Should I buy this used 2001 Prius?

My question is, How much and How soon am I going to have to pay for costly repairs?

Odds are you're not. It's as reliable as any other Toyota. Change the oil, keep the fluids up, change the transaxle fluid even though the book doesn't call for it, get back to me around 150,000 miles and let me know how it's going. At heart it's a good little economy car.


Is this battery a bomb waiting to go off?

No. The battery has a computer that does nothing but baby it, reads it bedtime stories, gives it a bottle of warm milk in the morning. We should have as good of a life.


Is 8900 too much or too little to pay for this?

Don't know your market, but sounds OK. What's Bluebook/Kellies say?


If the alternatives I am considering are chaper mazda proteges/corrolla/matrix, what would you do?

Don't really know them, can't say.


It's easy to find complainers online, so I hope to get a somewhat random/unbiased sample here.

I had an '01, liked it well enough that I bought an '04. Guess that makes me experienced, but not unbiased. You are correct that members here are merciless about problems. Browse around here for details.

PS, :welcome:

 

The mechanic will have some useful information I hope. You should check against the VIN also to confirm that no other repairs were done, and that the two SSCs were preformed. Those being the HV battery resealing and the crankshaft position sensor replacement.

I would like to know the details on this car being expensive for her to maintain. Probably it's the cost Toyota charges for engine oil, cabin filters, and stuff like that. But it would be good to know.

Yes the battery might fail, but the steering sensor and accelerator pedal position sensor are more likely. The latter is an easy fix but the former costs big.

We talk a lot here about the transaxle; in that case all you can do is find out if the fluid had ever been changed (1st paragraph) and take a sample of the current fluid for chemical analysis. Neither of those will prove it has a long life ahead, but if the current fluid is carrying a lot of metal bits you don't want to buy this car.

I am perhaps one of the best friends around here of the 2001-2003 Prius and I would buy one uder the appropriate circumstances. I expect that you will get some different opinions here about this purchase.

The alternatives you mention are fine cars also and if purchased used in good condition are likely to provide long service. Bear in mind that their automatic transmissions are not much cheaper to replace than Prius' transaxle. According to me they are at least as likely to fail.