I am considering buying a used 2001 Prius. It looks fine. The Carfax
is fine. It has 110,000 miles on it. What should I look out for? What
kind of repairs am I likely to need? The guy who has it is a dealer,
he bought the car at an auction. Am I crazy to even consider this car?

Luke wrote:
You don't mention the price...however, as a prior 2001 Prius owner, you
should consider that the reliability should be similar to any other 1.5
litre engine Toyota, e.g. Echo, as long as the routine maintenance was
done and nothing out of the ordinary has happened to the car, e.g. flood
damage or wreck. You should be able to get 180,000 out of the car
without any major service.

Bill

In article <1120952714.564807.226900@o13g2000cwo.googlegroups .com>,
"Luke" <lfavro1@aol.com> wrote:

Probably :_> Seriously, one sold at auction is likely a salvage from a
major accident or water damage. I would not buy any salvaged car, and
as a Prius owner I would especially not buy a salvaged Prius. The cars
seem very durable under normal wear-and-tear but they are complicated
and I wouldn't trust that everything would (or could) get fixed
perfectly.

One way you can check the history of this car is to buy a report of the
car's VIN (Vehicle Identification Number) at
http://www.carfax.com/vehicle_histor...?partner=UNK_1

I did a carfax on it. It came back clean. Can I trust the carfax to
be right? Can a car be wrecked and the information not show up?

Thanks,

Luke

In article <1121016353.674539.135690@g49g2000cwa.googlegroups .com>,
"Luke" <lfavro1@aol.com> wrote:

I've heard that's it's possible. I'd suggest paying a Prius certified
technician at a Toyota dealer to inspect the car thoroughly before you
buy it.

I think you'll need a new re-chargeable battery in about 4 0r 5 years at
about $3000!!

Neil R

"richard schumacher" <no-spam@invalid.com> wrote in message
news:no-spam-E04EAF.19273110072005@news.isp.giganews.com...

None of the 100,000 Priuses sold since 1997 has needed a replacement
battery except to replace accidental damage. Even if one is needed in 4
or 5 years, guessing what they will cost then is a crapshoot.

There are a lot more things to worry about in a salvage before the
question of when the battery might need replacing.

Neil Rutman wrote:
salesguy. :^). The Nickel Metal Hydride battery is considered part of
the drivetrain. Anyone who is worried about it can get an optional 10
year, 100,000 mile extended warranty, but IMHO, I believe it would be a
waste of money to buy extended warranties on Toyotas. Lately, asking
price for undamaged batteries from wrecked Prius cars on ebay are in the
$300~$500 range. AFAIK, no owner has yet had to replace the battery via
a warranty claim.
I am a very satisfied owner on my 3rd Prius, with over 80,000 miles
across all three. If you are old enough to drive and have a fairly new
car, it has probably depreciated a lot more than $3000 in 1 year, let
alone the 4 or 5 years that you worry so much about a replaceable part
on a Prius.
Come on Neil, go back to the DCX newsgroup and keep repeating "Hemi rocks"!

In article <feOdndDZl5vGHUnfRVn-2Q@speakeasy.net>,
"Neil Rutman" <neilrutman@bigfoot.com> wrote:

*
Bullshit, Neil! Are you a GM salesman?

The Prius traction battery, and in fact, the entire hybrid electric
drive train (including motors, generators, control circuitry, etc.)
is guaranteed (in California and other states that have the
California emission standards) for ten years or 150,000 miles.

In other states the guarantee is eight years and 100,000 miles.

Please stop your propagandizing.

GM should do what Ford, Nissan, and others are doing: Take a patent
license from Toyota on the hybrid system.

And stop pushing Hummers.

earle
*
Happy owner of '05 Prius. Now 9,760 miles on 198.496 gallons of 87
octane gas. That's an overall average of 49.2 MPG.

ej
*

"Neil Rutman" <neilrutman@bigfoot.com> wrote in message
news:feOdndDZl5vGHUnfRVn-2Q@speakeasy.net...
controller and turbocharger and timing belt and power steering pump...
because your Prius didn't come with any of those expensive and mostly high
failure rate items. Don't you feel cheated?

How's the trolling, Neil? I haven't seen anybody fall for your nonsense yet.

Mike