Buying a Prius
 

I'm getting a really good deal on a 08 Prius with 50,000KM on it, it is for my daily commuter to work so I don't rack up mileage on the other car. It will be my first hybrid car, any owners here can chime in on issues or experience?

Thanks

you wanna know how i know you're gay?

They're good cars. If you are in fact getting a good deal on one, go for it. I know of a few owners who have had theirs since new and zero problems.

My condolences.

If it's a really really really good deal? Okay. If I were in the market I think be trying to find a good condition vw TDI of some sort and get way better mileage with a more refined interior that last for almost eternity and no worry about batteries or electronics goin bad.

My .02

Yo...T...A...X...Iiiii ...

My dad has a Prius C that I've driven a handful of times. It's an interesting car, for sure. And, surprisingly, it can actually handle my dad's entire drum set with the rear seats folded down. No idea how he does it, but that's what he uses to haul his stuff to gigs every weekend. The throttle pedal will take a little getting used to, as will the regenerative brakes. The build quality of the interior is a little subpar and the plastics used aren't the greatest. There was one recall on it (can't remember what it was at the moment) but otherwise it's needed nothing but basic maintenance.

That said, if it's mainly city driving, you'll see some fantastic fuel mileage returns. If you'll be doing mostly highway or higher speed drives, a TDI might be better suited to your needs. My '02 TDI would commonly see >1000km between fuel stops, though keep in mind that thing would see 99% non-stop highway drives as I live in the middle of fucking nowhere. City mileage in a TDI will drop dramatically.

I use Evo car share once in a while and it doesn't suck in the city.

said noone ever...

My wife had a 2012 Prius. We loved it. Insane city fuel mileage, tight fit and finish, well appointed(we had the top line model), excellent reliability(we spent less than $1,000 at the dealer following the maintenance schedule to the letter since new), good cargo space considering it's a liftback, good headroom. Heck, the factory tires lasted 80K kms and the brakes hadn't needed replacement at the time we swapped it. Pretty much the "easy button" of cars. Don't expect to feel a connected driving experience though. The gas pedal and braking feel kinda weird like Lomac mentioned but you get used to it. Also agreed on the highway vs city. The engine is always running when your cruising on the hwy but in the city you can roll EV style in traffic and half and half at city speeds. They are commuter workhorses which is why taxi's use them. My wife talked to tons of cabbies before actually buying one and their testimonials were a major factor in her decision. If you can get passed the stigma they excel in pretty much every other category.

We didn't have it long enough to really worry about any major maintenance so I'd check with Toyota to see if the battery system or any other major components require attention due to it's age. Service records would be helpful.

I test drove one and it was very practical and affordable. Not sure why the hate on here. Oh well.......... that's RS for ya.

Back when I used to work at a Toyota dealership I'd drive Priuses (Prii?) all the time. Definitely not the kind of car you'd want to get any kind of driving involvement but it does an awesome job at what it was made to do, that is, to be a reliable affordable economical and frankly quite comfortable point A to point B car.

The one thing I discovered though was my right foot is always too heavy to keep the engine from starting up to take over from EV mode :okay: to drive in EV mode in a Prius you need some next level tolerance and patience...

it's a good car for sure, people like to say things like your battery will die within 100,000 kms and all that stuff but cab drivers drive 300,000 kms a year and no problem

a few months back i shared a beat up prius yellow cab and asked the driver about why the engine was always running. he told showed us it had almost 350k kms on the odo and was on it's second replacement battery, but the company didn't want to spend any more on the car because of it's accident history/condition, they were just going to run it on the gas engine until something else happens and they will scrap it...

I hate hybrids cars cause it induces slow driving...

I used to wonder why people who drives hybrid are often soo slow off the lights
after driving them I know why they do it. When you accelerate slowly on a hybrid, it minimizes the use on the gas engine and save more gas, but it is pretty freaking annoying to drivers around you and especially behind you.

When you drive at a more typical pace, or slightly more aggressive on the gas pedal, most of the gas saving is gone...

I guess it is okay if you often drives in heavy traffic area where the traffic speed is crawling anyway.
Otherwise, I'd rather buy a cheaper car and use the money saved on the extra gas.

TL/DR
Hybrid is annoying
If you drive semi-aggressive, you won't save much gas anyway

reminds me of top gear episode too