Should I Buy A Used 2010 Prius Hybrid?

[xinsingtinhuk]

Hello everyone,

I wish you all a very nice day. I would be grateful for your advice.

At the moment, I'm looking for a used 2010 Prius Hybrid. There are quite a few available for roughly £15,000 or more from dealers.

I have read some articles about the Prius and it seems a big concern, among would-be buyers, is about the repair cost if something goes wrong. Some say there is a lot more potentially to go wrong, since it has two engines, two electronic control systems, a load of batteries, etc.

So is it advisable to buy a used Prius from a dealer, or should I try to buy a new one?

My sincere thanks,

[barrycoll]

cheapest new T3 is £18100 from drivethedeal.com.....with 5 year warranty

[Joseph D]

... At the moment, I'm looking for a used 2010 Prius Hybrid. There are quite a few available for roughly £15,000 or more from dealers.

Wow, £15,000 seems a bit high for a 2010.

I have read some articles about the Prius and it seems a big concern, among would-be buyers, is about the repair cost if something goes wrong. Some say there is a lot more potentially to go wrong, since it has two engines, two electronic control systems, a load of batteries, etc.

So is it advisable to buy a used Prius from a dealer, or should I try to buy a new one?

...

The problem when people don't have a clue, is they spurt forth a load of rubbish. You need to be selective about what you read.

While it might be true the Prius has a few more things when compared to conventional cars, it is also true that they do not have parts that other cars have.

The reality is, the Prius is an incredibly reliable car that is very cost effective to maintain.

You shouldn't worry about buying from a dealer (Toyota or otherwise), just do a prudent due diligence, including getting a pre-purchase inspection and you should be fine.

[xinsingtinhuk]

Dear Joseph D, thank you so much for your kind advice. It is very assuring.

About £15,000, I checked with the Parker's guide and this is also the price they give for franchise dealer, while private sellers would be cheaper. But I would prefer to buy from a Toyota dealer. Hopefully it gives me some peace of mind.

[xinsingtinhuk]

I also have another question. I read that on February 12, 2014, Toyota UK announced a recall of the Prius, citing a software error which could cause the car to stop suddenly.

Is there any way to check if the 2010 car that I'm going to see is affected by this? I will visit the dealer this week and ask them. But how can I verify?

Thank you

[Grumpy Cabbie]

£15,000 for a 2010?

!Removed! 'ell, do you want to buy mine for £12,000? Lots of new parts :)

I was going to question this thread as being a bit of a wind up or troll attack, but having looked on Autotrader I do wonder if I'm right. You can get dozens of 2010/2011 gen3's with reasonable miles for £12,000 or under, including some from Toyota dealers, but there are a fair few Toyota dealers around the London area asking £15,000 or more for a 2010 gen3.

Seriously that is madness, but I'm going to hold onto mine a bit longer. Never had a car hold it's value so well.

[xinsingtinhuk]

Dear Grumpy Cabbie, thank you for your advice. I will look at autotrader again. So far I choose dealers 35 miles from me. Perhaps those very far from London can get the car at cheaper price.

The car I'm going to see has less than 30,000 miles, satnav and intelligent parking assist. I don't know if it means the car is more expensive.

The cheaper Prius on autotrader seem to have more than 50,000, or even 80,000 miles. Maybe that is the reason.

[korat102]

FWIW, I had my 2nd gen Prius from new (in 2005) till I sold it in 2014. In that time, the only things that failed were one rear spring (thanks partly to the ridiculous state of the roads in Milton Keynes) and the 12v Battery. The bits people seem to panic over are extremely reliable.

[xinsingtinhuk]

Thank you again.

I've just checked on Toyota website's recall checker. After typing the car's number, it said this is "Prius MY09 T Spirit".

May I ask what MY09 means? The car is advertised as a 2010 car.

[korat102]

MY is usually the model year. So that would be a 2009 model, not necessarily the year it was manufactured.

[xinsingtinhuk]

Thank you.

I read that there is also the option to have the Battery pack’s warranty extended from five years to a maximum of 11 years.

Does this apply to a used 2010 Prius Hybrid? After I buy this used car, can I apply for the extended warranty?

[Grumpy Cabbie]

If you have self parking then it's a T-Spirit; the top of the range model.

