Good idea to buy an '07 Prius with 170k miles?

gilbert_and_sullivan

Toyota dealer servicing is very well priced, and a hybrid is a car i'd rather not have anyone else poking about with, the potential for expensive damage due to ignorance is high.

For example if the engine won't start you should not jump start the vehicle by the normal method, is an independent workshop likely to know that.

forgotmyname

Good MPG? There are lots of diesel cars that will be a safer bet.

Some years back one of the car mags did a comparison and a 1.6 petrol focus worked out cheaper per mile than the Prius.

As they have aged i would imagine teh Focus would win hands down now. Reasonable MPG and very cheap to fix which it will need very little of if serviced properly.

jase1

forgotmyname wrote: »

Good MPG? There are lots of diesel cars that will be a safer bet.

Some years back one of the car mags did a comparison and a 1.6 petrol focus worked out cheaper per mile than the Prius.

As they have aged i would imagine teh Focus would win hands down now. Reasonable MPG and very cheap to fix which it will need very little of if serviced properly.

A 170k Ford will have shaken itself to pieces though. Build quality on the Focus isn't the best by any means.

And having owned a number of Fords, and cars from Japanese marques, I just don't buy this claim that Fords are cheaper to fix. Most of the common repairs are roughly the same price as anything else these days when labour is taken into account.

daltonss

Talking of MPG I remember a test done on Top Gear between the Prius and E92 M3. Both did 12 laps around a track at top speed (of the Prius so I imagine the M3 was at 80% of its capability) and the M3 came out with a higher MPG figure.

Herzlos

daltonss wrote: »

Talking of MPG I remember a test done on Top Gear between the Prius and E92 M3. Both did 12 laps around a track at top speed (of the Prius so I imagine the M3 was at 80% of its capability) and the M3 came out with a higher MPG figure.

The M3 was nowhere near it's capability, but it's an apples to oranges comparison - driven flat out any cars fuel economy is vastly compromised. It doesn't show the M3 as being the more efficient car, just that fuel economy is vastly compromised by driving style.

I managed to get 4mpg out of a 2.0 diesel once, towing about 2-3T of soil up a farm track. It doesn't mean it's representative of the real world. Most of the time it'd do 40mpg.

victor2

forgotmyname wrote: »

Good MPG? There are lots of diesel cars that will be a safer bet.

Some years back one of the car mags did a comparison and a 1.6 petrol focus worked out cheaper per mile than the Prius.

As they have aged i would imagine teh Focus would win hands down now. Reasonable MPG and very cheap to fix which it will need very little of if serviced properly.

They won't win any MPG competitions, but they are frugal, especially in city traffiic.
Add to that the £10 a year road tax, no DPF to worry about, it can't fail an MOT on the cat because they don't test it, and it doesn't look so bad.
Our 12V battery went flat when the car was left unused for 3 weeks. As previously stated, you can't jump start them like any other car, but the handbook tells you how to do it. Bit weird as the high voltage battery actually starts the engine, but it won't start without a reasonable charge in the 12V battery, so you do need another 12V source to effectively jump start it. We replaced the 12V battery after that episode. That is the only item we've had to replace other than the usual service items and 4 tyres in 4 years.

daltonss

link is here:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JmxUsGiGp3w


You can see the M3 is clearly revving quite hard at start up to keep up with the Prius just from the engine noise. The Prius has surprisingly good low down torque because of the electric motor. Obviously it isn't going flat out but it does need to be pushed a little hard to keep up. There is about a 2 mpg different at that speed between the two cars. In the real world of course the Prius will be more efficient in stop start traffic at lower speeds, however on a motorway doing 80-90 mph I don't think there would be a big difference between the two.

dannyrst

daltonss wrote: »

link is here:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JmxUsGiGp3w


You can see the M3 is clearly revving quite hard at start up to keep up with the Prius just from the engine noise. The Prius has surprisingly good low down torque because of the electric motor. Obviously it isn't going flat out but it does need to be pushed a little hard to keep up. There is about a 2 mpg different at that speed between the two cars. In the real world of course the Prius will be more efficient in stop start traffic at lower speeds, however on a motorway doing 80-90 mph I don't think there would be a big difference between the two.

Did you know a Vauxhall going 75mph will overtake a Ferrari going 70mph?

It's because Vauxhall make quicker cars than Ferrari.

daltonss

Well of course the Prius isn't as fast as the M3. I was just saying judging by the video and the amount of engine noise made by the m3 it had to be revved pretty hard to keep up with the Prius at start up.

mcpitman

daltonss wrote: »

Well of course the Prius isn't as fast as the M3. I was just saying judging by the video and the amount of engine noise made by the m3 it had to be revved pretty hard to keep up with the Prius at start up.

M3... Yaris rear brakes....Matter of darkness.....Boring..... :mad::mad::mad: