I used to work at a Toyota dealership when these 3rd Gen came out & took the Prius for joy rides all the time. It was quite, great MPG and easily hit 70 MPH on the Hwy without even knowing it because of it's great Co drag.
I just bought a 2012 Lexus CT200h. Same thing as a prius 3rd gen. Single owner, mint condition, all services on time from Lexus. But I am concerned about the egr and hybrid fan. Would you recommend as preventive maintainance?
I wish I had one with that few miles. I'm retired and only drive about 3,000 miles a year. I have a 1997 Toyota Camry that I purchased new and it only has 133 horsepower and weighs more than the Prius and I've never felt it was underpowered and have never had a problem accelerating on the highway.
I was able to get an aftermarket hybrid battery put in my 2008 Gen 2 Prius for about $1,400 (6 year warranty). Aside from routine maintenance at $200,000, it runs like a charm.
Congrats on the new daily! A few years ago, we rented a 2012 Prius to explore the southwest,. We put a TON of miles on it, and It was honestly such a great road trip vehicle! I totally get why people love these!
I brought a new pruis in 2012 the only thing that went bad was the dc inverter at 120,000 miles it would had cost me 4k to get it fix ,good thing i was under warranty. 10 years or 150k I change my spark plugs at 100,000 miles, change front brakes or the back breaks dont remember at 140k miles . I changed the inverter coolant and engine coolant at 100k miles i changed my oil every 10,000 miles it currently has 160,000 miles original hybrid battery .Best car i ever had i save $5k when ever my hybrid battery goes bad i will buy a new from Toyota better they having a car payment.
Kirk, love your review. I own a 2013 with the sun roof and solar panel. Purchased it new, has 70k so far. ABSOLUTELY LOVE IT! I do like the the color that you have more than the gray that we have. Other than normal maintenance, one set of new tires, new wipers and one start up battery in the rear there's nothing else to say. Flawless! I removed the hub caps and was going to buy the center caps, until I realized that my gas mileage dropped. The center caps are much to expensive for my wallet. So the hub caps are back on. Thanks for your videos PEACE
My BIL has this identical car in silver. The fans from solar roof power do NOT give AC and ONLY runs a ventilation fan to keep it cooler. Reliable as stink and he's pushing 125K miles.
My Prius is a 2009 3rd Gen with 200,000Kms and the Hybrid Battery still works Perfect... Drives a few KM on EV only mode and works at all speeds in normal mode even like 120Kph
@@KirkKreifels Same, I might get one next year. (I could even buy the redesign too, the trim level names are now XLE and Limited respectively, plus AWD. I'd want AWD for the Prius.)
Just got one of these with only 75k miles. Had the choice between a solar roof 4 and ATP 5, picked the 4 and loving it. Installed a CarPlay Alpine receiver and plan to keep this thing forever. I drive nearly 20k a year so this is a pretty good mpg upgrade from my old 09 Corolla XRS. Any updates on your Prius?
I have a 2012 Prius Two, been handled rough, was a rental car initially. I'm the fourth owner, one accident. 120,000 miles now, and runs excellent, no issues. Even has a bent strut, and I don't even notice lol. Love the car, and I always used to chime in on the Prius jokes in the past. Not anymore.
@@alaancnery At 230k now… engine runs great, but the “check hybrid system” warning popped up for the first time the other day. It went away, but I’m afraid it’s a sign of weak cells. Gonna clean the bus bars and check their voltage… wish me luck !
@@itoohavedreams I wish you the best of luck! Thank you for the answer. Its the original battery and no job done in it, right? Let me know how things going on over there.
I had a 2010, unfortunately i had to sell that car to Copart because the engine had too many problems with oil burning, egr related stuff. It was a good car to me but only lasted 181K for me and I took really good care of it.
Hey i got a deal of 2012 prius for 5.5k which has got 176k miles on it. Should i go for it ? I’ve heard it has gasket issues especially given the miles on it I’m not sure how long the battery would last. Im confused, pls help me out.
Kirk Kreifels yes thinking about it. I’d really like to see the next gen Prius Prime... I had a 2013 plug-in Prius which I bought new and really liked but it didn’t have enough EV range. So I went to Tesla but miss the reliability and ease of service.
Third gen prius is nice, but there is the EGR/pvc valve which need careful attention. Problems with EGR/pvc valve can lead to blown head gasket, bent piston rods and blown engine in short order.
Priuses last for a while. Drove my 2003 Classic (original owner) for 207k miles before upgrading to the 2020 Prime last year. It was still on the original brake pads with 7mm front/3mm back. Super low maintenance vehicle. Sad to say goodbye to a still functional vehicle but tax breaks were too good a deal to miss.