Nice that they are, £15k on a 4 year old car that sold for £21k new is a bit steep. They may have low mileage but there is also a shelf life on the HV Battery life of about 10-14 years. The internals can start to corrode over time as has been shown on the gen1 (not the JDM grey imports which were just test mules which used D cells!). The mid 2010 cars got the 5 year vehicle warranty and an 8 years hybrid warranty. If you get the car serviced at Toyota dealers they do a hybrid check that extends the warranty of the HV Battery upto 10 years inclusive with no mileage limit. Even if they didn't, they advice replacement is about £800 which compares with the cost of a clutch in a traditional car.

http://www.toyota.co.uk/hybrid-faq

So whilst it's your call, an older low mileage Prius isn't worth paying a significant premium over a nice example of similar age with higher miles (within limits of course) IMHO. Remember a new shape gen4 Prius is likely to be released in about 18 months. You don't want to pay top dollar for a 4 year old car which will quickly lose value. This is my opinion and others will all have theirs - that's what makes the world go round.

The Prius is a nice car, just don't get caught up in paying more than you should just to get £0 car tax a year. Well, unless you want to buy mine :)

Just checked mine through the recall checker and it says mine is an MY09 t3 which is right. Sounds like the car you're looking at was manufactured in 2009 and sold in 2010. Make sure it was registered after June/July 2010 to ensure it gets the 5/8 year warranty or you'll end up with 3/5 years. You don't want to pay over the odds for a car with no warranty, reliable as the Prius can be.

[xinsingtinhuk]

Dear Grumpy Cabbie, you are so nice. I want to thank you.

This car's number is 10, so I suppose it only gets 5/8 year warranty. :( Just to make sure I understand correctly, does it mean the car will not enjoy the 10-year Battery extended warranty?

I've just looked at autotrader again and found another car, the same specs but at nearly 50,000 miles. The prices is £14,000.

[alan333]

This car's number is 10, so I suppose it only gets 5/8 year warranty

Make sure it was registered after June/July 2010 to ensure it gets the 5/8 year warranty or you'll end up with 3/5 years

A 10 plate could have been registered between 1st March and 31st August so it could be either of the warranties. Check when it was registered to be sure.

[Julian30]

Just for a bit of comparison, I recently bought a December 2008 (2nd Gen and generally reckoned to be the most reliable version) with 60K on the clock (which is nothing for a Prius) for £6,000 and mine has the longer warranty etc.

I know it's all down to personal choice etc but paying maybe £8-9,000 more for a car maybe 13 months older and 10-20K less miles seems ridiculous to me.

However, I must add that mine was a private buy, not through a Toyota dealer.

[Grumpy Cabbie]

What Alan said. Your car could get either of the warranties if it's a '10'. You really need to double and triple check. The date of first registration is vitally important.

If it's 1st June 2010 onwards then you're 5/8, but anything before that and you get the 3/5 warranty. See this link;

http://www.toyota.co.uk/insurance-and-warranty/toyota-warranty

Either way, if you get the Hybrid Heath Check done on your car and the car passes then the warranty for the HV Battery ONLY is extended to 11 years (or is that 10 years inclusive?). If I read it correctly it matters not what your mileage is to start or whether the car is still in warranty, so long as it passes the HHC then the warranty is extended for 10k miles or 12 months (whichever is first) on a rolling basis. The HHC is either £40 OR included in a Toyota main dealers service.

If the car fails the HHC on the very first occasion and you're already out of the main warranty, then you're on your own. But the HV Battery has to really be on its last legs to fail. Mine took a hammering in the taxi job and passed both HHC's (which were only introduced early this year). Once it's passed you're fine so long as you renew the HHC every 12 months/10k miles until the car is 11 years old.

It's a good idea of Toyota to give peace of mind over the HV Battery and keeps owners going to the main dealers. You really would want your Prius serviced at a main dealer and many will price match - best of both worlds.

[xinsingtinhuk]

Dear Julian30 and all, after reading your comments, I looked again and found there are some 2008 Prius T Spirit with satnav, intelligent parking assist for under £9,000. These are the price at dealers.

Judging by the appearance, the second gen looks very similar to the third gen. So it is very tempting for me, given that the price difference is very big.

[kithmo]

Having the 3 year warranty instead of the 5 year on the car won't matter on a 4 year old car as you will get a 1 year warranty if you buy from a Toyota Dealer anyway and the HV Battery warranty can be extended each year with the hybrid health check which is free with a service or around £40 IIRC without.

