Thinking about buying used Prius -- what are some common concerns?

I'm in the market for a 2010 Prius, too. How much are they listing it out where you are...? Here they're asking 14,900 for one with 81K...

As for what you need to look out for. This is a very illuminating website. This will tell you what you might expect...

2010 Toyota Prius Problems, Defects & Complaints | CarComplaints.com

 

You'll need to research the vehicle you're interested. Do you have a copy of the Carfax?...that's a start. Do you know the VIN#? If so, you can go to this website: Toyota Safety Recall and Car Service Information

Type in the VIN number and you can see if the car has any recalls on it, or if they've been done. The reason there are so many brake complaints is because 2010 was the first year of the third generation Prius. It was also the year, the car made the all the news because of faulty brakes and stories about runaway Priuses.

Keep in mind that if you look at the complaints against all the Priuses in the country for that model year, the number of defective ones is still relatively small. Generally speaking, they are better reliability. Mainly because there are no belts. Think of it as one large moving computer. You are probably better off with the Prius than the Focus.

You can check out the "True Cost to Own" calculator on edmunds.com. It's not perfect, just a very rough estimate, but you can at least compare the cars somewhat objectively.

Good luck.

 

Don't trust the Carfax too much. It's not even close to be accurate, according to Carfax themselves. (Cars with no accidents read as nearly totaled, cars with tons of damage with no accidents, etc.)

I have a 2010; there's two recalls floating around. The first "recall" was to reprogram the brake system a bit. The complaint: One is braking along, then a wheel or two hits a skiddy spot. The car, on the spot, switches from regenerative braking (front wheels only) to all-four-wheels-we've-got-disks-and-we-know-how-to-use-them mode. In the transition the car doesn't exactly stop braking, but the deceleration decreases a bit, at least until the mechanical brakes kick in. So, the impression one gets is that there's a moment where the car is flying through space with no brakes.. Not true, but that's what it feels like.

Turns out that (again, as far as I know) all regeneratively braked cars do that. Nonetheless, Toyota shortened up the time between full regen and the mechanicals kicking in - and that's the change. Car still does the momentary shift in braking after the change, but I guess it's shorter. (Yeah, I do notice it from time to time. Wet street, even wetter manhole cover, one wheel skids, and the software kicks in.) Remember that with this car it automagically shifts to pure mechanicals anyway when you're below 5-10 mph, and, note, nobody complains (or notices) that.

Second recall is on some, but not all, of the 2010's and it's more serious. Apparently some seal or other gives way in the brake cylinder. After blitzing around a bit (people report severe squeaks), all sorts of warning lights come on and the car can't be driven any more. The cost of the fix is extreme. Complaints about this popped up early this year in Prius Chat and, glory be, Toyota recalled all the subject cars within a month or so of the first complaint. My car hasn't shown any signs of the problem and it's the wrong VIN number anyway.

Other than that the car drives as advertised. At 57K on mine it's nowhere near the 90K on the car you're looking at. The car's a car; the drivetrain is likely OK, but the usual things that happen to things with four wheels (rust, shocks, tires, alignment, etc.) are still there. There's been the usual number of dead inverters/motor generator/etc. failures over time, but they're rare by all reports.

Interestingly, Priuses aren't as subject to brakes wearing out as normal cars. As mentioned above, the car uses regen braking (puts some energy back in the battery, you don't get it all back, but it's better than a normal car's Zero in that regard), which, assuming that one isn't driving like it's Indy, means that the regular mechanical brakes don't get beat on much. Other cars I've had had needed brake jobs every 40-50K miles; this car clearly doesn't, and I've heard reports that they can go out to a 100K Miles before they need one. Um. Which is right about the age of the car you're talking about.

About maintenance. The transmission, like practically any other transmission you'll find on any car, is pretty much a sealed unit. The advertised first transmission unit change is at 120 Kmiles; people around here claim that 50-55K per transmission fluid swap is a better idea. Other than that, the big deal is to change the oil, which is pretty much like any other car you'll find: One oil drain plug on the bottom, a cartridge oil filter likewise, a place to stick the oil in on top, and a dip stick. It takes 0-20W synthetic, don't let those gonzos over at the dealer put 5W-20 into it, they like to do that because (a) they're idiots, (b) it's cheaper, and they can charge you the synthetic price whilst putting in 5W-20, and (c) the manual says they can do it. (But a second look at the manual reveals that Toyota says, pretty much, "emergencies only" and "If you do that, swap the oil out in 5K instead of 10K" and "you get worse gas mileage when you do." Some of the people around here don't go to dealerships because they've been burned by that.

Changing other things like coolant (there's two batches, one for the engine, one for the electronic inverter which gets hot), brake fluid, power steering fluid, and so on are changed as per schedule and require the usual standard mechanic with a wrench.

The one thing the Toyota/specialized Hybrid guys do is hook up a Scangauge to the car and read all the fault codes. If something actually goes wrong with the power train, your standard backyard mechanic is unlikely to know how to handle it. Except that "handle it" in Toyota's case usually means, "Haul the offending large mechanic assembly out of there and put in a new one." I haven't heard any reports of some Toyota guy taking apart the transmission and fixing shorted wires on a motor somewhere. But at least those guys at the dealership (a) don't faint at the thought of a planetary gear, (b) have had some training, and (c) have the regional Toyota guys for backup.
The car's got a timing belt but, compared to the crazy bends that a more car with a more typical ICE would have, it's simple and just goes back and forth once. As a result it doesn't get replaced as often, I think.

Now comes the fun part. Hokay, this is a hybrid. The ICE gets turned off a lot and the car runs on electric. So, compared to a regular ICE-only car, there's a distinct lack of vacuum from time to time; further, what about oil pressure and coolant flow? The answer: The power brakes are run from an electrically-driven brake fluid pump. You'll hear it kick off when you touch the door handle, as it gets ready. The coolant and air conditioning also run on electric power since, natch, a water pump/air conditioning pump hooked mechanically to an engine that's stopped Isn't Going To Do Much. On the other hand: You've got a 300V, bigger-than-you-thought-in-your-wildest-dreams battery stuck under the rear seat, so it's not like there's not enough energy to run those buggers.

This is one car where you don't have to worry about a starter motor and solenoid. The same monster motors that run the transmission also act as a starter; given their size, they're pretty smooth at it, too.

Speaking of batteries: There is a vaguely normal-looking battery, 12V style, in the rear right of the cargo compartment. (Lift up the cover that hides the small cargo compartment on top of the spare - the battery's to the right.) Said battery's purpose in life is to boot the computers in the car and provide a handy place to source the lightbulbs and radio from. Note: It doesn't start the car, that's the monster under the rear seat, so the 12V battery doesn't have to have all those cranking amps and so forth. However, like any lead-acid battery Known To Man, they do go bad after a time. When they do, the car Acts Really Funny; half the time, the dealership doesn't know what to make of it all and repairs (expensive) non-failed parts until they hit upon the idea of checking the 12V battery.

Checking said battery is like checking any other 12V battery: One hooks up a battery checker (any corner gas station known to man that does repair has one of these), presses a few buttons, and finds out. If some idiot managed to leave the car in standby with the radio playing, well, same is true for any car.

Good Luck!

KBeck