My New Old Prius

[Johnapool]

I just drove this 2007 Prius home from Memphis, Tennessee yesterday. Averaged 45.3 mpg.

 

[JEBar]

I've never ridden in a Prius .... how would you rate its ride ? handling ? inside noise level ? get up and go ?

 

[Johnapool]

JE, I was quite surprised at all of the above. The little car weighs about 3,000 lbs., and feels really solid. It is very quiet, compared to my old Scion Xb, and handles and rides great. I drove home non-stop from Memphis, almost exactly 200 miles, without stopping, about 3 1/2 hours, and wasn't too stiff from the ride. Filled up with 4 1/2 gallons of gas when I got home. That was sweet.
It is a kick to watch the current gas mileage indicator and try to keep your foot out of it enough to keep the mileage high.
It has a surprising amount of power, as the 67hp electric motor kicks in when you ask for more power.

 

[JEBar]

thanks for the info .... as noted, its a vehicle I've heard of but knew nothing about

 

[Jeff Porter]

I just drove this 2007 Prius home from Memphis, Tennessee yesterday. Averaged 45.3 mpg.View attachment 5656

Nice looking machine, John. Tell us more about how many miles it has on it, and what you've learned about the battery pack and if/when it may need replacing. I've thought about buying a Prius for a long time.

 

[Rickb]

Nice looking machine, John. Tell us more about how many miles it has on it, and what you've learned about the battery pack and if/when it may need replacing. I've thought about buying a Prius for a long time.

I have too. The Prius family line up looks very interesting, with lots of them on the road. I also have my current vehicle serviced at a Toyota dealership and the level of service is award winning.

 

[Johnapool]

The "new old" Prius I bought has 150,000 miles on it. I paid $6000 for it at a BMW dealership in Memphis. My son and I went to buy a car from an individual that told me his car was super clean. Turned out to be rather the opposite. So, there we were in Memphis Tennessee, with a pocket full of cash and time on our hands. We started shopping the new car lots and found a Prius here and there and finally found this one. It looks absolutely new, perfect body, interior, 75% tires, test drove like a new one, too.
I did a lot of research before buying an older Prius. Consumer Reports tested one with 220,000 miles on the original battery and found the entire car to compare favorably with their tests of the same model when it was new. Here is link to the film clip. http://www.consumerreports.org/cro/...oyota-prius-hold-up/14786539001/932664836001/
Seems most of the batteries last the life of the car. The secret of the long battery life is that the battery is never completely charged OR discharged. We have had some discussions on here about batteries. The "cycling" of a battery, discharging, re-charging, is what really shortens the life.
So, I went way out on a limb and bought an old Prius. This Prius spent most of it's life around Dallas, Texas, and had all it's service work done at Toyota dealers, so the Carfax shows all the service work. The water pump and drive belt were replaced at 124,000 miles, and the water pump seems to be an important service item.
I've only had it a couple of days. I'll update this thread when I have made a few trips with it.

 

[Ty]

I also went out on a limb. My daughter needed a car so I decided to get her a Prius. Hers is a 2001 so I've got 6 years more on that battery pack. As far as I can tell, it's never been replaced. The guy I bought it from said that he could replace individual cells in it rather than have to replace the entire pack. It really doesn't seem that complicated and if I had to, I'm sure I could let it charge up, pull it out, and find the weak cell(s). Apparently, the entire pack doesn't go bad all at the same time but rather there are a couple of bad actors in there that are bad enough that unless you know how to and feel like pulling the pack, require you to have the entire thing changed out. There's a website that claims they'll take your pack and replace it with a good refurbished one for about $900.

 

[Johnapool]

I also went out on a limb. My daughter needed a car so I decided to get her a Prius. Hers is a 2001 so I've got 6 years more on that battery pack. As far as I can tell, it's never been replaced. The guy I bought it from said that he could replace individual cells in it rather than have to replace the entire pack. It really doesn't seem that complicated and if I had to, I'm sure I could let it charge up, pull it out, and find the weak cell(s). Apparently, the entire pack doesn't go bad all at the same time but rather there are a couple of bad actors in there that are bad enough that unless you know how to and feel like pulling the pack, require you to have the entire thing changed out. There's a website that claims they'll take your pack and replace it with a good refurbished one for about $900.

Yeah, Ty, I found that several places offer that $900 or so rebuild. Sounds better than $2-3000....How many miles on the 2001?

 

[Ty]

Yeah, Ty, I found that several places offer that $900 or so rebuild. Sounds better than $2-3000....How many miles on the 2001?

It's over 220,000 now. I don't know exactly but she drives it literally 2.5 miles a school day and once in a while, 6 miles to the mall... kids these days just don't know how nice it is to hang out somewhere other than home.