Value of 2003 Gen 1 Prius needing new Traction Battery?

You are faced with two problems of which only one is known, the traction battery replacement. But if you can't put the car in "D" and use a Prius aware scanner, you have no way of knowing if the transaxle is bad or DC-to-DC converter or steering jitter or 'big hand' accelerator problem.

If you are buying the car to learn about Toyota hybrid systems, it seems a fair price. If you are trying to turn it over to resell, walk away.

You've already address the traction battery but as to the other questions:

• Traction battery failures after 10 years may be associated with higher temperatures in hilly areas and higher speeds. But some Prius live in 'unfortunate' circumstances or drivers who were not aware of the natural limits of the NHW11. I would not read anything into a traction battery failure as they are disconnected from the causes of other problems.
• The known "lemon issues" of a 10 year old car? The biggest is "10 years." <LOL> There are rare but known weak areas: (1) accelerator "big hand", (2) steering wheel jitter, (3) MG2 transaxle stator burn-out, and (4) 12V DC-to-DC failure. Search this forum and you should find plenty of examples.
• Price for this car? We have two Prius and a G30 Coachman RV and no more parking places on the driveway. One is an NHW11, my engineering hobby and commuting car and the other is a 2010, my wife's Prius. You can make a small fortune buying broken NHW11s, fixing them, and reselling them if you have a large fortune.
• If you want to learn Prius technology, have the time, about $2-3,000, and a work area, it is a fair deal. If you want to keep the car for 3-5 years to replace a gas guzzler, it may work IF you can stand to drive a car that should be kept under 70 mph (for long life and fuel efficiency,) parked in shady areas, and the compact size doesn't drive you mad.

I enjoy tinkering with my 2003 Prius . . . it is my project car. Cheap to run and perfect as my city commuting car, I've put over 100,000 miles on it since I bought it with 49,300 miles in 2005. But my wife's 2010 car has passed the 3/36000 mile warranty and is paid off. I've already mounted a 1.5/3 kW inverter and will replace the OEM battery soon. Both cars have receiver hitches and have towed 1,700 lbs of airplane on a trailer. When I am finally forced to retire, the 2003 Prius may go on the market.

Bob Wilson

 

Late thought but if I had the choice, I would go with a used, 2004-09 Prius before a 2001-03 Prius because:

• smaller traction battery, 28 vs 38 modules, with much improved modules
• more space to carry stuff, EPA calls it a full-size car
• much improved transaxle and inverter uses voltage doubling
• much improved high-speed performance with better aerodynamics
• electric air conditioner compressor, more efficient than NHW11
• about 900,000 NHW20 vs 53,000 NHW11 means spare parts are more available (aka, cheaper)
• smaller set of known weaknesses (04-06 multifunction display)
• well established user community with documented mods

You'll get much better bang-per-buck with an NHW20 and they should be in the price range. But a 'beater' NHW11, well it can be a challenge.

Bob Wilson

 

The jitter issue requires replacement of the steering rack, which will be an expensive part once the unlimited mileage warranty extension for that issue expires in December 2013. While Toyota is honoring that extension, it's a pretty painless repair (just had mine done last month, in and out in a day, steers like a new car).

I don't know how Toyota built their mailing list for the extension announcement letter, or how to proceed if one wasn't received.

-Chap

 

I didn't know anything about it. I just happen to sign up on mytoyota.com and found out about it.