Should I buy a Gen3 or fix my Gen2?

This is a very personal decision

If the damage is minor you could potentially get a shade tree repair (or do it yourself)

But honestly if you don’t do all your own work I would move on to another car.

Perhaps buy a good condition Gen II for example like a 2009

But personally I wouldn’t buy a Gen III if you want newer andcan afford it chip in the extrabfor a Gen IV ,
Gen III’s are too much of a risk it seems and should just be skipped

Good Luck

 

I agree with Rmay, keep the or a 2 or move to a 4, skip the three.
Had a 2 loved it.
Had a 3, yes it's got the 1.8 ice but it's a tub.
Have a 4, it's tuned for the road when you get it, the 2 need a front upper strut bar and 2 body stiffening plates (not available for the 3) and the 4 is still better then a tuned 2.
Getting rid of body sway makes the car safer.
IMHO

 

I don’t know if it’s the same where you are but in my state of the US if you buy a car back after it’s been totaled it will have a salvage title. If you then try to trade it in later you won’t get much for it and some insurance companies won’t insure a car with a salvage title. Also, if you ever get into another wreck at some future time you won’t get much, if anything, for it if it were totaled again.

My Gen3 was totaled a couple of weeks ago by a 2010 Prius and a semi truck so I’m looking for another car myself. While I loved my Prius I’m thinking of going with a RAV4 to be higher up and have a taller back end. Something about having a semi truck turn my Prius from a hatchback into a sedan while my 5 year old was in the back is unsettling.

I’d go for a newer car if you can. When I got my 2014 new I looked at used ones and didn’t like the previous generation’s styling. The new generation looks nice though. If I didn’t have 2 kids and feel nervous about being in a car again I’d prob go with a newer generation Prius.


iPhone ?

 

if you're willing to replace the battery if needed, keep the gen 2.

 

Interesting. Here it’s either totaled or it’s not. The salvage cars I’ve had didn’t have major damage and were functional but just cost more to repair than the car was worth and that’s just because the estimated repair costs were more than 25% of the pre-accident value of the car.


iPhone ?

 

If it were me, and with a limited budget, I’d either DIY the “economically totaled” Prius OR I’d look for a lower mileage 2009. It seems a lot of folks give the gen2 very high marks for reliability. If you have your heart set on a gen3, The EGR system must be completely cleaned at about the 100k mile mark....

 

That is not a must in my opinion. There are plenty of Gen 3 Priuses on the road with many more miles than that that haven't done anything to the EGR system. They just don't come to a forum to report that everything is fine.

That said, there is a risk of EGR and related problems, so cleaning the system at some point is good preventative maintenance if you are planning on keeping the Prius a long time . My plan is to wait until 120k miles and then replace spark plugs and do EGR cleaning at the same time.

 

Sure I suppose one could wait until 120k miles.... although, I’ve read somewhere on PriusChat that a change in headgasket material occurred for MY2012(?)..... I think the OP is considering a MY2010 and on THAT year, I’d consider getting the EGR circuit cleaned “stem to stern” sooner rather than later. That’s just me. I don’t recall reading a thread where someone looked at their egr circuit with a lot of miles (150K+) and the egr wasn’t a clogged mess. I’m sure it’s possible I missed one, though.

 

That's exactly what I did @120K miles. I also installed an OCC. Great time to do it while all the ICE components are off.

 

Go gen3!