thinking of buying a second hand prius

Tweenas

Hi thinking of buying a second hand prius. currently i am driving 175 km a day and i need something more economical. Can anyone advise if they are a decent buy ? Thanks

robtri

in short.. no they are a nasty nasty car...

better off in a good diesel.... much better off......

Ozziej

Have to disagree there. The wife has one and loves it. 2005 uk import. Does great mpg and is surprisingly nippy. It also has a surprising amount of space for storage.

Mr Benevolent

Nothing nasty about the Prius. Well built, reliable, easy to drive and great about town. They hold their value very well though.

robtri

Ozziej wrote: »

Have to disagree there. The wife has one and loves it. 2005 uk import. Does great mpg and is surprisingly nippy. It also has a surprising amount of space for storage.

glad she likes it

personally i hate them...

MPG at 40-50 mpg ... not spectacular....

nippy 0-60 is 10.4secs..... not really nippy...

they do have a nice storage space,
I find the steering to be a bit wolly....
long term comfort drive isnt great IMO...

JHMEG

Should do 65mpg+ no problem. Also consider a Civic IMA (I have one). Bit simpler in design than the Prius but does similar economy on a run and comes with leather etc as standard.

colm_mcm

Buy a Prius if you like autobox and toys. good fuel economy is possible but you have to do a mixture of driving and not rag it to get the quoted figures.

I like the Prius, fuel economy isn't the main reason to buy one, Luxury pack models have a brilliant 6 CD JBL touch screen sound system, cruise control and front fogs, take that as the entry point. If you can get one with the leather, reversing camera, self parking etc. go for it.
The Autobox is super smooth and they can make surprisingly swift progress especially from low speeds.

JHMEG

colm_mcm wrote: »

The Autobox is super smooth .

It's a CVT, right? Does it simulate a conventional auto?

bmw535d

you do know the new bmw m3 is more economical right? god i love top gear..

colm_mcm

JHMEG wrote: »

It's a CVT, right? Does it simulate a conventional auto?

No, it's much smoother than the one in the current Civic hybrid, there are no perceptable (is that even a word) gear changes. some might find the revs staying constant and speed increasing or the revs going up and speed staying the same annoying but it doesn't bother me.

bmw535d makes a valid point, if you want to get around a test track as fast as a Prius can go then an unstressed M3 will be more economical. very important to know.

JHMEG

colm_mcm wrote: »

No, it's much smoother than the one in the current Civic hybrid, there are no perceptable (is that even a word) gear changes.

There are no gear changes in the Civic (or Jazz - same gearbox). It changes ratio quickly to make you think there are gears. The simulation can be turned off in the Jazz, not sure about the Civic, I never looked.

robtri

bmw535d wrote: »

you do know the new bmw m3 is more economical right? god i love top gear..

under the right circumstances it is .......
much as dislike the Prius, i would say real worl it a lot more economoical than an M3

tubsy78

If you have the cash and really want a Prius go for it however replacement parts will be expensive, 2nd hand parts or scrap Prius' are almost non existent.If you want to go diesel you can't beat Peugeot's HDI diesel engines,Volkswagen/Audi/Skoda/Seat aren't bad either and the most important thing reliability and resale values are good

bmw535d

really? turns out even a hummer may be better for the environment

http://www.slate.com/id/2186786/


http://cnwmr.com/nss-folder/automotiveenergy/DUST%20PDF%20VERSION.pdf

Guy:Incognito

If she's doing 175km's a day it's safe to say she's not doing much of it in a city. I'd be thinking diesel.

mondeo

Diesal is what I would be looking for.

Prius is quiet especially if your reversing out the drive with kids about. Don't like that at all.
I'm sure it's an ok car....I've never driven one or liked the look of them.

colm_mcm

JHMEG wrote: »

There are no gear changes in the Civic (or Jazz - same gearbox). It changes ratio quickly to make you think there are gears. The simulation can be turned off in the Jazz, not sure about the Civic, I never looked.

No the Civic has a sort of stepped gears. you couldn't turn it off on the 2 that
I was driving.

mondeo wrote: »

Prius is quiet especially if your reversing out the drive with kids about. Don't like that at all.
.

The engine will be constantly running for the first few minutes when you turn the car on to get up to temp.