Today I bought a used Prius

I talked to an automotive student at school this week that had purchased a 2005 Prius from a cheapy car lot for $500.00. It would not start/run. Student took it to the school auto shop, diagnosed the battery had several defective sections and found a replacement battery at NAPA (priced well below Toyota) He borrowed the required tools/equipment for replacing the battery from a Toyota dealership. The seller (upon finding out it was the battery) was very disgruntled when student was picking up completed transaction paperwork. However, the student is VERY happy.

I had an 08 that developed the oil burning issue with 160k. Not hard to keep on top of and the car is still on the road in the hands of my ex.

Meanwhile I picked up a cherry 05 Highlander Hybrid and am enjoying it very much while spending very little.

Toyota did a good job on these things.

You gonna put it to work?

I was convinced the 2nd gen Prius would be perfect for NEMT, and was just about ready to make the switch.

In reply to SVreX:

Yes.
I have been waiting for the Prius to get down to my "value range". This is about two times what I typically pay for a car but I'm hoping it will be twice the car. Also, this one doesn't seem to be the "fixer upper" that I usually gravitate toward. Seems like it will be good to go right out of the box. It has been a while since I purchased a car with out any check engine lights on. Ha.

I was ready to spend on a runner. I have 3 cars here that are in various states of "need". Seems you pay for it one way or another so I'm going to try paying more for a better starting point.

Stampie wrote: Wonder how it would be with some 18x10 wheels and sticky tires. Anyone ever autocrossed theirs?

I have autocross mine exactly once. It was not fun for two reasons. The steering was/is slow (3.9 turns compared to 2.5 for a miata and 2.7 for a 8th civic si) and I run out of hybrid power after awhile. Without the battery helping it is pretty slow.

That's kind of what my thinking was.

Should be one of the lowest maintenance cars around, with 300K being a a reasonable easy target on the low end.

With the lower cost per mile from the reduced fuel, lower maintenance, and longer life, the math should add up nicely.

Good luck.

BTW, battery should not be an issue. Single cell replacement is an easy low cost and effective approach for that generation. If you need more info, let em know.

I think if I had to get a newish car right now I get the Lexus Prius. I'm going back to get my grad degree pretty soon and will need a reliable car with AC so who knows maybe that's in my future. I'm still unmarried and I think a Prius would absolutely ground any sex life I have.

Coldsnap wrote: I think if I had to get a newish car right now I get the Lexus Prius. I'm going back to get my grad degree pretty soon and will need a reliable car with AC so who knows maybe that's in my future. I'm still unmarried and I think a Prius would absolutely ground any sex life I have.

JohnRW1621 wrote: 2007 w/78k miles for $5,800

I have never really liked Priuses or light green cars in general, but I think I really like this car. The color and the body style somehow work well together.

And, as I stare out my office window, I see a light green Prius in the parking lot next door. I may have to wander down there and take a closer look.

I'm really curious to hear about your ownership experience, much more so than I would be if it were your only car, if that makes any sense.

First thing I thought of when I saw the pictures was "cool color". But, I'm not right in the head.

I vote to ban.

Good score. My wife has a 2007 Prius with 120k on the clock. She bought it 7 years ago with about 20k. Other than having a CV boot fail, we have done scheduled maintenance, check tire pressures periodically and put gas in it.

It is not exciting to drive, but it does what is does extremely well.

I'm still unmarried and I think a Prius would absolutely ground any sex life I have.

While driving around my 65-95hp hybrids i often thought about making a sticker that said "If a Corvette is a compensation machine, then what is this?", but of course i never did. I don't actually want to have that conversation with strangers. But the thought brought me many a chuckle.

I may still buy a Corvette.

I'd gladly buy an early Prius for my commute. Especially since battery packs are available in the aftermarket now. 20-21mpg in my RDX is starting to get old.

Here's another that just came onto my local CL today. I would have looked at too.

'07 w/ 105k asking $5.3k
Looks good, great records, one owner and leather.
Downside, needs two tires and has more miles.

hotchocolate wrote:

Stampie wrote: Wonder how it would be with some 18x10 wheels and sticky tires. Anyone ever autocrossed theirs?

I have autocross mine exactly once. It was not fun for two reasons. The steering was/is slow (3.9 turns compared to 2.5 for a miata and 2.7 for a 8th civic si) and I run out of hybrid power after awhile. Without the battery helping it is pretty slow.

I autox'd my Lexus Prius once. The suspension was very competent no problem. The LRR tires in the rain were less than sticky, lots of under steer. Biggest issues is the battery is only good for the first run and then there is no way to regen unless you go for a few miles of driving.

I do enjoy buzzing around town in it. It is also engaging when trying to hyper mile it to get low 4l/100km.

No repairs for me in 2.5 years.

