Who owns the oldest model of Prius

I wouldn't have said a 2004 was the oldest. There are still a handful of the original Prius selling over here in the UK. The oldest one I've seen was an early 1998 model.

 

That's because UK, New Zealand and Australia, which all drive on the left-side of the road, is a market for Japan domestic vehicles which are being retired by their Japanese owners. Hence a few of the original Prius with D-cell format batteries have ended up in those countries instead of being scrapped.

 

That's true Patrick. There aren't many of these original ones left as the old battery pack has died and parts are difficult or at least not cost effective to source.

I'd love to get my hands on an early 1998 model if I have the ability to have the battery pack repaired/replaced. The car would then be good for at least another 5-10 years or so. These early ones will be a future class I think.

 

Well, if you need a very time-consuming hobby, a car like that would be OK.

I think the original NHW10 Prius, intended only for the Japan domestic market (prior to 2001 model year), would be very difficult to maintain because:

1) the diagnostic system is not standard OBD-II (apparently you need a very special Japan-specific format code reader)
2) the MFD display is in the Japanese language so unless you can interpret those characters, the MFD messages will be useless
3) there is no NHW10 service literature in the English language so you will have to extrapolate from the NHW11 service docs or get a translation of the Japanese language docs.

 

Exactly. That's why they're dying off over here whereas the early NHW11's are still to be found. It's also why one would be a future class; the beginning of mainstream hybrids.

Perhaps I should buy a good condition, non running one with a failed HV battery for £200 and store it for a few years. I think it sad that these original cars are likely to disappear quickly. The ones that are still running are still demanding a premium price;

Toyota Prius 1.5 VVTi Hybrid 4dr Auto

Easily identifiable as an NHW10 here due to the Japanese sized rear licence plate, compared to the larger European ones.

 

It might be a model option from Malaysia or somewhere, but as hardly anyone actually bothers to fill in the Country section, we all have to guess

 

Another identification method is that there is no rear spoiler on the trunk.

 

it's a good question tho. i would like to know who owns the earliest model, but they might not be a pchat member.

 

More likely someone from Australia, New Zealand or the UK and Ireland.

 

For anyone who is seriously considering purchase of an 1997-2000 model year NHW10, I suggest that you join this Yahoo group:
Yahoo Groups

It would be good for you to see the variety of technical issues that arise and what actions are taken by group members to resolve those issues.

Again, please do not underestimate the difficulty of fixing highly complex technical issues when 1) you don't have the ability to read DTC produced by the car's ECUs and 2) you do not have a comprehensive English-language guide to what the DTC even mean and what to do about them.

There are many detail differences between NHW10 and NHW11 (2001-2003 model years), although they share a common exterior appearance.

I think of the NHW11's development as being one step above a science experiment. The NHW10 development is at the science experiment level, so don't expect a trouble-free ownership experience if you should buy one of those.

 

I spotted a pre '00 model here in Dublin recently. I cannot remember exactly what year though... just thought to myself, you don't see that model very often

 

are they different than the 01, 02, 03's? i see quite a few of those around here and they usually look almost new.

 

The 1997 - 2000 model year Prius (NHW10) are quite different than the 2001 - 2003 NHW11 Prius although cosmetically they look similar. The traction battery is weaker, the gasoline engine has some minor differences, and all instrumentation is in Japanese since it was intended solely for the JDM.

 

Is this any help?

How Many Left?

 

I looked that up earlier, it doesn't go back far enough fir the Prius

 

It won't be, as despite going back to 1995 it only shows the year of the actual UK registration, not the year of make. A grey import will usually arrive when around 5-8 years old and thus will apply in the 2005 (or thereabouts) stats.

The Sorn records only go back to 2007 so it's hard to tell how many are registered but unused. It appears 245 Prii are Sorned and I bet a fair few of those will be older cars.