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Should I Buy A Used 2010 Prius Hybrid?


xinsingtinhuk
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Chi, you do realise these cars have gone up in value - significantly. I was looking at selling mine a couple years ago when it was three years old and the prices on offer and trade in's were about the £4,500 mark. Now you can't find a gen3 anywhere in the UK for less than £7,500, and that's for a real abused example with at least 150k miles on it.

I was initially gonna call the OP a troll for asking a question about a 2010 costing £15,000 and looked on Autotrader to prove him wrong, but sure enough there are lots of 2010 gen3's on sale at £15,000, and lots of 2010/2009 gen3's going for £12k/£13k.

Shocked was an understatement.

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I'm surprised too. My 2011 T4 was bought from a local main dealer in June for £11,450 with around 34,000 on the clock, yet now I see similar age/mileage T4s are at least £2000 more on Autotrader, and that's not from a Toyota dealer!

I was patient buying mine, spending some time looking, and then noticed the local main dealer had dropped the price on the one I eventually bought a little after I mentioned it was of interest, but over my budget. At the time the dealer in question seemed to have a small backlog of overpriced (at the time) cars which were all cleared after price reductions, now they have a number more on their books but at much higher prices.

Why would they have gone up so much?

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Reasons for price increases can vary, but if the new price has increased this can be reflected in the used residuals also. Its for this reason I decided to go for a 9 month PiP at £21k than a used few year old T-Spirit at £15k back in July.

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Hey Grumpie Cabbie,

This is great news as without reading this post I was thinking my car was around the £10k mark.

Time to open a beer :)

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Why would they have gone up so much?

I think people have realised that Clarkson was wrong (talking sh*te) and they want a family sized car with zero road tax and great economy. I also think word is now out about expensive diesel problems when such cars are used in town. I also think the HHC has helped by giving peace of mind to owners, be them the original or second or third hand.

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Also the meteoric price increase on new Prius in recent years may have influenced 2nd hand values -

The Gen 1 was £16½k throughout it's life (with a government grant of £1k off that for the first year or so, then £700 for a few months after that, then the budget ran dry).

The Gen 2 started at £17½k for a T3 which it remained throughout its life, and Toyota GB made a great noise about the fact that when the Gen 3 Prius launched they held the price at £17½.

The cheapest T3 is now £22k, a rise of almost 26%! As GC says, much harder to rationalise (even with modest spec improvements...)

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when the Gen 3 Prius launched they held the price at £17½.

I ordered mine in September when the price was 17,500, but there was already an official price increase in the pipeline (for new orders) so mine was actually 18,200.

Then at the end of the year, VAT went back up to 20%.

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I got mine when they were £17,500 minus a cracking discount that I can't discuss. To then hear that a gen3 t3 is going for about £8,000 5 years later is music to my ears.

But you can see how these dealers are trying it on. "Ah sir, this is a £25,000 car new and after only 4 years is yours for only £15,000." without saying that it was bought new for £21,000.

Always do you homework, as it appears the OP has/is.

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I got mine when they were £17,500 minus a cracking discount that I can't discuss...

There's probably still an element of sales pitch for the Hybrid using one as a taxi when clients ride in one for the first time they get that magic carpet takeoff - wow factor.

I was only a Private Hire driver for one year, but in London in 2006, when lots of people didn't even know hybrids existed - in that year I did just over 1,400 journeys for over 1,000 different clients, and I know for a fact I 'sold' at least 10 Prius to clients who later bought one, but suspect the number of people influenced was over 100, never mind the secondary impact that those hundred or so influenced in turn (for new clients I made a point of turning off the climate control as we pulled way for the first time, with the front windows open when weather permitted.

Once client who owned a £90k S Class Mercedes said he was thinking about one, because he found being driven in London's traffic even more relaxing in the Prius than in his car!

If only I'd been on commission! :ermm:

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Your experience reflects mine, which is why someone like Tesla really should consider getting their S into the private hire market.

I also got a very healthy discount because of the vehicle use and I know for a fact a good number of cars were sold because they'd been in my car.

And in a previous job I'd driven pretty much every car available in the UK, one of which was an S600. I'd say that the ride quality of the Prius upto about 40 mph is almost on a par with one of those - seriously. Obviously if you plant your foot in the Merc it goes like stink, but at gentle speeds the Prius matches it for comfort and ride quality. Dunno if I'd go as far as saying I'd prefer the Prius over the S600 though; those massaging and airconditioned seats are something else :)

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And in a previous job I'd driven pretty much every car available in the UK, one of which was an S600. I'd say that the ride quality of the Prius upto about 40 mph is almost on a par with one of those - seriously. Obviously if you plant your foot in the Merc it goes like stink, but at gentle speeds the Prius matches it for comfort and ride quality.

That's a surprise to me. I've always found Toyota's to have a pretty harsh jittery ride. Admittedly, I've never been in a Merc so can't judge that. My 2nd gen Prius was not comfortable on poor roads and neither is my Verso. Neither are a patch on the comfort of my old Mondeo with respect to road noise or ability to filter out all those bumps and crashes you get on todays roads - especially in Milton Keynes!

