Considering a 2012 (Now 2015+) CT200H
 

I'm a former GX470 owner and currently drive a 2013 Sequoia Limited. Considering the purchase of a CT as a commuter. One popped up that is a red 2012 with 79K on it. Clean Carfax, almost all required maintenance done. Dealer is asking $10,997 and it is a Florida car.

Any comments on this vehicle? I've read about the EGR stuff. Do these have a major service due at 90K? Timing belt?

I was looking at a 2012 with 87k here in Dallas, very very clean, and it was selling for $13,999.00 but I decided to move up to a 2015 with 53k and paid $15,000.00 for it. So depending on the condition, I would think it is a good price.
https://cimg5.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.clu...8b07d0d5e3.jpg

Go for a 2015 or above. Even a high mileage one. It has all the engine internal upgrades that engine ever got for its lifecycle.

This powertrain is pretty much sealed. There's no belts. The only thing you have to do is pretty much change the oil.

Timing is controlled by a chain

and btw the only maintenance needed at 79k really is just oil changes every 10k So it should have 7 oil changes on record.

this is an extremely extremely low maintenance car. the only thing that would beat it is a tesla lol

CT's were overlooked and underrated, a Lexus Prius. They are still built and sold
in other markets. Ought to serve you well as a commuter vehicle.

Thanks! Were the changes in 2015 that material? This will be a second vehicle and I really want to keep the $$ down.

My wife had a 2011 Prius that I sold in 2015. It was super reliable, but it had fairly low miles.

2014 saw the first wave of engine internal upgrades to handle oil consumption and EGR issues. then 2015 saw some finishing touches to address both.

I expect that the oil consumption would no longer be an issue but the EGR issue is still possible in all years. But more likelier if you live in a cold climate + you have the older engine design.

I posted it somewhere.. let me see if i can find it

Edit: found it (By E46CT):

2014 saw a revised intake manifold.
2014 saw revised pistons
2015 saw revised piston ring sets (to protect against oil loss and blow by)
2015 saw revised intake cam gear to reduce rattle on startup

Do these appear to be after market brake calipers?
https://cimg6.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.clu...6a3170b8e.jpeg

Let's see...high performance brakes on a Hybrid that primarily uses regenerative braking...humm?
Guess I need that Tachometer on a CVT equipped car after all...

Would that put you on the defensive? Guess a prior owner (2) might have liked the way they looked lol. These aren't really known as street racers.

The brake hardware itself has *nothing* to do with regenerative braking. Lots of people assume that. That there's some sort of power generating device on the brake hardware itself. cars w/ regen braking can have massive powerful brakes. look at tesla. the two are not necessarily linked and it doesn't necessarily mean you can only or should have only puny brakes.

The ones on our cars are just standard brakes such as on any corolla etc. regen braking is just the motor ran backwards to handle light braking duty so you can recapture energy back into the battery for better efficiency. then standard friction brakes come on to assist once you push the pedal harder.

Anyway what you see above is just caliper covers most likely. the nice ones cost $200 a set. not worth it.

Christ! They take up half the rotors. If they are real, they shouldn't hurt anything. If they're just covers, remove them just for dignity. And remove the tacky chrome door pillars...

Geez.....I didn't even notice the chrome pillars!

I haven't seen the car in person yet. Looks a little........ I'm going to keep my mouth shut.

Doesn't mean the car wasn't cared for. And everything may be removable.

But 2015+ would still be preferable in the long run.

I agree that if you can swing a 15 it eliminates a lot of the egr/oil issues due to the piston/ring changes. But 2012 is still a decent car ;) (i have a 12). Plus if those 79k miles were city, you're in better shape than all highway (highway uses ICE more so the oil becomes a bigger player). I'm at 220k on mine now and for 90% of the maintenance was oil changes or light bulb changes. We did have to replace the engine at 203k, but I think, had I known at the start about the egr, I could have keep the original going. Plus it happened so fast, we didn't get much time to think about our options.

Yeah, those chrome pillars just jumped out at me too. It brakes up the lines of the car which makes it look unbalanced (imo obviously).

As far as the brakes, that upgrade is definitely cosmetic unless the PO was doing a lot of hard braking. The red stands out, but for a daily driver, way overkill. Some people would use it to increase the price. To me, it wouldn't factor into the price.