2016 prius plus 60k miles 15k

Brave123

Is it woth to buy 2016 prius plus 60k miles for 15k ?? Should I give in for toyota service as the service history may be a bit dodgy cause two services done on Toyota. its reg at nov 16. Toyota can replace battery in case of any issues or I can retrun the car in case of major issues reported by toyota ? is it a good plan ? any suggestions ?

TadleyBaggie

Sounds overpriced to me, Autotrader have Prius+ of that age from £6500 to £15K, so why is this one so special?

Grumpy_chap

So this is a 10yo car with an exceptionally low mileage?

The Dealer is advertising the car for sale at top-value based on the low mileage.

Is the mileage verifiably genuine?

I guess you'd want to know why the mileage is so low? It could be entirely innocent (such as owner fell ill) or it could be something less desirable (such as car damaged and being repaired).

Simply sitting idle is not always good for a car. Corrosion and such like continue to progress regardless of use or otherwise. Parts can seize or degrade through non-use. Tyres age and become more brittle but probably not changed as showing no tread wear.

Grey_Critic

I assume you have confirmed mileage etc on DVLA mot history - always a good place to start

Brave123

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/81872319#Comment_81872319

Yes I did, veryfy the MOT History looks clean only reported advisory on 2019 after that nothing.

Brave123

okay let me check that good point thanks. I checked the tires and other items about the car looks clean and neat.

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/81872310#Comment_81872310

Nobbie1967

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/81872333#Comment_81872333

Apparently many of these are run as minicabs and have mileage blockers which won’t show up on annual MOT checks, they just record 1/4 of the miles driven by interfering with the signal to the Speedo. Check the condition of the interior carefully to make sure the condition matches a 60k car.

Bigwheels1111

Pruis plus has a

(Li-ion) hybrid battery

These dont go bad, I know 3 mini cab drivers who have done over 300k miles on one.

The water pumps go at around 100k, 30 min fix and £200/250 for a pump.

To keep them runnig well, you need to take the cooling system for the battery apart and clean it.

Every few years.

I would not pay that much for a 2016 car.

I would opt for a corolla estate

https://www.autotrader.co.uk/car-search?body-type=Estate&channel=cars&make=Toyota&maximum-mileage=60000&model=Corolla&postcode=s402qq&sort=price-asc&year-from=2016

forgotmyname

Any battery can fail, the bonus with Toyota is that they don't push the charging to the max and beyond or
discharge to get silly 0-60 times so they tend to last longer than those pushed to and beyond safe limits.

Goudy

Though it's true that the European version was sold with a Li-on traction battery, I seem to think the Prius Plus was sold with either Li-on and NiMH batteries in different markets and it's fair to say there are a lot of grey imports, particularly JDM cars knocking around our streets. so it's worth knowing the cars real history.

A NiMH battery is usually good for 160k+, the Li-on battery perhaps 200k or so but it all depends on age and use.

There are a few cheap apps available to (roughly) test a traction battery like Dr Prius. Basically the battery won't fully charge to 100% capacity (80%) or discharge below 40% (no matter what it says on the dashboard).

The sign of a good battery is module balance. The cells are packed in modules and the modules are then connected up to make a big battery. Once one module gets weak or it's cells might leak, it brings the whole battery down. The inner modules tend to suffer most due to heat, which is why it's important to keep it's cooling system in good condition and never buy one that has evidence of dog hairs everywhere.

Sticking a new module in that is above the balance of all the others just makes the rest weak, so most refurbishers will use similar used modules but the availability of these are drying up.

As mentioned the variable speed electric water pumps are prone to breaking down inside after 100 to 150k, but the onboard diagnostics will usually give a warning light as the impeller swells and binds up inside the housing. This means the desired speed cannot be set/reached and a DTC/engine warning light is set.

The Prius Plus was never a big seller here, the Auris Sports Touring was available at the time with basically the same underpinnings that tended to sell better.

Bigwheels1111 is right, for this sort of money the later Corrolla Sports Tourer (estate) would be a much better car.

The whole engine and drivetrain is a step up from the Prius as it's underpinnings are Toyota's next generation of Synergy Drive.