£15000 does seem a bit steep, on http://www.motors.co.uk you can pick up 10 reg T-Spirits with less than 50k miles on for between £12,500 to £13,500 from Toyota dealers, So if you're willing to travel you can save £1,500 to £2,500 on your price.

[PeteB]

... if you're willing to travel you can save £1,500 to £2,500 on your price...

that's exactly what I found 12 years ago when I bought my first ex-demo Gen 1 Prius - I lived in Luton at the time, and local/London dealers wanted almost list price for 6-12 month old demonstrators, but I found the Norwich dealer advertising a slightly older 18 month old one for £12k.

As I passed them at least once a month visiting family in Norfolk, having it serviced there was also convenient and cheaper than south east prices (and they understood the Hybrid system, unlike many dealers at that time, and proved very reliable).

[Julian30]

Dear Julian30 and all, after reading your comments, I looked again and found there are some 2008 Prius T Spirit with satnav, intelligent parking assist for under £9,000. These are the price at dealers.

Judging by the appearance, the second gen looks very similar to the third gen. So it is very tempting for me, given that the price difference is very big.

I'd say that makes more sense, although I went for the T4 (the model below the T-Spirit) as the satnav (got it on my phone) and parking assist (managed to park for 25 years without it) weren't worth the extra thousands to me and I still got cruise control (godsend on long journeys) but that's why cars have different models and options, we all like different things!

[PeteB]

Dear Julian30 and all, after reading your comments, I looked again and found there are some 2008 Prius T Spirit with satnav, intelligent parking assist for under £9,000. These are the price at dealers.

Judging by the appearance, the second gen looks very similar to the third gen. So it is very tempting for me, given that the price difference is very big.

I'd say that makes more sense, although I went for the T4 (the model below the T-Spirit) as the satnav (got it on my phone) and parking assist (managed to park for 25 years without it) weren't worth the extra thousands to me and I still got cruise control (godsend on long journeys) but that's why cars have different models and options, we all like different things!

I certainly agree about the cruise control, it's the thing I would miss most, although ALL Prius have always had it, they just leave the switches off on some models (in some countries). I had the switches fitted by my helpful Norwich dealer on both my Gen 1 Prius, a T3 Gen 2 and my current Gen 3 T3.

If you do go for a Gen 3, I wouldn't rule out the T3, as it has smaller 15" wheels. Personally, I don't think they look better or worse than the 17" ones on the T4 or Spirit, but everyone will have their own view on that. What matters to me is:

• tyres last just as long but much cheaper to replace
• never felt any shortcomings in road holding on 15"s
• more comfortable ride
• quieter ride
• probably better turning circle (not seen figures, but on Yaris the turning circle is 6 feet more with bigger wheels - on an already mediocre turning circle)
• full size wheel just fits under the boot floor (when flat) if you have to use the space saver spare and have a load of luggage

[Grumpy Cabbie]

The early t3's had a cheaper steering motor (I'm on my THIRD!), though I understand it was uprated later.

I like the t3. The 15 inch wheels absorb the bumps and potholes of UK roads much more happily that the low profile tyres on the t4 and T-spirit. The tyres also cost much less at about £60 each for a quality branded lrr tyre. That was important when doing the taxi job as you'd go through front tyres every 16k miles because of all the turning, 3 point turns, roundabouts you do 10 hours a day.

You can always tell a new starter in the taxi world; the one with shiny low profile wheels. You soon get bored of paying £300 for a set of front tyres every 6 months, let alone all the dented and cracked alloys due to our quality roads.

Maybe the op could get his Prius fix for £4,000 less if he chose a gen3 t3//t4 with a few more miles. Each to their own though.

[chi tang]

£15k for a 2010 Prius is very steep.

Look at Jemca Toyota.

2 Years back I got mine for £13,250 listed at £14,500 ( bartered a full tank of petrol and 4 new Michelin Tyres too)

KT59 reg also registered in 2010 Pearl white

TSpirit with Full Leather, Style pack, Protection Pack and LED lights.

Ring up the Edgware store and ask for Rod, he will give you a cracking deal

[xinsingtinhuk]

Dear chi tang, thank you for your kind advice. I did contact Jemca Toyota about their £15,000 car. If I understand you correctly, I should contact Edgware store instead.

BTW, I use Parker's Guide to check whether the price should be accepted or not. Do you think I should follow Parker's?

Regards,

[chi tang]

Yes,

Call Jemca Edgware and ask for Rod.

Give him the speccs of what you want and let him hunt the right car for you.