Steve_Jones said:In reply to John Welsh :
How about the Lexus version? CT200? Anything specific on those to avoid?
I have one. It's a gen 3 Prius essentially, so the same oil burning and head gasket concerns.
Steve_Jones said:In reply to John Welsh :
How about the Lexus version? CT200? Anything specific on those to avoid?
I have one. It's a gen 3 Prius essentially, so the same oil burning and head gasket concerns.
Used EV credits don't look very easy to qualify for in that range, so you would probably be looking at a Nissan Leaf. You'd have to check if its range meets your needs.
Second Gen Prius is likely a good bet here. A VW TDI would get close in terms of mileage. And a lot of recent small-ish four banger cars would still get double your truck's mileage, so if a good deal on a Corolla, Elantra, or even a Ford Fusion pops up, it could be worth considering.
John Welsh said:When it come to Lexus Hybrid I like the HS250h. This was a 3 year only model before the CT200.
Simplified answer of being a Prius sized chassis in sedan format but carries a Camry Hybrid engine, 2.5L. The big engine/small package formula makes mpg only be modest at 35 city/34 hyw. A typical Gen2 Prius returns 40-46 mpg every day w/o trying.
Minor note. The HS250h has the 2.4 2AZ-FXE engine shared with the "1st Gen Camry Hybrid". It's got VVT-i only on the intake. Something about the limited variable valve and MPFI system seems to hurt that system's Hybrid MPG. The HS250h's main "claim to notoriety" is that it's the first Toyota Hybrid with a physical Stability Control OFF button (thus, from my perspective, the cheapest Toyota Hybrid to use for AutoX/HPDE).
The 2012+ Camry Hybrid has the 2.5L 2AZ-FXE, which is dual VVT-i, and can get ~40MPG. It's an all round better hybrid than the gen1 Camry hybrid / HS250h... but is closer to $10-12k.currently.
MadScientistMatt said:Used EV credits don't look very easy to qualify for in that range, so you would probably be looking at a Nissan Leaf. You'd have to check if its range meets your needs.
As a "slightly south of Curtis" owner of a 2012 Leaf, I wouldn't recommend a 2011-2016 Leaf as an "only car" to someone in PA, unless their commute was under 20miles daily. The heater on the early cars, in combination with the un-temp-controlled battery pack, means the cold weather range (and cold weather comfort) is severely restricted.
I will say I know it's out of the price range, but I've seen 2017 Bolts with the tax credit in the $9k range. That's for VERY low mile ones and if you look the VIN up on GMs website you will see that MANY of them have BRAND NEW batteries due to the recall. In my area about 5 dealers are selling all the buyback ones that waited on batteries until october of 2024.
Though I am clearly pro-Prius, another great value can be a non-sporty car with a manual transmission. There are so few buyers / shoppers that cars like this are often on the market a long time and that often translates to selling cheap.
Here's one that comes up on my FB, about 2 hours away from me in Detroit.
'07 Sentra w/116k @ $2.3k. It's been listed for 6 weeks! Even if it needed $1,000 worth of clutch work, at retail, it would still be a deal. The CVT of this era Nissan, sucks, but the manual trans should be fine.
In reply to sleepyhead the buffalo :
That's some great GRM-level model insight!
nocones said:I will say I know it's out of the price range, but I've seen 2017 Bolts with the tax credit in the $9k range. That's for VERY low mile ones and if you look the VIN up on GMs website you will see that MANY of them have BRAND NEW batteries due to the recall. In my area about 5 dealers are selling all the buyback ones that waited on batteries until october of 2024.
I didn't know they'd gotten that cheap! Thanks for the tip on the battery recall lookup. I don't see many low miles ones for $9k but still looks like a good idea for a cheap EV.
I like the out of the box thinking.
As some have inferred, it doesn't have to be a hybrid or an EV. I recall some hypermilers getting 50+ mpg out of their TDIs. Of course with a TDI, it takes it beyond the simple realm of mpg, HC, and CO, and introduces particulates that aren't very tree-hugging, but I do love diesels.
My boss has a Leaf. She's loving the green-ness of it, but she's very disappointed with the range and the fact that she feels like she's in a soda can. I don't need a ton of range, but the nice thing about a hybrid is that it would make longer road trips a little less of a hassle... at least with current (pun intended) infrastructure in the central/north east.
I also have to laugh that the EPA comparison John shared... The prius has a longer range on a 9-gallon tank than my van does with a 30-gallon tank.
In reply to MadScientistMatt :
I think EV credits are on US cars only, yes?
John Welsh said:In reply to Curtis73 (Forum Supporter) :
This is my favorite one listed near you right now. '07 w/160 @ $4k The last Prius I sold was a rebuilt title '08 w/185k @ $4k. It too had a recent rebuilt battery but this one listed has less miles as well as a fresh battery. Sadly, all the pictures are of the passenger side of the car. I hope the driver's side is okay.
I just messaged them asking for photos of the driver's side
nocones said:I will say I know it's out of the price range, but I've seen 2017 Bolts with the tax credit in the $9k range. That's for VERY low mile ones and if you look the VIN up on GMs website you will see that MANY of them have BRAND NEW batteries due to the recall. In my area about 5 dealers are selling all the buyback ones that waited on batteries until october of 2024.
