Wanted to do a payment plan. Return filed a month ago. Go to sign up and it still shows "information not available yet".

https://preview.redd.it/xghv4yixvrvg1.jpg?width=640&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=d06af9c7d91ff17590e05816c4c4464fe61265db

https://preview.redd.it/bzbynwixvrvg1.jpg?width=692&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=216f856e945816ed7e6a833c537d86c2e48d66a6

201,000 miles, a lot of people praise these cars, and they are great cars, don't get me wrong. The body held up damn well for a nearly 20 year old high mileage car driven it's whole life in the mid west winters. I've seen plenty of other models rust out a lot worse. The MPG was great.

I got rid of it because it was starting to rot at the pinch weld on one side. Could not jack that side up with a jack anymore.

1. If you work on your own cars, be warned.

The Prius is not fun to work on under the hood. The engine compartment is extremely tightly packed. Certain things like water pumps and coolant valves require a crap ton of disassembly just to access the part. Changing the timing cover is daunting as there is very limited access between the front of the engine and the side of the inner fender. The suspension isn't really any more difficult than other cars, just the underhood stuff can realllly suck.

2. You can expect to be hit with $1,500-$3,000 for a new hybrid battery at any time.

Obviously this isn't a big deal if you have the finances to afford a newer Prius, but if your economical like I am and can only afford older cars, and don't know how to rebuild the packs, just keep that in mind. I rebuilt the pack myself twice.

3. Gen 2 only...Certain interior trim pieces will cause headaches. Primarily the large one that covers the hatch around the rear glass. If you pull it out, the retainer clips will fall into their holes and go down inside the sheet metal with no way to retrieve them. You will then hear those clips every time you open and close the hatch. I needed to remove the vents to install a radio, and one broke carefully removing it. Very thin plastic.

4. Gen 2, maybe 3. It's slow. It's great for commuting in towns, but sometimes needing to floor it to get up to speed on an on-ramp or to pass was very slow. The 3rd gen uses a larger motor, so hopefully it's not as bad.

5. Electrical gremlins will give the non-mechanically-inclinded a headache. I've had a lot of issues that were causes by the 12v battery. The 12v battery needs to provide smooth, consistent power. Since it is NOT used to start the car, it will often pass a battery tester, but the last one I had passed with flying colors, replaced it, and the issues went away. It's very picky in that way as it has over a dozen computer modules on board.

6. Shortly before I got rid of it, all the foam seals inside the HVAC system disintegrated. I never had this happen, even on 30-40 year old cars. I don't even live in the south where it gets ungodly hot.

MSRP of car is $50,000

Manufacturer offers $7,000 in "customer cash/rebate".

Meaning most people only pay $43,000 "sticker".

A year passes, the used models are $42,000, which seems like a decent deal, but oh...the new ones are still $43k.

Manufacturer needs to move more new units, so they do this to ensure more buy new only.

Another year passes, now the 25's are $39k used. Seems like a great deal $11k off $50k..but remember most only paid $43k, so the "actual" discount is only $4k.