Looking to buy Prius (mk. II). Any advice?

kissenger

kissenger

kissenger

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So having recently passed my test I'm looking at buying a Prius as my first car. It ticks all my boxes: relatively cheap to buy (£3000-ish), cheap to insure (if you call £1200 cheap!), good MPG, big enough for me, and a good array of mod cons. But as this is my first car, I was wondering if there's anything I need to be particularly wary of. The ones I've seen advertised in my price bracket (no more than £2250-3000) range from 90,000 to 160,000 miles. In particular, I'm wondering:

1) Do I need to worry about mileage? I.e., do the batteries tend to fail past a certain number?

2) Are there any potential problems I should check for when I do the test drive?

3) What kind of Prius can I realistically expect for my budget? I.e., mileage-wise and in terms of spec (e.g., T4 too much?).

Edit:

4) And should I steer clear of automatics? I've only ever driven manuals, but I'm seeing quite a lot of auto Priuses around.
 
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[TW]Fox;28680533 said:
Most of these are going to be ex-Minicabs I'd have thought, especially at that money.
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None of the listings I've seen state that, but I'd guess you'd be right about some of them. Wouldn't bother me that much though, so long as mileage is reasonable and car is clean.
 
All prius are auto (CVT) As an ex owner. For that price you should find a T spirit if your lucky but failing that you want a T4 minimum to get the decent audio. A higher mileage example is not an issue if it has service history from toyota. The servicing is cheap so not really any excuse for owners to have dodgy back street garages servicing them.

If you buy one take it to toyota get a basic service and they will throw in a hybrid health check. https://www.toyota.co.uk/caring-for-your-toyota/service-and-maintenance/hybrid-health-check.json
You wont get the warranty if its over 10 years old but if it passes you don't have anything to really worry about. A replacement battery can be had now for less than 500 and takes a few hours to fit DIY.

A few things to note. Get the lifetime CVT fluid changed it doesn't cost much and should be done every 50 to 60k

Brakes and pads last a long time and are cheap so no worries with them. Check for corrosion of the alloy wheels behind the wheel trims if they are fitted. Check for bubbling at the front of the aluminium bonnet as it's a water trap and known issue. The cd player plays mp3 but is very fussy about what discs it likes.
Check when the 12v auxiliary battery was last replaced and if more than 4 years ago factor in £95 fixed cost at toyota for a new one as its a specific battery and when it starts to fail the car throws all sorts of crazy warnings at you.

lock the car and wait 10 minutes to make sure the alarm does not randomly go off as this is a common problem and needs a new interior ultrasonic sensor.

As a first car its a great choice as really cheap to run and insure and very little to go wrong that can throw up massive bills.

This ones a good buy and with a hybrid health check will be warrantied as well for any battery issues and is a T spirit. Its just a little over budget.

http://www.autotrader.co.uk/classified/advert/201508256347455?sort=default&maximum-mileage=up_to_125000_miles&radius=1501&page=1&search-target=usedcars&maximum-age=up_to_10_years_old&model=prius&make=toyota&postcode=ky75az&onesearchad=used%2Cnearlynew%2Cnew&price-to=3500&logcode=p
 
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Dave85 said:
All prius are auto (CVT) As an ex owner. For that price you should find a T spirit if your lucky but failing that you want a T4 minimum to get the decent audio. A higher mileage example is not an issue if it has service history from toyota. The servicing is cheap so not really any excuse for owners to have dodgy back street garages servicing them.

If you buy one take it to toyota get a basic service and they will throw in a hybrid health check. https://www.toyota.co.uk/caring-for-your-toyota/service-and-maintenance/hybrid-health-check.json
You wont get the warranty if its over 10 years old but if it passes you don't have anything to really worry about. A replacement battery can be had now for less than 500 and takes a few hours to fit DIY.

A few things to note. Get the lifetime CVT fluid changed it doesn't cost much and should be done every 50 to 60k

Brakes and pads last a long time and are cheap so no worries with them. Check for corrosion of the alloy wheels behind the wheel trims if they are fitted. Check for bubbling at the front of the aluminium bonnet as it's a water trap and known issue. The cd player plays mp3 but is very fussy about what discs it likes.
Check when the 12v auxiliary battery was last replaced and if more than 4 years ago factor in £95 fixed cost at toyota for a new one as its a specific battery and when it starts to fail the car throws all sorts of crazy warnings at you.

lock the car and wait 10 minutes to make sure the alarm does not randomly go off as this is a common problem and needs a new interior ultrasonic sensor.

As a first car its a great choice as really cheap to run and insure and very little to go wrong that can throw up massive bills.

This ones a good buy and with a hybrid health check will be warrantied as well for any battery issues and is a T spirit. Its just a little over budget.

http://www.autotrader.co.uk/classified/advert/201508256347455?sort=default&maximum-mileage=up_to_125000_miles&radius=1501&page=1&search-target=usedcars&maximum-age=up_to_10_years_old&model=prius&make=toyota&postcode=ky75az&onesearchad=used%2Cnearlynew%2Cnew&price-to=3500&logcode=p
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Thanks very much Dave. That was incredibly informative. I'm glad you had a good experience with your Prius. I hope I do too.
 
I've been scouring various used car sites hoping to find a decent Prius in my price bracket. No luck so far with private sellers but I've found T Spirit's at two different dealers near me for just under £4000.

What are my odds of being able to knock them down to £3500 or would I just look silly asking for that price?
 
I'm not sure they do to be honest. The only other cars I could find with similar purchase price/MPG/insurance were smaller city cars, and I need something that is good on the motorway too. Plus the Prius is quite a bit larger than the average city car.

I was looking at a Honda Civic Hybrid, but battery reliability slightly put me off.
 
kissenger said:
Oi! There's lots of reasons to drive a Prius:

*Reliable
*Good value
*Good MPG
*Low insurance/tax
*Larry David drives one in Curb Your Enthusiasm
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They drive a Fiat Cinquecento on The Inbetweeners, much easier to pick up a tidy example for well under your budget. Ticks most of the boxes above :)
 
The Craig said:
Do you want an auto box as a new driver? I wouldn't. Learn (starts when you pass :p) to drive manual
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I'm pretty confident in my handling of manuals. Been doing regular 200 mile round trips for about 2 months. Got it down to a tee. Admittedly I would rather have a manual than auto, all else being equal, but so much else is right about the Prius for me that I'm willing to sacrifice that one thing.
 
[TW]Fox;28680533 said:
Most of these are going to be ex-Minicabs I'd have thought, especially at that money.
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Yeah we have a few on our fleet, lol.

Not very popular with the punters and have restricted luggage space.

Although councils our encouraging cab firms to go green we have opted for the Hyundai i40 which has lower running costs.
 
I'm not sure about the good value bit. There's definitely a Prius premium. It'll take a lot of miles for those mpgs to make back your money.

I test drove the Mk2 and Mk3 when last looking for a car. Not exactly an engaging drive, it has to be said.

But yeah, decent reliable cars.
 
You can pick up decent T spirit Prius for less than 4k and they have loads of storage room and are really cheap to run and service so I really cant see how a i40 will be cheaper to run.

kissenger the Prius is a great choice so keep looking they can be had in your budget with the right miles and spec. i would imagine you will find it hard to knock a 4k one down 500 quid but you never know. Did you go look at the one I linked to at 3k?
 
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