@@KirkKreifels Toyota can't Prime/PHEV their entire lineup fast enough. Fully electric drive is such a "lexurious" experience. It's so jarring when I'm on the highway and the battery runs out and the engine kicks over. You can feel it running and it seems, for lack of a better word, so primitive. I can see why people geek out over Teslas. Also, 1500 miles on a tank of gas is a great benefit.
Yes I feel the same way when the regular Prius hops onto the gas engine...priming everything is the goal, and as battery technology improves, we could see full BEV and more range-extender type vehicles
I agree, your model was best looking so far. Really creme puff and loaded, looks like I would have owned it as I maintain my Lexi (2- RX 350’s/2010&2016) meticulously.
My 2011 Prius, which I bought used, has 243k miles. It's been the cheapest car I've ever owned to maintain. In August, the original 12v battery tested at 100% after I left the parking lights on and it had to be jumped. At 225k miles I finally had to get new brakes and rotors. It's showing possible signs of a major issue which I am not happy about as there is no car I'd rather drive than this Gen Prius.
On 2011. My family and I moved from New York to Pennsylvania. My dad was getting a Pruis but he couldn’t afford it. So instead he got a 2011 Corolla LE.
Seriously considering a third gen prius to replace my 20 year old corolla. Want minimum maintenance and fuel costs, and a used third gen is something I can afford. Also thinking about the ct200h, which might be more comfortable and ride better, but the prius is cheaper and easier to modify (mainly stereo). Not very fast cars, but I've got a motorcycle to go fast with :D
I upgraded mine a bit with things like a Sports Air Filter that goes into the standard air box... Do servicing myself and its faster than 10 seconds in Performance mode
@@KirkKreifels oh, you mentioned future update formats - wondering if you could put some emphasis on cold weather performance (MPG, driveability, etc.) I'm in SE Wisconsin and when the snow comes, it can be inches or feet. The real issue is the low temps (wind chill?) In Nebraska, it's more the rapid drops in temps and ice (if I remember correctly from my Offutt days). Thanks again for the work and looking forward to more (especially what the new Sequoia will be)
Overall weather is very similar to Wisconsin..but we may have more drastic 24-hour temperature drops/rises. I look forward to some extreme weather Prius testing.
As you were driving I was thinking “man that looks a lot like Leavenworth” and then boom a UNMC/NM logo flashed by. I had no idea. Haven’t been into the office at UNMC for over 2 months.
Hello Kirk great video. Do you have a plan to upload more videos of your Prius ? Maybe a good one could be showing how the maps and apps included on the display audio system works? Thanks
I honestly don’t get why the Prius gets so much hate, yes it doesn’t have the best styling or isn’t the fastest but those two besides it’s not really a bad car.
I'm in the process of buying a 2012 plug-in Prius with about 150,000 miles. I don't have it yet because the banks were closed on New Year's Eve about 3pm. I did take it for a test drive. I was concerned about the slow acceleration. My other Hybrid is a 2010 Ford Fusion with 240,000. That accelerates way faster but is less efficient. I have a feather foot in my driving style but the one I drove had me a little concerned. The one I drove had a few cosmetic imperfections but seems like a really great car. I'm going to try driving some other Priuses to try to get an idea of how it should accelerate. I never owned a Toyota before. I'm hoping for reliability and efficiency. Batteries can be a concern I have also heard the generator can go out around 200k or so and can cost a lot to fix but I might do it myself as I'm a pretty good mechanic. I have to agree if it doesn't have problems it has to be one of the slowest accelerating vehicles I ever drove. For efficiency sake I'm willing to accept that. Since it's a plug in the efficiency may be over triple that of my non plug in 2010 Ford Fusion. My Fusion Hybrid had about double the efficiency of my 2005 non hybrid Ford Focus. The Focus was zippier. I'm thinking of the Plug-In Prus as a giant, electric bicycle. I love bicycles.
I'm in the process of buying a 2013 Prius Four just like yours, except it's silver. In truth I don't really like the Prius that much, it's extremely hard to diagnose problems and can be incredibly expensive to fix them. BUT it saves me about $1700 a year in fuel since I drive 1,000 miles a week. That alone makes it worth having.
I'm looking at one of these to purchase next week as my crummy Accent has bit the dust. Best car I ever had was a Toyota, and I drive mine until the wheels fall off. Since I'm working from home maybe 7K a year going forward. This was helpful, thank you .
@@TheMartinez09 Yeah so far my Prius has held up. No issues or maintenance yet tbh. Even took a trip to Pennsylvania which was 1200 miles away from me. Been driving it everyday.
Great purchase! I, too, prefer this generation over the new ones... Love that red and tan combo, plus the sunroof .... Would you ever do an aftermarket sunroof? I have a 2012 Plug-In Advanced, which I love, but I miss having a sunroof. My previous car was a 2008 smart fortwo, and I loved the clear roof. I've been of the impression that all aftermarket sunroofs are a bad idea... Thoughts?
