2006 Toyota Prius

I cannot recommend or NOT recommend this vehicle as I have not seen or received it. After wiring the sell over $20,000 cash (including shipping fees), I was told on July 3rd that the vehicle was hit by a forklift. After hours of calls back and forth, I was told that it wasn't my car but another. After asking whether Russs actually saw my car, he said "No, because it's 20 miles away". When I ased if this car was sold out from under me, Russ responded with a definite, "YES".
Russ did wire back all of my money(including Bank fees) within 24 hours on a holiday(July 4th).
He offered me another vehicle at a lower price - with less options! He also offered me the original car with more miles on it. After questioning, he admitted that he lied to me and the seller's son took it on a roadtrip to southern California. He has since, requested that I not give him bad feedback and I have struggled to give just the facts as they happened without being judgemental.
I find this to be close to impossible because I foolishly put my trust into someone that I didn't know but felt I could trust, after speaking to him several times. He seemed like a friend and neighbor that I could trust. After expecting "the perfect car" to be delivered within days, anticipating its arrival and then having a web of lies fed to me, the disappointment was monumental!
I suggest that ANYONE dealing with this person or anyone who fits this personality, please beware! See the deal for yourself! I had a reputable company inspect the car and give me a glowing report on it. Russ did reimburse me for that report.
I have purchased vehicles from many parts of the U.S. I've gone to Michigan to pick up jetskis in the middle of winter, gone to Bethesda, MD to pick up a 12' clamming boat, purchased a '72 Cadillac without ever speaking to the owner(on-line only) and even spent over $12,000 on a boat in Lake Winnepacke, NH and had it shipped.
I've done all this through Ebay and Paypal and have NEVER, NEVER had ANY problems. Sellers have been unbelievably courteous and stand behind their merchandise! I have had things replace with no cost to me and EVEN had new items shipped to replace a defect without a question or having to return the defective item
Ebay is a wonderful service and I'm surprised that they don't phone me personally if I don't bid on an item within a week (LOL). I urge you to use this service but also be EXTREMELY careful who you deal with and, PLEASE, check them out!
Rick Kastraveckas

Great reviews for this car. Bought it for the gas mileage. I had driven my husbands and had to have one. It handles great, tight turns, smooth on the highway, easy to navigate and I always get at least 43mpg no matter how I drive it. The only drawback is most of them have the tan interior which shows dirt; however, mine is grey inside and out.

well, i just wanted to warn you this auto seller in houston texas Michael A. Roa
Team Autoplex, Inc.
5712 Southwest Freeway
Houston,Texas 77057 who sold my 06 prius for $17000. Before i bought my car, i asked him if anything negative i need to know about this car. I asked him if any stains, scratches etc. he answered me car is in great shape. i bought the car and a few days later i realized front and rear bumpers were repainted! i wanted to buy a 2 years old new shape car, not a repainted car even it is only 24 months old car. so what happened to this car is a question because he swears that he didnt know about it but he is in car business for 25 some years and he is not a stupid guy to buy a repainted car without knowing it. but he thinks that buyers are stupid and they will not find out about it. he sent me $150 pocket change to repaint what ever is necessary but damage is already done to this car and it is not original paint.Seller`s name is Michael Roa and i want you to be aware of him. He talks nice and looks nice guy with an evil of way of business. Just go get your car from someone else.

My husband's truck is getting up there in mileage. He decided to find something else for back and forth to work. He test drove several different vehicles and decided to get a Prius. I have a hybrid Highlander and have had no problems with it so we knew the Prius would be a slam-dunk. It's fun car to drive, gets amazing gas mileage and it is a Toyota. Not having had a sedan for several years, this is amazingly roomy. We have yet to take it on the "road trip" challenge but I have no doubt that it will be as comfortable as my Highlander. My only beef with any Toyota is the lack of all cars having the same crash worthiness. Honda has a better track record in this area. You need to pick and choose with Toyotas. If you are thinking about thinking of getting a new or used Prius dont think twice, you will be happy!

Hello fellow used car buyers,

I have this sad experience I would like to share with you: I went on Ebay and auctioned a Prius. I won it fair and square, and proceeded to pay for it. Just before paying, I reviewed the pictures, and saw cloth seats, while in the Option section of the ad, they seller listed as leather. So I called him, and he said he was sorry, but the add was modified from an old ad, and put the blame on the system of Ebay that did not take the change. So, he advertised Leather, and for those of us who are not careful, would have gotten away with it. Now, after talking on the phone and agreeing to cancel the deal, he slammed with with a Strike, just as a revenge, I guess. So I disputed, but I think the Strike is still there, making me look bad.

Oh, well, just be darn careful with them used car salesmen. No offence for those of you who are honest and straight, just so happens that there are some rotten apples amongst you.

I am 5' 18" I have back problems!! I have plenty of head room!! The seats in the Prius as hard on my back after about an hour of driving. But I did buy the Prius for my wife, she is fine in it. You have drive like you have an egg glued to the gas pedal to get GREAT mileage, otherwise if you drive it normal you get GOOD mileage. The a/c works off a electric motor not the gas engine, so you are very comfortable at a red light and only using battery power. I wish there was a way to charge to batteries from the house current!!!! That way the gas engine would not start as soon as we leave the drive driveway. This car will almost pay for self in 8 years maybe sooner if gas prices get any higher!! We will put about 20,000 miles a year on it! Runs very smooth, and is center of attention at the auto parts store, people stop and ask questions, we get the thumbs-up all the time. The first tank of gas we got 40 mpgs, second 45 mpgs only had the prius 3 weeks 300 to 350 miles to the tank way better than the Dodge Caravan 4 cyl. at 17-19 mpgs. Very glad we bought it!!

