Whether to buy a lower Mileage Gen 2 or higher mileage Gen 3?

I was just thinking about aging cars today. I thought if we made up a list of desirable aspects for an ideal car nobody would think the list is reasonable.

- Performs in temperatures from sub-zero Fahrenheit to 120 degrees.
- Can deal with rain, snow, sleet, and intense sun.
- Starts 100% of the time
- Runs for 10 to 20 years, covering 200,000 to 300,000 miles without failure
- Propels a family of four at 60+ mph with a drip-drip-drip of gasoline
- the list could go on and on...

Really this is an unreasonable list but it is what most of us are experiencing with our Prius cars. There are so many stories about Prius cars lasting 300,000 miles that I now expect that from ours too. We have had exactly one failure with our 8 year old 162K mile Gen II which was just replacing the rubber cover on the lift-back latch. We haven't even had to replace the brakes yet. It's really amazing when you think of all of the individual parts required to make a car. There are thousands of electrical connections, hundreds of moving parts, people constantly move levers and knobs, yet they go on and on without fail for thousands of hours.

When a Prius has 100,000 miles on it that doesn't mean the engine has run and worn it's parts for 100,000 miles. The engines shut off a lot. I wonder what percentage of the time the car is coasting or running in EV mode while the engine is shut down. This means the engines will last longer than non hybrid cars.

Still, to answer the OPs question, there comes a point when even the best of cars will begin to deteriorate. Rubber disintegrates, plastics deform, metal wears, etc. I'd be inclined to opt for the newer car.

We bought a 1997 Honda Civic when it was new. The term "bullet proof" is often applied to those cars and that was certainly true of this one. In the 18 years that little car was in the family it never failed and the total maintenance bill for non scheduled work or consumables was less than $200. But when my grand daughter traded it in on a new car I was sad that she didn't give me a chance to buy it back from her, until I thought about it a little bit. I finally realized that it was of that age that things would begin to fail - even on a Honda. So I decided that as much as I liked that little car I'd be happy that someone else would be putting up with a stream of expensive repairs that may ensue.

 

I don't look at milage as mileage alone tells you nothing about the condition of the car or how old a car really is. I bought my 09 Prius off the lot with already 160k miles on it. It runs great with no major failures, same original traction battery, never been in an accident in mint condition. The Hybrid battery is not something I'm concerned or could care less about as I'm a DYI guy's nor its something I'm going to replace every three years. At the end of the day, a car is a car no matter if it's a gas, electric, Hybrid or diesel, you are going to have failures some point down the road. I just keep the car well maintained to get the most out of it. Keep that Hybrid battery cooling system cleaned out like what I did in this photo. Heat kills batteries! It's a good thing I live in the Midwest where's much cooler weather. That is one of the main reasons of premature battery failure is over heating esp if you live in a very very hot region. Other times just manufacturer defects. I plan on keeping this thing until them wheels fall off. Very reliable.

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probably a good idea. spend the hundred bucks and move on.