Is It A Bad Idea To Buy A High Mileage 2nd Generation Prius?

[kissinger]

I'm looking to buy my first car this week and the second generation Prius seems to have everything I want: reliable, a decent size, good MPG, low insurance. I've seen one I really like as well: a 2007 T Spirit in silver with leather interiors for £3900. Only catch is... it's got 170k on the clock.

I needs something that's going to last, which won't cost me much in repairs, and which will hopefully retain some value when I decide to sell it on in a few years. Does that mean a 170k Prius is a bad idea?

[chrismorrow]

http://blog.toyota.co.uk/bob-old-and-his-435000-mile-hybrid

Il just leave this here

[MEP's Yaris GS]

170k isn't high mileage - why do you think it is? This it the one thing that really angers me with the UK car buyers market - rant over.

TO be honest if its been looked after then 170k isn't going to be an issue.

[kissinger]

170k isn't high mileage - why do you think it is? This it the one thing that really angers me with the UK car buyers market - rant over.

TO be honest if its been looked after then 170k isn't going to be an issue.

I don't know much about cars, but having read up on other cars I was originally interested in (e.g., Freelanders, Focuses) I got the impression from the reading I was doing that over 100k was when problems started cropping up with various components. I suppose that's not the case with all cars though.

[offashead]

My last motor, a Peugeot diesel 1.9 E7 had 290,000 on it when I sold it ( yes sold it) it is still going around the circuit. Ok it had a head gasket go at 250,000, we rebuilt the engine ( the top part) new parts, cost me nearly two grand but hey ho.

It annoys me too about car buyers thinking, anything after 100,000 and it's gonna blow up, If anything it's just getting going.

In answer to the OP. I suppose it depends what your going to be doing in it?

[unclepoo]

Just check it hasn`t been a taxi, and driven into the ground and had drunks throw-up in it every saturday night.... prius do seem to be capable of very high mileage with little problems.

I hear the traction batteries can be repaired if any cells do down.

[kissinger]

My last motor, a Peugeot diesel 1.9 E7 had 290,000 on it when I sold it ( yes sold it) it is still going around the circuit. Ok it had a head gasket go at 250,000, we rebuilt the engine ( the top part) new parts, cost me nearly two grand but hey ho.

It annoys me too about car buyers thinking, anything after 100,000 and it's gonna blow up, If anything it's just getting going.

In answer to the OP. I suppose it depends what your going to be doing in it?

So I suppose 100,000 isn't as big a deal as it used to be. All I plan on doing is a little bit of commuting and general running around. I'd guess less than 4k per year.

[YarisHybrid2016]

If the car has been looked after, and serviced as it should be, then after everything I've read about Prius, it should be very reliable.

A large part of the reliability comes from its simplicity. Yes, it is very complex in its design, but mechanically, there is actually very little to go wrong with it. I think it was said around here that Toyota have never had a transaxle failure, and one Battery is known to have gone bad, worldwide, since its introduction.

How many car manufacturers can say that about their vehicles?

As for the perceived reliability vs. milage - you need to get specific. I had a Peugeot many years ago that had a new gearbox within a year as the first failed spectacularly as I accelerated out of a corner. Interestingly you hardly see any automatic versions of that model on the road today. Many car manufacturers actually stopped producing small automatics as the result of very poor reliability generally - the gearboxes typically failed after 50,000 miles, assuming they made it that far to start with.

[Cyker]

I'd say that is pretty high mileage; The rule-of-thumb average is 10,000 miles and that car has done over double that.

It's not necessarily a bad thing; Suspect it was a repmobile or long distance commuter - If so, most of those will be motorway miles which are relatively gentle on the engine.

TBH the most important thing is whether it's in good nick; Deffo check Service history etc.

Also, use the high mileage to haggle the price down! :)

[MEP's Yaris GS]

I'd say that is pretty high mileage; The rule-of-thumb average is 10,000 miles and that car has done over double that.

It's not necessarily a bad thing; Suspect it was a repmobile or long distance commuter - If so, most of those will be motorway miles which are relatively gentle on the engine.

TBH the most important thing is whether it's in good nick; Deffo check Service history etc.

Also, use the high mileage to haggle the price down! :)

I disagree. There is no generic 'rule of thumb'. It's a D segment car, not a super mini, and as such that mileage for age isn't typically high or over the top for the type of vehicle.

You look for similar aged Prii for sale and you'll struggle to find a dozen under 100k on the clock I suspect.

Average mileage goes with vehicle type and segment.

[kissinger]

I'd say that is pretty high mileage; The rule-of-thumb average is 10,000 miles and that car has done over double that.

It's not necessarily a bad thing; Suspect it was a repmobile or long distance commuter - If so, most of those will be motorway miles which are relatively gentle on the engine.

TBH the most important thing is whether it's in good nick; Deffo check Service history etc.

Also, use the high mileage to haggle the price down! :)

I disagree. There is no generic 'rule of thumb'. It's a D segment car, not a super mini, and as such that mileage for age isn't typically high or over the top for the type of vehicle.

You look for similar aged Prii for sale and you'll struggle to find a dozen under 100k on the clock I suspect.

Average mileage goes with vehicle type and segment.

Yes having looked at quite a few listings it is very rare to find any second generation Priuses with less than 100k miles.

[johalareewi]

If you look over on Prius Chat, gen2 prii have done many, many miles.

http://priuschat.com/forum/gen-2-prius-main-forum.22/

[cootuk]

mot-history.net is a good resource to see what fails and advisories were on each mot.

Gives you an idea whether anything big is lurking.

At that mileage you would expect two services a year, or certainly a 6monthly oil/filter change.

The problem with high mileage modern cars will be things like turbos failing, DMFs rattling, manual clutches going,,,none of which the Prius has

Might be worth spending £39 on a hybrid health check to see if anything fails.