(UPDATE) 288,000-292,000 miles. One month into my 2017 Prius Prime.
Some people asked for a one month update, so here you go.
For all those who told me I made a horrible decision, well, I certainly don’t regret it.
For those who didn’t see my earlier post, I bought a 2017 Prius Prime Plus with 288,000 miles on it. Walked out the door with it for $8000. No pre-purchase inspection, nothing.
In the month that I’ve had it, a few problems came up.
The first problem was a coolant leak, turns out it was the heat exchanger on the catalytic converter, it got bypassed because it was a lot cheaper than replacing the cat. In finding the coolant leak, the car also passed a head pressure test, so the headgasket is still good.
Second issue is tires, but that’s an easy fix, those will get replaced in the next month or so, the ones on it are fine for the time being.
That’s it. Nothing else. Other than regular maintenance, the car is perfectly fine. Of course I will have a budget set aside given the mileage on my car for any unexpected problems.
As for the battery, in the month I’ve had it, EV range has varied significantly (likely due to the temperature outside), going as low as 22 miles, and the highest I’ve ever seen, 27 miles. To me, that’s a pretty good sign that the battery is completely fine, even being 9 years old.
I am extremely happy with the car, and the one big takeaway I’ve gotten from driving it, is that my next car will definitely be an EV. Dealing with ICE vehicle stuff is really annoying, and not something I want to deal with on my next car.