Should I buy a used Toyota Prius? How can I check the battery life?

  • Thread starter Thread starter Joseph Yu
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Joseph Yu

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I'm looking to buy a used Toyota Prius but I'm not sure how to evaluate the battery life and whether there will be severe mechanical problems in the future.
 
Plenty of Priuses in service as taxi cabs in cities like Vancouver have routinely exceeded 200,000 miles with ZERO battery issues. http://www.allaboutprius.com/blog/1019563_toyota-prius-tough-enough-to-be-a-taxi-anywhere

If you can get 200,000 miles out of a car with no major problems, you are already ahead of the game.

Oh, and on the Prius battery pack, there is a phone number to call so you can claim a $200 bounty when you bring that battery pack into a Toyota dealership for recycling if you decide to junk the car at the end of its service life. That "toxic battery in landfills" crap is getting old.

If you want to buy a used Prius, I recommend getting a 2007 or later. The 2007s were 4th-year second-generation Prii, and all of the little annoying bugs have been worked out in the prior model years. The 2007s were the first second-gen Priuses to have no major TSBs (recalls) issued.
 
1st there is a 8 year 100,000 warranty, second been used since 1994 and third batteries cost same as regular car batteries.
 
As long as the car has low miles, you are ok. The battery is warranted by toyota for 100,000 miles and 150,000 miles if you live in California. The best thing to do is buy an extended warranty that covers the battery when the factory warranty runs out if you plan on keeping the car for a long time as the battery will eventually fail and be expensive to replace unless you find a used one some place and feel comfortable doing the work yourself.

Also, don't limit yourself to the prius. Other non hybrid cars such as the yaris, aveo, and civic get almost as good of fuel mileage but with no expensive toxic battery to go bad.
 
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