In another Prius thread it was recently commented that the cargo shade gets in the way. I commented that there is a dedicated storage spot for the shade in the lower trunk. Attached are pictures of that:
There's also a folding little kick stand that keeps the trunk floor propped up.
Way back on page 9 of this thread, on Feb 28, 2020 I bought P5 (my 5th Prius.)
It started like this:
It quickly and easily became this:
At the time I bought it, I had 4 Prius and acquired two more after it. I've sold off all but two Prius now. The '08 w/208k that I DD and this '04 w/160k that I have just been keeping around. Some of the others were easier sales but I kept this one around because its very nice.
Lots of change is afoot. This is my current fleet. I DD the green one, P2. The silver, P5, just sits there as an extra car and a spare. I could have sold it while prices were super crazy but with so little into it, I have kept it as a spare since I could never buy another so cheaply.
The Gov't Mule might be sold soon too. Part of the changes are that 6 months ago I took another job. A route sales position. With that, a 2019 GMC 2500 van comes home with me every night.
I call the green Prius my DD'er but the reality is that I'm pretty much only driving my own car on the weekends since the company van comes home with me every night. Zero work commuting in my personal vehicle is a nice perk.
P5 is gonna need a new 12v battery. The one it came with is just not recovering after years off the road. I shopped high an low for a good price on a Prius battery. No surprise, they have gone up in price in the recent years. Last time I bought a Prius 12v was 2019 for about $150 via Amazon for an Optima. Today, Amazon is $289 for the same Optima.
This time around, the cheapest was a AC Delco model from RockAuto for $168.59 all in which includes shipping cost and core charge of $11 that I'll never really get back from RA (because you have to pay shipping to send it back to RA.)
So, then the delema... In P2 the 12v battery works great. Upon inspection I see that the Optima is from Nov 2016 (5yrs 3 mo ago.) I went with the decision to take the Optima out of P2 and put it in P5 thereby giving my DDer the newer battery. Sure, the Optima could go 3 more years. Sure, the AC Delco could be dead in 3 more years. Who knows?
I like to use a Sharpie to write an install date on my batteries.
I'm glad to discover that the trunk battery well of both cars (P2 shown) is clean, dry and rust free.
Congrats on the new job John! Wish you all the best.
BBC
What else to sell P5...
From sound, I can hear that it has a bad RF wheel bearing. Front wheel bearings are very common in Gen2 Prius. The bearing is bad enough that it has caused the ABS and traction lights to come on. $100 part and $250 install = $350. Due to time constraints, I'll just pay the man!
P5 is sitting on crappy tires. Over the years I have bought 5 sets of Falken 201's from Tirebuyer and been happy with them. Along the way, one tire was covered by road hazard. I'll admit that it took TireBuyer a long time to cover the claim but they did. They offered me $68 (what the tires cost when I bought it) or a free tire. Since retail of the tires is now $82 I took the free tire and it is here in my garage, unmounted. The tires on P2 will be good for another year. I'm gonna move those tires over to P5 and get 3 more Falken 201's to have a full set of new for P2, my DDer.
I'll be down to just one Prius but it will have a new 12v battery and 4 new tires.
Part of my dilemma was which to keep:
2008 w/ 208k
or
2004 w/ 160k
For starters, miles don't seem to matter on these Prius. Is 4 years newer better than 48k less miles? A lot of my decision was that I have owned P2 since March of 2018 (5 years) and I know its history since then.
In reply to John Welsh :
I'd keep newer with higher miles because electronics have seen 4 years less thermal extremes
Congrats on the new job! I hope it works out well for you!
John you seem to be the resident Prius expert, how many miles is too many for a used one? My son was looking at a cheap one to get back and forth for work since his 4runner is eating him on gas. There is a local one for cheap with 260k miles on it that he can pick up for around $2400.
In reply to Placemotorsports :
Our own Indy Guy just did a bonsai run of 18 hours with 269k
The 260k is not too much but like any car purchase, updated maintenance is important.
Feel free to post or send me the listing and I'll tell you what I see... Jwelsh02... yahoo...
In reply to Placemotorsports & John Welsch:
Here are links to my Priuii threads. I now own 3:
1st: Voyager has ~240k miles
2nd: Delta (Double Dose) has ~269k miles
3rd: The Tribble has ~198k miles
I recently learned and performed maintanence on the high voltage battery systems. It's relatively easy and fairly cheap to DIY. At ~260k miles it'll be due soon if it hasn't already been addressed. As John indicated, over the weekend I just used the highest mileage Prius I own (@ 269k) for a 1000 mile plus round trip. I didn't even hesitate for a single second to take it that far. That should reveal to you, my level of confidence in high mileage Priuii.
John sent you the link, it's actually 275k miles on it
Question for John ,
If there is a Prius with a bad EV battery , will it drive only on the ICE motor until you fixed the EV battery ?
and if so will it drive at Highway speed or Limp mode ?
this is assuming the the 12v battery is good .
Thanks for the info.
In reply to californiamilleghia :
On these Gen2 Prius (04-09) it seems that both gas and battery have to both work to move more than just a few miles.
Admittedly, I have not tried driving one as gas only.
This happened yesterday. My DD, P2 turned 209k.
Oil was changed 9 months ago at 200k.
4 new tires mounted to P2, my DD, today at 209,650
Another set of Falken 201's. Probably the 5th pair of that brand model I've bought for the fleet over the years.
P2's old tires/wheels have been added to P5 which will be sold soon.
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