If anyone can P&G in that model, I'd bet it would be you, Wayne. The reasons why I think it might not do so well are less electric HP and tighter constraints on HV battery SOC. Also think I could do better with lighter springs in the accelerator pedal, but maybe that's just me.

DAS

 

I would recommend using Ebay and other online sources to find a 2003. The 2001 is a 'first model year' and a 2003 will have all of the changes for that production model. A 'first model year' tends to be a learning experience.

Also include purchase from Toyota (or Ebay) of volume I of the Prius 2001 Service manual and there is a 2003 Prius 'changes' manual that will give a list of things they fixed. Volume II has more 'diagnostic' codes and procedures and though useful, it is not as important as the first two.

Should you buy it, the yahoogroup.com, Prius Technical, is a good place to hang out. You are welcome to see our experience with the 2003.

Bob Wilson

 

2001 may be the first year the Prius came to North America, but most of the Prius has been around since 1997 and most of the body and subsystems are the same in the 2000-2003 MY with some upgrades in engine performance, battery reliability and electric motor size. We haven't had any problems with our 2001, and the things that did show up as potential problems have been completed by Toyota for free, so really there's not much extra risk in getting a 2001 over a 2003, other than the physical condition of the car. Deals are to be had on the 2001's as people move to their next new car, as many people have a habit of doing.

 

hm you know that 17900 prius i found its under a "certified toyota used" program. Hm hey guys how do I know if the battery is in good shape or not? How can I tell? When I go see the car anything I should look for that's related to 2001 priuses?

Any quirks or common problems with the car let me know now so I can maybe use it to tone the price down some more hehe

 

There is a way to test the "health" of the battery, basically you need to monitor the voltage and current during charge / discharge cycles and then you can calculate the internal resistance. That's the best indicator of health, but I doubt they will have performed this kind of test.

The following may be more info than you want, but it's the best I know of when it comes to the Prius I battery testing:

http://home.earthlink.net/~graham1/P.../BatIntRes.htm

 

now the deals for priuses get better and better. There's a few price cuts for models that the dealer couldn't sell. Just a little skeptical because these cars have been sitting at the dealers for while and was wondering if the car battery was actually ran for 20 minutes a week.


In this case I doubt it.

 

The battery that gets damaged from sitting around is the 12v accessory battery that runs the security system when the car is off and will slowly drain if it sits around too long. The (expensive) high voltage battery is disconnected from the car when it's off and nothing can drain it other than residual self-discharge. You'll be able to tell if the 12v battery is dead because the car won't start.

 

Very good point, Schwa. if you are one of the lucky owners of a Graham Davies miniscanner, you can check the internal resistance of your HV battery in this way.

Hmm...or any other 2001-2003 Prius...If we were very clever we would check out these used vehicles prior to sale.

There are also a couple of tests in the tech manuals that involve monitoring voltages of battery modules through charge/discharge cycles. Qualitatively speaking, none of them can be too different from the others.

Should really practice all these, and then could test batteries quite stringently.

DAS

 

i just found out when buying a used prius i have to check the battery to see if it has the SSC 40G battery resealing done for that major recall on first gen prius (i heard one owner had the battery on fire!) . so going to look for a 40g sticker behind the battery! ;D