I am considering buying a used 2001 Prius. It looks fine. The Carfax is fine. It has 110,000 miles on it. What should I look out for? What kind of repairs am I likely to need? The guy who has it is a dealer, he bought the car at an auction. Am I crazy to even consider this car?
You don't mention the price...however, as a prior 2001 Prius owner, you should consider that the reliability should be similar to any other 1.5 litre engine Toyota, e.g. Echo, as long as the routine maintenance was done and nothing out of the ordinary has happened to the car, e.g. flood damage or wreck. You should be able to get 180,000 out of the car without any major service.
Bill
Probably :_> Seriously, one sold at auction is likely a salvage from a major accident or water damage. I would not buy any salvaged car, and as a Prius owner I would especially not buy a salvaged Prius. The cars seem very durable under normal wear-and-tear but they are complicated and I wouldn't trust that everything would (or could) get fixed perfectly.
One way you can check the history of this car is to buy a report of the car's VIN (Vehicle Identification Number) at
I did a carfax on it. It came back clean. Can I trust the carfax to be right? Can a car be wrecked and the information not show up?
Thanks,
Luke
I've heard that's it's possible. I'd suggest paying a Prius certified technician at a Toyota dealer to inspect the car thoroughly before you buy it.
I think you'll need a new re-chargeable battery in about 4 0r 5 years at about $3000!!
Neil R
None of the 100,000 Priuses sold since 1997 has needed a replacement battery except to replace accidental damage. Even if one is needed in 4 or 5 years, guessing what they will cost then is a crapshoot.
There are a lot more things to worry about in a salvage before the question of when the battery might need replacing.
Neil, it sounds like your source of information is an uninformed GM salesguy. :^). The Nickel Metal Hydride battery is considered part of the drivetrain. Anyone who is worried about it can get an optional 10 year, 100,000 mile extended warranty, but IMHO, I believe it would be a waste of money to buy extended warranties on Toyotas. Lately, asking price for undamaged batteries from wrecked Prius cars on ebay are in the $300~$500 range. AFAIK, no owner has yet had to replace the battery via a warranty claim. I am a very satisfied owner on my 3rd Prius, with over 80,000 miles across all three. If you are old enough to drive and have a fairly new car, it has probably depreciated a lot more than $3000 in 1 year, let alone the 4 or 5 years that you worry so much about a replaceable part on a Prius. Come on Neil, go back to the DCX newsgroup and keep repeating "Hemi rocks"!
The Prius traction battery, and in fact, the entire hybrid electric drive train (including motors, generators, control circuitry, etc.) is guaranteed (in California and other states that have the California emission standards) for ten years or 150,000 miles.
In other states the guarantee is eight years and 100,000 miles.
Please stop your propagandizing.
GM should do what Ford, Nissan, and others are doing: Take a patent license from Toyota on the hybrid system.
And stop pushing Hummers.
earle
ej
*
And a transmission or clutch and an alternator and a starter and a cruise controller and turbocharger and timing belt and power steering pump... because your Prius didn't come with any of those expensive and mostly high failure rate items. Don't you feel cheated?
How's the trolling, Neil? I haven't seen anybody fall for your nonsense yet.
Mike
MotorsForum website is not affiliated with any of the manufacturers or service providers discussed here. All logos and trade names are the property of their respective owners.