I had not been following this at all... This could quickly become relevant to my interests.
2nd gen Mazda 3 skyactiv might be doable at that price. I like the Ford Max I drove, way more than a 3rd gen Prius, but the prices are probably not in the 5k range.
Other oddballs: I would be looking at Yaris, Mazda 2, Fiesta, maybe even a Spark or whatever the slightly bigger one was called. Someone on here loves the Hyundai Accent too. The Prius will crush them in city driving, but the highway MPGs are not all that dissimilar.
The thing about the 2nd gen Prius is just how many of them are out there.
How far are they going?
You can get a Fiat 500e for less than five grand.
Regarding Bolts, SWMBO has a 2019 we bought used about a year ago and loves it. It has a very good range of 200-240 miles, everything seems to work well, and it's been reliable so far. My one major complaint about it is that it has the WORST. SEATS. EVER. Seriously, both front seats are spectacularly bad, easily the worst OEM seats I have ever sat in. They have very thin padding (read: like the foam-padded fabric on your sun visor) and they have these plastic side bolsters that push into the back of my shoulder blades. I'm about 5' 10" and 160# so fairly average. They don't bother my wife but she's about a foot shorter than I am. Make sure you spend at least 15 minutes test driving one if you are considering it.
Curtis73 (Forum Supporter) said:John Welsh said:In reply to Curtis73 (Forum Supporter) :
This is my favorite one listed near you right now. '07 w/160 @ $4k The last Prius I sold was a rebuilt title '08 w/185k @ $4k. It too had a recent rebuilt battery but this one listed has less miles as well as a fresh battery. Sadly, all the pictures are of the passenger side of the car. I hope the driver's side is okay.
I just messaged them asking for photos of the driver's side
So... they sent photos of the interior from the driver's side and sent them. I clarified that I needed to see the OUTSIDE of the driver's side and they sent the same pictures again. I asked what they were hiding and haven't heard back. I'm going to assume that there is either a big language barrier, or the outside is smashed.
Yah, I was gonna post earlier about that Sentra and wondered why they took pictures of it with the hood ajar.
Maybe the hood doesn't close anymore?
Edit: Actually, there are a couple pics of the drivers side, and other than one curious deep ding in the c-pillar, it looks reasonable.
Curtis73 (Forum Supporter) said:In reply to MadScientistMatt :
I think EV credits are on US cars only, yes?
They don't seem to be limited to US cars, but they seem to have a lot of strings attached. The car could not have been sold used after some point in 2022, and I think it has to be from a dealer and not a private party. So these credits are likely to be tough to use on basement bargain cars.
Curtis73 (Forum Supporter) said:John Welsh said:In reply to Curtis73 (Forum Supporter) :
This is my favorite one listed near you right now. '07 w/160 @ $4k The last Prius I sold was a rebuilt title '08 w/185k @ $4k. It too had a recent rebuilt battery but this one listed has less miles as well as a fresh battery. Sadly, all the pictures are of the passenger side of the car. I hope the driver's side is okay.
I just messaged them asking for photos of the driver's side
I know they haven't got back with you but I ran a quick recon...that came up empty.
Here's my "hack." If you go to the Edmunds site to get a car value you can enter your make/model/year, or enter Vin, or even just enter license plate. With super zoom I could still read the license plate they had blacked out in the listing photos. When you put in a plate and answer all the sites questions about the car's condition (which I made up) it comes back with some verifying information like year, color, AND VIN.
I then take that VIN to the Toyota Owners Site and pulled all the dealer service this car has ever had. Sadly, it has not been to a dealership since 1/15/13 at 64,117 miles. However, up to that point, it went to the dealership for everything though none of it a real revelation other than oil changes and "normal" stuff. That servicing dealer was Sloane Toyota of Glenside (North Metro Philly) so the car has been "in the area" all its life.
I google searched the VIN number and that returned nothing. That might be good because one thing it often returns is info like recent salvage auction listings...but not this one.
Service record screen shots (2):
They actually did get back to me with about 10 pictures.... none of them of the driver's side.
Duke also found me a nice 500 Abarth in OH that does make me tingle a little. Nowhere near the reliability of the Prius, but it does have me curious.
In reply to Curtis73 (Forum Supporter) :
If that Abarth is near my part of Ohio, I'd be happy to assist (and assist does mean to flog it for you.)
In reply to Curtis73 (Forum Supporter) :
Since John posted the VIN, I ran the Carfax. Salvage title in 2013.
Curtis73 (Forum Supporter) said:They actually did get back to me with about 10 pictures.... none of them of the driver's side.
That's surely annoying but almost humorous. I think you need to do a drive by and show us what they're hiding.
Meantime, ask them to go to the other side of the street and take a picture of the car. See if they turn it around first.
Curtis73 (Forum Supporter) said:They actually did get back to me with about 10 pictures.... none of them of the driver's side.
Thank them for not having to deal with them anymore?
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