I'm in the market for a Prius... and I'm looking for a Certified Pre-Owned 2001 or 2002 Prius. Lately, the availability of these in AZ have been pretty low, and I generally find more 2001's than 2002's available.

Any reason why I should not get a 2001 over a 2002 (I know it's the first year in the US market, but not necessarily the first production year of the Prius)?

Comments, tips and suggestions would be greatly appreciated. Suggestions on max price to accept would be appreciated as well (yes, I did my research, but first hand accounts are always best!).

Thanks.

I bought a 2003 Prius with 49,300 miles in Oct. 2005 for $17,300. That was $1 k under retail Blue Book value and I was very happy.

There were a series of upgrades and enhancements from 2001 through 2003. You'll need to check if all of the Toyota technical modifications were put in. I know the 2001 did not have cruise control although it was possible to add it later.

Are you able to do your own work or will you have someone else do the work? When I bought mine, I bought $200 in Toyota maintenance manuals and that has already paid off.

Knowing what I know now, a 2001 could be an excellent buy. If you do get it, come back and we'll chat about some of the things you need to look at early.

Bob Wilson

Operation Iraqi Oil Freedom:

Automatic, stock, project car.

My other 1500 cc car:

Automatic, stock, backup car.
Free speech, dialog and knowledge thrives without the poison of SPAM.

I drive a 2001 Prius, now with 87k miles. The *major* distinction of a 2002 might be the availability of side air bags - those are supposed to be very helpful in a T-bone accident, for cars in general. Both 01 and 02 have a warranty extension on the power steering system, and that is beginning to sunset for the 01's. I think one 01/02 distinction relates to a mechanical valve in the exhaust system, but heck by now the sensitive 01's should have been cleaned up. Mine has not had that problem.

All classic Prius years receive a high voltage battery "resealing" (special service campaign SSC-40C); which is to prevent future electrolyte leakage. If leakage had already happened, it gets fixed.

There is at least one "persistent" issue across model years, which gives a scary error on the display screen. A computer gets replaced for free, under a mileage limit that is 80 or 100k miles. It is covered by the technical service bulletin EG011-03.

For any used classic Prius available, you should be able to determine whether these (or any other) warranty work had been done. Perhaps it goes without saying, but a used vehicle with complete service records ought to have higher market value.

Used vehicle price guidance such as Edmunds, KBB and NADA will probably say that the 02's are worth more than 01's, but plug in different odometer numbers to their valuation tools and see what you think. At least one of them will tell you how much more they think a "certified" used vehicle is worth, but I don't remember which one does that.

I have tracked ebay sales since Nov 03 and have posted the data in one of the Yahoo groups. Your question led me to segregate the "model years" in that data. No significant differences when comparing sales price with odometers separately, among model years. A classic Prius with 50k miles ought to sell for about $14k, and one with 80k miles for about $11k, regardless of model year. Bear in mind that these are only "ebay prices", so if you have good confidence in the seller's item, it might be worth more.

With any used vehicle purchase, a mechanic's inspection has value. The difficulty with Prius is that generally only Toyota dealers will be able to perform these.

If you say where you are looking, perhaps some local readers will have some other suggestions.

DAS

Many thanks for all your informative responses. I live in the Phoenix area, so I'm focusing my search in the entire Valley of the Sun (I don't mind driving 50+ miles to get a quality car, honestly).

I am definitely looking to get a Certified Pre-Owned one, that's for sure, and from the way things sound I am probably going to target a 2002 model (2003 only if the price is right - but with gas prices as high as they are now, it seems that Hybrids are going up in price faster than I'd like).

My reasons for aiming for an '02 is because of what Tochatihu said about the side airbags. I have them in my current car and I don't know if I'd feel comfortable downgrading to a car without them.

Just based on prices I've seen online (at the Toyota dealers' inventory listings), it looks like asking price on most of the 02's is around $18 - $20k. I'm not willing to pay $20k for a 2002 with 50k miles, honestly.

If I could find a 2002 with 45k - 55k miles for under $17k I'd be real happy. I'm really looking forward to joining the club of Prius owners on here. I've been lurking for a while, and I'm finally at the stage where I can make the commitment.

If any Phoenix locals have words of advice or recommendations for me, I'd greatly appreciate it as well. Once again, thanks for all your help folks!

Phoenix craigslist shows a 2003 Prius with 64k miles for $15k, in Flagstaff. This was listed on 10 April so it may be gone. No mention of side air bags in the ad.

http://phoenix.craigslist.org/car/149981912.html

DAS

Why bother paying $17k for an outdated used model when you can buy a new one for a bit more? The cheapest new 2006 Prius with side airbags is $23000 including delivery. Including 7% sales tax and the $3150 tax credit, in total you'd pay $21460. If you bought a used one for $17k + tax, you'd pay $18190. That's only $3300 less for a used car that's a previous generation with worse mileage (especially on the highway), a slower speed, etc. Plus keep in mind your new car would depreciate very slowly.

Hi,

Ordinarily a good question but in life, you'll usually only get to pick two from the following:

1. Good
2. Fast
3. Cheap

The problem is finding a seller of a new, 2006 Prius for that price:

In Huntsville, the Toyota dealer was adding $4.5k on top of the MSRP. Furthermore, his MSRP was a 'loaded' Prius with cr*p I didn't want. On top of that, he put you on a waiting list and after a couple of months, would try to get us into a race to put down the deposit on "one that just came in."

A recent, new Prius buyer bought his in DC and flew cross country to pick it up. The problem is a new Prius still is a high demand item and some dealer's are making a mint.

But there is an old saying, "Perfect is the enemy of good enough." It turns out an older, NHW11, Prius can give very respectable performance. Maintenance takes a little more attention but it does give good value for the money IF you are willing to drive a used car.

Bob Wilson

Operation Iraqi Oil Freedom:

Automatic, stock, project car.

My other 1500 cc car:

Automatic, stock, backup car.
Free speech, dialog and knowledge thrives without the poison of SPAM.

Thanks for all the good advice! I'll be shopping around for a few weeks and hopefully something good will come by. I'm looking forward to joining all the proud Prius owners on here.

I have a 2002 prius with 230,000 miles. So far so good.

Hi vortex! Think I've seen some photographs of your odometer. Have you had any brake work done yet, or engine valve adjustments?

DAS