The Lexus suspension and interior are a huge step up from the Prius, worth a test drive and consideration if you are shopping a Prius.

The CT200h F-Sport interior is one of my all time favorites, and i think all the better ones were in way more expensive cars.

On the prius and lexus CT200h, what maintenance can a shadetree mechanic with a ratchet/wrench/msc tools can do? I always hear that modern cars are hard to work on. But don't know to what extent.

Coldsnap wrote: On the prius and lexus CT200h, what maintenance can a shadetree mechanic with a ratchet/wrench/msc tools can do? I always hear that modern cars are hard to work on. But don't know to what extent.

READ AND HEED THE WARNINGS ABOUT THE HYBRID SYSTEM AND BATTERY

outasite wrote:

Coldsnap wrote: On the prius and lexus CT200h, what maintenance can a shadetree mechanic with a ratchet/wrench/msc tools can do? I always hear that modern cars are hard to work on. But don't know to what extent.

READ AND HEED THE WARNINGS ABOUT THE HYBRID SYSTEM AND BATTERY

I can't really do motor / engine work anyways as I'm a beginner wrench. So far I've done got shocks, struts, suspension bushings, spark plugs, fluids change, brakes, and MSC other crap. But that can save a good amount of money on maintenance if you can do those yourself, so I'm glad!

You can do all of those things to a Prius too. Just be careful if servicing the hybrid battery pack and read the warnings. It isn't a terribly difficult car to work on.

I have to say, After 122K my 2013 has only had one thing has failed on it. The r/r shock is leaking. Ill have it replaced this week.

In just over 2 yeas I have had 12 oil changes and 3 sets of tires. Best Car Ever! I wish I could win a race with it

For a few months now, my Infiniti Q45 has been living over at the babysitter's house. We love her to death and she is like family. She is actually my wife's closest friend from highschool. She became a parent at a more normal/younger age and as you may know, we became parents for the first time at a much older age. The reality being that Andrea (the babysitter) became a grandparent for the first time just months before we became parents. Andrea had chosen to watch her new grandson every day and additionally then insisted that she watch our little girl too. It works very well.

The Q45 is an "extra car" to me and when Andrea ended up down a car in her family I sent over the Q45 for her use. Andrea is otherwise home all day with no car and on a more selfish/personal level, she then has no ability to drive to the ER if there was an emergency. On a lesser level, she can take the kids places.

With the addition of the Prius, I then have another "extra car", a 2000 Chevy Impala. Today I took the Impala over to Andrea today and reclaimed the Q45.
The Impala probably make for a better car for Andrea. I think she will appreciate the fwd for the winter and I know she will notice the 26-ish mpg vs the Q45's 15-ish mpg.

So what this is all leading to is that today, for the first time in over 2 months, I drove the Q45. More importantly, I reunited with the Q45 right in the middle of the honeymoon with the Prius. Quite the stark contrast. I very much took "the long way home" and headed out the corn field roads. Imagine empty, straight country roads in a grid pattern with a stop sign about every square mile. Lots of peel out starts followed by a long enough stretch to get up to 120 mpg while the V8 engine repeatedly shifts at the 7,400 redline. Them's is a lot of revs for 8 cylinders!

Oh, the sweet sounds, the raw display of power, the brute force.
And, there above is a sentence you will never read about a Prius.

Different horses for different races.

On the prius and lexus CT200h, what maintenance can a shadetree mechanic with a ratchet/wrench/msc tools can do? I always hear that modern cars are hard to work on. But don't know to what extent.

I think 'what maintenance' is really the question, when you get down to it. My 07 with 254k has its original serp belt if that tells you anything. If you want a car to learn on, don't buy a Prius because you won't be doing enough of anything to learn much.

When i was 16 a 1986 Lebaron was making a hell of a budding technician out of me. If it had been a Prius the whole course of my career could have been different. And I probably wouldn't have the context of all my other experiences to tell me just how good of a car a Prius really is.

I owned an 05 Prius recently and would buy another one without hesitation. I bought it for $2600 with 200k miles on it. Drove 6k miles in a month before it got wadded up like a tin can by a guy texting in traffic in a Dodge avenger. It was burning about a quart of oil every 1k miles.

I'm driving less these days or I would be more aggressive about finding another one. If I find the right deal I'll pick up a 3rd gen.

I would also add that DIY stuff including the hybrid system is very well documented online. When I picked up my car it had an intermittent problem with the speedometer which would go black sometimes after starting the car. Resetting the 12v battery would bring it back to life. 30 seconds of googling showed that the problem was common, a bad circuit board in the display which could be rebuilt by several shops for a reasonable fee. I chose to buy a used display on eBay for $75.

Most hybrid battery fears are unfounded. Usually when a battery fails it is only one or two failed cells in the pack which can be sourced used for $20-30 and replaced by an average wrenched. I was planning on getting to 300k in my car.