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Many German cars tend to have, shall we say, firm suspension (and seats!) - the last Merc S class I was driven in was surprisingly unforgiving on bumpy roads.

The Gen 2 Prius had the worst ride (relatively) of any Prius version - the Gen 1 was actually the best - a lot of Gen 1 owners who progressed to the Gen 2 found this the hardest (literally) change to live with - both seats and suspension were much firmer (in the UK - Toyota claimed to have done a lot of work to make it feel European - I think they meant German!). Add the higher tyre pressures some owners used to improve fuel efficiency, and that adds up to a less than svelte experience.

On 15" wheels the Gen 3 is very good (IMHO) in terms of ride quality Vs handling - most ordinary owners who buy one for its tranquil progress and/or economy/environmental benefits (i.e. not in it just for tax breaks and not motoring journalists) are unlikely ever to explore the handling limits. 17" rims make progress noisier and harsher, but still slightly better than the Gen 2.

That said, when I went to a presentation at an off road proving ground, one of the professional drivers took us round the circuit in a T-Spirit to demonstrate the type of driving that invokes the Stability Control systems (VSC) - I was amazed at how the car handled - when I went round under instructions to gun it, I took the same double hairpin at about half his speed and found that unnerving!

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Your experience reflects mine, which is why someone like Tesla really should consider getting their S into the private hire market.

Interestingly, greentomatocars have one Model S on trial in both their London and Washington branches - don't think Paris has one yet. Next time I go to London I will try to book a ride in one.

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Many German cars tend to have, shall we say, firm suspension (and seats!) - the last Merc S class I was driven in was surprisingly unforgiving on bumpy roads.

There are S classes and S classes. The one I drove was just shy of £150k! Fully loaded doesn't get near. :)

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Many German cars tend to have, shall we say, firm suspension (and seats!) - the last Merc S class I was driven in was surprisingly unforgiving on bumpy roads.

That said, when I went to a presentation at an off road proving ground, one of the professional drivers took us round the circuit in a T-Spirit to demonstrate the type of driving that invokes the Stability Control systems (VSC) - I was amazed at how the car handled - when I went round under instructions to gun it, I took the same double hairpin at about half his speed and found that unnerving!

I've always said the gen3 on 15 inchers is fun. I've had mine go round bends at scary speeds. I've said it before and I'll say it again, any driver can make a fast car go fast, a good driver can make a slow car go fast :blushing:

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I've said it before and I'll say it again, any driver can make a fast car go fast, a good driver can make a slow car go fast :blushing:

Amen to that!

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Can I ask a basic question?

Suppose I make a deal with the dealer, can I expect them to do all the paper work? I read that as I pay for the car, I will also pay the road tax at the same time.

Is there anything that I will definitely have to do after buying the car?

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I forgot about zero road tax. But what I meant is whether there is any compulsory paper work that a buyer has to do.

Thank you

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Just the usual stuff I'd imagine, e.g.

Filling out the actual purchase papers,
Sorting out insurance,
Sorting out the V5C (Dealer will send that off and give you the New Keeper slip),
"Paying" for the car tax (Dealer used to be able to do the tax disc thing but I have no idea how that'll work since you can only do it electronically now and as a new keeper you wouldn't have the magic Car Tax Number Letter to use on the website. Dealer may still be able to do the tax I guess as IIRC they could use the V5C number, but as it won't be registered to you I'm not sure how that'd work as, as I understand it, the car tax is automatically cancelled when the V5C is transferred to a new owner?!)
You still have to 'buy' the car tax, even tho' the bill is for £0! (At least for now...))

Any optional bits like service plans, GAP insurance etc.

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Thank you so much.

About the road tax, I'm very much confused. I read that immediately after buying the car, you have to pay tax before you can drive it away.

Given that you can pay tax online, does it mean that the dealer should pay the tax on his computer right before my eyes, so that I can drive the car away?

Thank you.

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You'd hope that the dealer would put it on for you once they've transfered the car into your name. I guess it'll all go on before you pick the car up.

Good luck and let us all know how it goes :)

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I'm pretty sure that Road Tax renewal can still be done at The Post Office and not only on line.

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I too was shocked at £15k being asked for a 2010.

I bought my MY09 Gen 3 Prius from a Toyota dealer for £10k 3 months ago.

It has a full service history, Toyota extended warranty, 65k miles and is a T Spirit with a solar sunroof.

My local dealers cars were too dear at the time so I had to ring a few (including Jemca) to find the right car at the right price.

These days it's easy to buy over the phone or the net, and the distance selling regs actually make this better for the consumer than buying in the showroom. Use VIsa to pay the deposit and your consumer power increases should anything go wrong.

As has been advised it always helps to have an independent vehicle inspection done, essential on a remote purchase, and sometimes this can be a help as a negotiation tool.

Many dealers are set up for remote buyers now and offer delivery, but personally I would drive a lot of miles to save £1000 being a Yorkshireman. To save £5000 I would cross continents.

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Many dealers are set up for remote buyers now and offer delivery, but personally I would drive a lot of miles to save £1000 being a Yorkshireman. To save £5000 I would cross continents.

You make it sound like that's unusual. You mean it's just us tight buggers who'd do that? It sounds perfectly normal to me - surely?

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