Hi Everyone,

I am going to be helping out a friend buying a car later this week as he's not really mechanically minded.

He has been looking at a GenII Prius but due to his limited budget the cars that are in his price range (£6k max) are getting on for 100k miles. Is there anything that is likely to have worn out on a car that has done this sort of mileage. I'll be ok with all the stuff you get on a non-hybrid but the things I'm worried about is mainly the hybrid drivetrain (i.e. battery & motor life, also what is the manufacturer guarantee on these parts).

Also has there been any recalls on the Prius?

Any help is muchly appreciated!!!

Matt

Im sure there are other guys on here that can comment more on the prius long term but you can check yopur recalls here [url="http://www.dft.gov.uk/vosa/apps/recalls/default.asp"]http://www.dft.gov.uk/vosa/apps/recalls/default.asp[/url]

I think there were a couple of recalls on on some models but relates to the year of manufacturing




[quote name='ReggiePerrin' post='964496' date='Jan 25 2010, 07:18 PM']Hi Everyone,

I am going to be helping out a friend buying a car later this week as he's not really mechanically minded.

He has been looking at a GenII Prius but due to his limited budget the cars that are in his price range (£6k max) are getting on for 100k miles. Is there anything that is likely to have worn out on a car that has done this sort of mileage. I'll be ok with all the stuff you get on a non-hybrid but the things I'm worried about is mainly the hybrid drivetrain (i.e. battery & motor life, also what is the manufacturer guarantee on these parts).

Also has there been any recalls on the Prius?

Any help is muchly appreciated!!!

Matt[/quote]

The hybrid system has a 100,000 mile warranty in this country yet appears to be pretty reliable.
I also think there's a fairly big service due at 100,000 mile.
HID headlights seem to be a bit iffy sometimes, the US are having replacements partly funded by Toyota.
There was also a facelift for 06 models where VSC was added as standard so does your friend mind what year?
Does your friend want a basic T3, T4, or high spec T-Spirit?
Does your friend have a trade in?

When I was looking around I was looking at places like carsite.co.uk and other fleet supermarkets where you could get a 70k miler for around 6000. It's just a case of waiting for the right car to come along.

After taking into account the car price, facelift upgrades, and additional mechanical warranty, plus the potential of hybrid train repairs on a higher mileage model, I eventually found some more money from my budget and bought an 06 T3 Toyota approved Prius.

iirc the inverter coolant pump also needs changing around 100,000 miles generally, so another cost to bear in mind.

Do they have any particular car in mind yet?