šŸ”§ BUILD #imwithher. Frankā€™s ā€˜07 Prius adventures.

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Bought a Prius. Itā€™s exactly what I thought it would be. Like driving a washing machine. No thrills. All the economy.

Basics;

2007 Toyota Prius Base. 166,000 miles. Ex Lake County forest preserve vehicle. Came on brand new Goodyear tires, full tank of fuel and like 100 miles since the last service for $3,500. Everything works. No rust. Put 218 miles on it since yesterday AM. Averaging 51.2mpg. Most of that was with a passenger and trunk full of Costco purchases.

The purpose of this thing is to be a daily driver, and for me thatā€™s a big ask. It has a hitch on it with 1ā€ receiver for a bike rack, Iā€™ll add wiring to tow my 5x8 trailer. The rear suspension is sitting about 1ā€ lower than stock. From what Iā€™ve seen itā€™s a pretty common thing. A company in California used to convert these 2nd gens to plug-in hybrids, and used a local spring align type company to make the HD rear springs for the added battery packs they used. That company still makes the springs for customers if they ask so Iā€™ll be giving them a call tomorrow. Itā€™ll end up going from like 1ā€ of sag to about 3/4ā€ above stock ride height and is a stiffer spring. Perfect for packing full of stuff or trailer tongue weight. Figure Iā€™ll order new struts as well since Iā€™ll have them apart anyways.

Rear suspension upgrades, trailer wiring, window tint and regular maintenance is about all this will see. I imagine the thread will just be filled with pictures of me doing things in a Prius people donā€™t do in a 1500 pickup.

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NOMIEZVR4

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I just sold my 07 prius with almost 300k on it. Sold it for 1650. It was a great car. Bought a ct200 for my mom a few yrs back, wife has a gen 3 and brother and his wife also have gen 3's. Prius' are money makers, I never GAF about the tree hugging comments. Just more gas money i have for my ethanol cars.

I finally just upgraded from my prius and picked up a 2014 MKz. also hybrid, gets 38mpg city and mid 40's hwy. Its a huge upgrade and i paid 7k for it with 113k miles.
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Outlaw

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I just sold my 07 prius with almost 300k on it. Sold it for 1650. It was a great car. Bought a ct200 for my mom a few yrs back, wife has a gen 3 and brother and his wife also have gen 3's. Prius' are money makers, I never GAF about the tree hugging comments. Just more gas money i have for my ethanol cars.

I finally just upgraded from my prius and picked up a 2014 MKz. also hybrid, gets 38mpg city and mid 40's hwy. Its a huge upgrade and i paid 7k for it with 113k miles.
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Iā€™ve seen tons of them 300k plus. The guy thatā€™s coming for the 08 I bought is replacing his 07. 392,000 miles and itā€™s down a cylinder. Still runs lol.
 

Yaj Yak

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I think Iā€™m going to swap wheels between cars tomorrow before it sells.

Top is the flip car, bottom is mine, so wheels from top would end up on mine. I think they look way better. Both sets have brand new Goodyear tires on them, just a preference thing. Thoughts?

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OffshoreDrilling

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I think Iā€™m going to swap wheels between cars tomorrow before it sells.

Top is the flip car, bottom is mine, so wheels from top would end up on mine. I think they look way better. Both sets have brand new Goodyear tires on them, just a preference thing. Thoughts?

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Pull the covers off the wheels.
 
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OffshoreDrilling

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They came with new tires too? Pretty good deals sounds like.

Do those cars have batteries? What is the life on them? I'm just trying understand if anything sucks about these cars or they are really that good...
Yes, small battery under cargo area. The traction batteries seem to go anywhere between 150k-300k miles. You can buy a warrantied refurb for $1-1.2k or find a junkyard one for less than half that.

the fact the car is an appliance is about the only negative thing, thatā€™s only a problem being an enthusiast. Theyā€™re kind of loud inside too is my only personal complaint.
 
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Outlaw

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They came with new tires too? Pretty good deals sounds like.

Do those cars have batteries? What is the life on them? I'm just trying understand if anything sucks about these cars or they are really that good...

Yeah, they were good deals. But thatā€™s literally what I do.

The 2008 I paid $4,600 for sold tonight for my $7,250 asking price. Thatā€™s more in line with the reality of pricing on them in the double down of COVID inflation and gas prices being way up.
 

Outlaw

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Yes, small battery under cargo area. The traction batteries seem to go anywhere between 150k-300k miles. You can buy a warrantied refurb for $1-1.2k or find a junkyard one for less than half that.

the fact the car is an appliance is about the only negative thing, thatā€™s only a problem being an enthusiast. Theyā€™re kind of loud inside too is my only personal complaint.

And those refurb/ aftermarket batteries have lifetime warranty, increased cooling, increased capacity, etc.

Itā€™s also quite easy to repair a battery if it fails. Like I think I mentioned before in the thread, just get the voltage of your remaining good cells, go on ebay and find used cells that match for $40-$60 a piece and reinstall in the pack.

From talking with the guy that bought my car tonight, if you can deal with the older tech for the screen and such, he prefers the Gen 2ā€™s. Theyā€™re simpler cars, consistently get better mileage, no EGR system that clogs, etc. I donā€™t have much experience of any of the others but I can say I prefer the 2nd gen interior instead of the flow through console in the 3rd gen.

And yes, really the only negative thing about them is that... itā€™s a Prius. The stigma amongst enthusiasts and general pop is that youā€™re a tree hugging Hillary voter. Hell, my thread title starts with her campaign slogan lol. But if you can get past that or just not care in the first place theyā€™re a great vehicle for carting yourself around reliably and economically.
 
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Outlaw

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Yeah if I still commuted I'd really look into one now.

If you donā€™t drive much, thereā€™s not much of a difference. Maybe $500-$1,000 a year.

If I drive the Prius 80% of my average annual driving, Iā€™ll put about 52,000 miles/year on it.

At current fuel costs, that will cost me $3,660

In my 2005 Yukon that I had been daily driving thus far, it would cost me $12,445 to do that.

By driving the Prius, Iā€™ll essentially save $8,700/year. And that doesnā€™t account for tires being 1/4 of the price or anything like that.

Granted, I donā€™t think itā€™ll be quite 80%, and my mileage varies, but appears to actually be increasing. And Iā€™m still an enthusiast and will want to drive my F-350 or one of my other trucks from time to time, but you get the point. For me, the car makes sense. If it wasnā€™t as much of a savings, I may just consider a nice daily that got 25-35.
 

RedBeard

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Prices are all over the place for these things and didnā€™t even seem generational based. These two were the cheapest that didnā€™t look totally ratted out or hail damaged near me. Sell GTI to caravan for $24k, cut out my $300/month payment, get 10-15mpg more and save for something like a Model Y or Rivian R1S or just wait for used fun cars to come down in price??

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Outlaw

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The prices donā€™t seem to change based on age, moreso mileage from what Iā€™ve seen. The 3rd gens are nice, and 2011+ I believe (someone fact check me) you can add Apple CarPlay on the factory screen for like $130.

3rd gens also have no serpentine system, so yet another thing to not go bad on them lol. Iā€™ve heard they donā€™t get as good of mileage in all conditions, but they are a bigger car. I also personally donā€™t like the console in them going all the way to the dash, 2nd gens are almost like an old truck with the floor space with a bench and flip down console. Tons of legroom, etc.
 
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