Seeking advice on used Prius purchase

No. There was a mid-model refresh as Toyota always does for the MY2012 Prii. The bumpers and headlights look a little different, just like what they did in MY2006 to differentiate from the MY2004-2005. Also in 2012 they added the stupid vehicle proximity warning. Basically it makes your silent EV sound like a clown car at slow speeds so that people can hear it better.

There was a recall for brake software on some of the very first Gen3's, the MY2010's. But those should have all been fixed, or will be a free recall at a Toyota dealer. It is just a software update, not a hardware swap.

As always, it depends. A newer Prius that was used as a taxi will have lots of wear on everything versus the older Prius that was only driven to the store once a week. The batteries don't like to sit. So a super low mileage Prius, like a 30k mile 2010 is a bad choice relative to a more normally driven 2010.

As with any car, if your budget is $10k all-in for a used car, put like 20% of that in a savings account if you don't otherwise have that for the unexpected repair. As with any modern car, including but not limited to the Prius, almost every repair is a few hundred dollars and things like ECUs will be thousands of dollars. We are no longer in the days of fixing a car with a paperclip and some bubble gum.

 

A newer car with more miles is infinitely better than an older car with fewer miles, Prius or not. The reason is to two fold.

1. The newer vehicle likely had a lot of freeway miles to achieve high miles. Freeway miles are less wear and tear in general than local miles
2. Newer car has new tech and/or more options.

For example, i'd recommend you get a 2012 Prius 2. Toyota added LED DRL. The center console got revised for two cup holders. All cars get the 6.1 inch infotainment screen. If you can find a 2013, you'd get a backup camera as well. These two things were available only on higher trims in previous years.

We fit three children in car seats rear facing with no issue with their gear for week long trips to San Diego.

Finding a 2012 or 2013 will be difficult for 10k. Personally I like the spaced ship sound on 2012 models. Too many distracted pedestrians as it is.

 

one thing to keep in mind is oil burning. some 2010's are burning oil or have bad head gaskets around 100,000 miles, and a few 2011's. we don't know if newer models have a better design, or if it's accumulated mileage.

 

How many miles do you plan to drive a year? If your budget is 10K max and you plan on driving less than 15K a year then a Prius is not your best choice. There are newer cars out there that can approach or exceed 40 MPG. Of course, at the end of the day the choice is yours. Good luck with your car search.