We love this car. We did a lot of research (just like you) prior to buying ours. We heard all kinds of stories about some people only getting 40-45mpg instead of the 50mpg that EPA said. I'll just tell about our personal experiences. We bought our 2006 Prius in Sept 2006. We have now owned it for about a year and a half. We have driven over 31900 miles and can now report the real world mileage. We get 55 mpg in the winter and about 60 mpg in the summer. Thats combined city and highway when my wife drives. She is usually to busy with the kids to think mpg savings. She just drives it "normally". I love to save gas and try to score higher and higher mileage. Probably the video game kid in me. I average 60-70mpg. I drive 55. I do what ever I can to "pulse and glide". Don't wait for the engine to warm up. Max the tire pressure etc.
I own a small trucking company and we are always trying to save fuel costs, so of course this is very important to us. Also reliability is another expense to be watched and I have been pleasantly surprised in the reliability of this tough hybrid car.
I think that some of the tricks that people can do to help their fuel economy are to start with a fresh (new) engine and properly "break it in". That means start your car from day one driving it for fuel economy. If your ultimate goal is to save gas (you wouldn't be looking at hybrids otherwise now would you?) then drive it as such. Drive 55. don't floor it. Don't run it at 75-80mph. Gradually this process will wear the piston rings inside the engine to "seat" correctly. This will become the engine's favorite "sweet" spot. That is what we do with our truck engines. Don't worry, you will always have plenty of power if you need to pass, but try hard to do this. This process will take about 3000-5000 miles. Of course if you can keep it up for the next 20,000 miles or so you will get even better fuel economy, but the first 3-5 k miles is the most important!
Now on to oil changes. Start your vehicle with original oil and drive for about 500 miles. This will get loaded up with piston ring "glitter" that will be suspended in the motor oil. Then drain this nasty stuff out of your car. Change the oil filter with a new one and put in 5w-30 oil again. Drive again for the next 2500 miles and "rinse and repeat" again. Now you should be around 3000 miles. Time to invest in your Prius and put in the best quality synthetic oil you can. I personally use Amsoil. you could use Pennzoil Mobil one, whatever you like. Just try to get the proper weight oil. I chose Amsoil 0w-30 weight. This has less friction and starts easier. At this point you may be thinking whats is so important about a lighter weight oil. Well here's my observation. We start and stop our trucks a lot. We don't idle. However each start/stop is without oil pressure for a few seconds. That causes wear! So we specifically use synthetic oil to keep the oil film on internal engine parts lubricated. O.K. so how does this apply to your Prius? Well, remember the Prius is designed to do exactly what we do in our trucking company. Start/stop. Start/stop. All day long. Lighter weight oils help the start/stop problem and basically save cranking wear and tear and increase fuel economy. If you are buying a used car, find out if the owner did this process. It could be worth an extra 5mpg! Over the life of the car- say 250,000 miles, it could save 450 gal of fuel.At todays price of $3.50 gallon, that could be worth $1575 in savings!

I bought this wonderful vehicle from a dealer, I bought a second one from an individual and I am out $8700. Ebay Motors will not respond or help me, even though the item had ebay buyer protection. I recommend buying from dealers only and not individuals unless you do all transactions face to face. Ebay will pull the item# and give you no recourse. What a mess. I am finding it impossible to get any help to recover my loss. Good Luck!

It's an excellent car. I bought it from an honest, responsive, professional man who made the vehicle affordable for me. He answered my every question promptly. He went out of his way to make sure I was comfortable throughout the process and walked me through any problems that came up. Great person to deal with!

I cannot recommend or NOT recommend this vehicle as I have not seen or received it. After wiring the sell over $20,000 cash (including shipping fees), I was told on July 3rd that the vehicle was hit by a forklift. After hours of calls back and forth, I was told that it wasn't my car but another. After asking whether Russs actually saw my car, he said "No, because it's 20 miles away". When I ased if this car was sold out from under me, Russ responded with a definite, "YES".
Russ did wire back all of my money(including Bank fees) within 24 hours on a holiday(July 4th).
He offered me another vehicle at a lower price - with less options! He also offered me the original car with more miles on it. After questioning, he admitted that he lied to me and the seller's son took it on a roadtrip to southern California. He has since, requested that I not give him bad feedback and I have struggled to give just the facts as they happened without being judgemental.
I find this to be close to impossible because I foolishly put my trust into someone that I didn't know but felt I could trust, after speaking to him several times. He seemed like a friend and neighbor that I could trust. After expecting "the perfect car" to be delivered within days, anticipating its arrival and then having a web of lies fed to me, the disappointment was monumental!
I suggest that ANYONE dealing with this person or anyone who fits this personality, please beware! See the deal for yourself! I had a reputable company inspect the car and give me a glowing report on it. Russ did reimburse me for that report.
I have purchased vehicles from many parts of the U.S. I've gone to Michigan to pick up jetskis in the middle of winter, gone to Bethesda, MD to pick up a 12' clamming boat, purchased a '72 Cadillac without ever speaking to the owner(on-line only) and even spent over $12,000 on a boat in Lake Winnepacke, NH and had it shipped.
I've done all this through Ebay and Paypal and have NEVER, NEVER had ANY problems. Sellers have been unbelievably courteous and stand behind their merchandise! I have had things replace with no cost to me and EVEN had new items shipped to replace a defect without a question or having to return the defective item
Ebay is a wonderful service and I'm surprised that they don't phone me personally if I don't bid on an item within a week (LOL). I urge you to use this service but also be EXTREMELY careful who you deal with and, PLEASE, check them out!
Rick Kastraveckas