conditions, you should see the engine cycle on and off with changing speed. Those short test drives may not have made it to this stage, and the engine stays running to preheat to optimum temps.
I say buy it I just got a 2005 with 75k for 9800 at Toyota place in garden grove, ca the car was immaculate condition they wanted 13998. Best investment I ever did. Now I'm wanting to purchase the conversion kit.