Hey i got a deal of 2012 prius for 5.5k which has got 176k miles on it. Should i go for it ? I’ve heard it has gasket issues especially given the miles on it I’m not sure how long the battery would last. Im confused, pls help me out.
I have a 2013 Prius C level 4. It’s a dream to drive. I of course have the Nickel metal halide hybrid battery. Since the Prius is a rolling computer on wheels, you would almost have to rebuild the car computer(s) to convert to Li ion battery instead. A side comment about your wife’s dead hybrid battery. Most early failures of the hybrid battery are due to clogged cooling fans under the back seat (didn’t know this for the first 8 years of ownership). You MUST take the rear seat cooling fan grill off and clear the cooling fan of any carpet fibers, pet hair at least ever year, and give the fan blades a good shot of W-D 40 ( you would not believe the amount of fibers/pet hair and debris I dug out of the fan). If the battery is kept cool, the $3k hybrid battery replacement can be delayed up to 250-300 miles before you have to replace it PS, you can clean the filter of the cooling fan yourself ( the dealership will charge you a fortune to vacuum it) Make sure blankets and stuffed animals don’t block the fan intake grill in the back seat (easy to do). I keep mine in ECO mode all the time (55-64 mpg). If you do quick hills in ECO mode, the mode is designed to push gas efficiency over acceleration. It never bothered me, but you can turn ECO mode off on long hills if it bothers you. Keeping this car “until the wheels fall off” 😵💫
At 11:10 I get the same reaction to people as they see my Prius is not a threat but when I drive around my F250 Diesel people just get out of my way, lol
I just picked up a 2012 as well with 76,000 miles and it’s kleen! I didn’t know or was aware of all the functions! You cleared up a ton, great quality and great content thank you. Have you ever taken it to the snow? Let me know please!! Thanks again
@@KirkKreifels thank you! I have a Lexus IS 350 a 2006 and man between that and my wife’s Tacoma I was spending around 6-800 in gas. It was cheaper to buy a new car with a payment than it was driving those. What sux is my Lexus had 245 thousand miles or so and the tranny is slipping. I’ve replaced all the solenoids and fluid multiple times but nada! I’m torn if I wanna sell it because it’s such a fun car and I’ve put a lot into it but my wife’s buggin to sell it haha! Thanks for the quick reply my brutha!! Have a safe and great Sunday!
Although changing out the battery yourself is fairly simple, although a bit tedious, I would caution folks if they decide to do it themselves. This IS a HIGH voltage battery. Toyota techs go to school to learn how to safely work on these batteries. This battery can kill you if you do not handle it properly.
Judging by the taillights (the 'half-cathedral' configuration) and the fact that the wheels under the plastic wheel covers are black, and not silver, I think you've got a 2013, not a 2012. The car may have been sold at the end of 2012, but it's model year 2013.
The prius got the face lift in 2012. 2011 had the older tail lights and rims. My 2012 I bought looks just like this one, different color and it's a Prius 2 not 4
My left turn signal, high beam light, and parking/emergency brake lights doesn't display. However, they are all functional. What do you think is the issue?
I have a 2010 Prius 5. Loved it until it developed a significant oil burning problem. Kirk, make sure to check your oil regularly. Mine currently burns 1 qt every 500 miles. I have 122k miles on mine. According to forums, the 2010-2014 have this issue. Be careful.
Also make sure you change the oil every 5000 at least I wouldn’t go 10k. I have a 2010 and it does burn oil but I also have 150k. I became aware of the issue at about 130k. Currently it burns 1 quart every 1000 miles.
Hey i got a deal of 2012 prius for 5.5k which has got 176k miles on it. Should i go for it ? I’ve heard it has gasket issues especially given the miles on it I’m not sure how long the battery would last. Im confused, pls help me out.
Doubt you’ll notice- but as a sweet 16 from my parents they got me the 2012 Prius for highschool and to get to school I have to take the highway so one morning I was on my way to school and accident happened and I was close to it so to avoid it I slammed on breaks and when I left school the ABS light came on why is that?
I have pruis 2012 160,000 same owner I save a lot of my money I paid it in 3 years. 7 years not having a car I love it am California highway patrol I make $8500 a month, so yeah I have money to buy a new hybrid battery lol
Kirk you didnt answer on why you didnt get a lexus! You stopped at reason 1...hehe. That car though...except for the headlights that look old and the colour of the LED instrument clusters, it still looks mighty fresh. It is definitely better looking than current gen prius even with the facelift.
Prius peeps. I have an opportunity to buy a 2011 Prius V with 35k miles I don’t want to buy one so old. It’s a beautiful car. I’m buying a Prius to travel the us before I croak . Any suggestion are welcomed please and thank you
Update, bought a 2006 loaded Prius. When I got home it smelled like farm. Pro Tip when you test drive cars take off your masks. Time to clean the vents!
