Should I buy? 2006 Prius needs some work

If you have experience doing DIY repairs and are willing to bothe learn and invest in the tools all of the above can easily be done with the help of this website, which will explain everything in great detail. Of course you have to think critically because there's plenty of incorrect information that gets mixed into some of the threads.

That price above about cleaning the hybrid cooling is offensive. It only takes a 1/2 hour and requires almost no tools. I charge people $20-$30 for that and those jerks want $480? If we had better consumer protection laws those criminals would of had their business license revoked long ago.

 

No PC members in the Chicago area? Ana_Firstcar, no mechanically inclined friends? Brake hardware for front and rear less than $150, front disc brakes are easy to do. So basically $500 labour for brakes. Over priced.Like the hybrid fan filter service.

TPMS tire pressure gauge stick, yes set reminder. $500 reasonable for name brand tires maybe at Walmart.

Dent maybe easy to push out when cleaning hybrid fan.

Still the big expense is the Hybrid battery even though the mileage is reasonable. Toyota dealer didn't say anything about the health of the Hybrid HV Traction battery? What is the VIN number of the vehicle?

 

Hello and welcome.
Kudos to you for doing research before deciding to buy (and for having it inspected!)

The big unknown variable on any older Prius is how long will the high voltage battery last. Might be OK for a few more years, or could fail in a month. You can get app like Dr Prius or Hybrid Assistant and a compatible OBD2 bluetooth adapter (see the Dr Prius site) that can perform a test to measure the capacity of the HV battery (a paid feature on DrPrius). That can give you a more info to make an educated guess as a battery with higher capacity will likely last longer.

That said, you might want to research what it would take or cost IF you did have to replace the HV battery. New at a dealer is the most $$ but should last another 10 years. There are a couple of options for NEW batteries but those are both advanced DIY procedures (or pay a shop to do it). Any other rebuilt or refurbished battery is made of used cells and might go a year or two if that long. There are DIY battery repair options but these require more time and skill for the same reliability as any refurb.

I'm not trying to scare you but you should have realistic expectations. Any used car could be great, or it could be a money pit. You should look at the Gen2 forums to read up on some of the more common problems on older Prii. These machines are more complex and CAN have more and costlier failures than say, a Corolla, Yaris, Civic or Fit. There are a lot of "my prius is 200K++ and everything's great" posts on this forum, but there also many "I recently bought my prius and XXX broke - $$$". You might want to have a good hard look at what you can budget for possible repairs before deciding that this is the car for you.

Most of the other work is fairly "routine" DIY repair, but that depends on your experience, attitude, available space and tools. Having a friend or relative with repair experience is a huge advantage.

Posted via the PriusChat mobile app.

 

run, run as fast as you can...

 

battery put in by the dealer I assume is the 12 volt battery. In the meantime you have a time bomb in the back of the car the Hybrid battery. Spend some time on this site read all the posts about everyone's hybrid battery dying. Its expensive and its a big hassle as the car will not start without a good hybrid battery.

Secondly if every repair has to be done by the dealer @ $175 an hour you would be nuts to buy a 2006 Prius.

g2's were great when they were new or even newer you could harvest all the gas savings but 15 years old no more gas savings as it will nickle and dime you to death only it wont be nickles it will be $175 an hour.And hit you with stuff the regular mechanic on the corner knows nothing about or worse says he's knows and jacks up the car worse all on your dime.

And there's also the problem of all g2's are a big target for cat theft. So you have that going on too.

Just get a nice used Corolla or Hyundai. Something without a hybrid battery.

 

I would avoid buying any car that needs repairs that total the asking price of the car. I wouldn’t worry about the hybrid battery, but about all that other stuff that adds up to the same or greater expense!

 

I am afraid this 2006 Prius is not your best bet if you have to pay the dealer or a mechanic for repairs. It would be an excellent reliable car if you or someone in your household could replace brake pads, headlight bulbs and fluids.

I suspect the changing HID bulb at $25 would be fine no headlight assembly replacement is needed. I also suspect that rotors and rear brakes are fine. The front brake pads at 4mm will last easily another 50k miles.
Cabin filter 5 min and $10. Wipers $30 and 10 min. TPMS do not bother.

Hybrid fan depends. If you find any dog hair anywhere I would. If not I would wait to do it when the hybrid battery would need repair. And after 15 years it will need repair soon. Budget for that.

Tires is a must.

 

A time bomb? Give me a break... Please stop with hyperbole that's bordering on misinformation. NiMH battery packs don't explode like a bomb. Worst case scenario a module might pop and their might be some arcing/smoke, but a bomb?

This website has plenty of honest information on how to fix a hybrid battery pack yourself and it doesn't cost much other than the time it takes learn how.

 

I meant time bomb as in financial time bomb, said this many times your the first person who couldn’t understand it. which is not surprising.

And it is a financial time bomb majority of people know nothing about and don’t want to know anything about it when it fails except get me out if it.

 

It cost $30 to fix most of the time... Clearly you know far less about hybrid battery repair than you think you know. As for the word bomb: "A bomb is an explosive weapon that uses the exothermic reaction of an explosive material to provide an extremely sudden and violent release of energy." Bomb - Wikipedia

A bomb has nothing to do with finances...

 

It cost you $30 good for you what’s that got to do with a lady named Ana who lives in Chicago?

 

It's called being optimistic and encouraging rather than the opposite to our guests who visit us...

 

Hopefully Ana doesn't get a big surprise.

 

Prius originally bought at Toyota of El Cajon CA, Something very fishy, according to service record the last service record was 2016, the mileage was 113,000, 5 years later 2021 it is only 117,000?????

Service history pdf is attached.

I would suggest get a Carfax report and see if this Prius was in an accident, whether or not it is a salvage rebuild or writeoff. Or somebody switched speedometers or turned it back.

Get a CARFAX Report Now

 

Wave off, skip, hard pass, swipe left...

This is a chance to spend $6k on $3k worth of car. There are many better choices for an inexpensive first car.

Don't get me wrong- hybrids are wonderful! But they are best enjoyed young and that costs more.

 

No telling her the hard and very expensive facts are much more useful to her. She will be at the mercy of the dealer no matter what this old car throws at her and they have no mercy.

Please Ana tomorrow call the dealer and ask the service dealer this:

"I just bought a 2006 Prius and it needs a new hybrid battery. What am I looking at cost wise and how long to get a new battery?"
becasue its not if it's going to fail its how soon after you buy it.


After you get up off the floor and calm down don't let that bother you all you have to do is fly in Pius Camper from the great Pacific Northwest for one of his $30 optimistic and very encouraging fixes for that specific problem.

 

i enjoy buying gen2 to fix up because generally the engine and cvt are solid, but i much rather drive my gen3

 

Telling someone to buy a Prius who has minimal repair skills is not right.

"I can do simple DIYs but don't have the knowledge (or tools) for anything complicated"

Stop trying to push people into cars they cant fix.