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I've replaced another set of tires. The brake pads are still good for another 50k. For those of you that have over 100K miles, check your rear brake shoes or have them replaced.
I do keep a car for an average of 10 years before I replace it with another one. If no major incident happens from now till late '13, I estimate the Prius to have gone way past the 300K miles.
There are some points to share about the Prius worth mentioning. Brakes seem to last forever unlike any car I've ever seen. Old school taught me to change my oil myself but in addition to that and good filters I learned to add a 1/2 can of STP. I was impressed with the story how STP made such a difference during the 2nd World War by the Germans and their mechanized equipment. A product that delivered longevity for serious wear & tear. Just a thought to share w/ you. :shades:
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David in San Diego
For about the last 30,000 miles or so I would get random error messages when first starting the car that would disappear later in the day once the battery had built some more charge up again. I really can't afford to sink a lot into repairs so I have avoided going to the dealer.
At some point the car started to not go into reverse "gear" any longer. Remember there is no traditional mechanical transmission and even what there is the ICE doesn't operate the car in reverse, its all electric. My research and best efforts to troubleshoot have led me to believe that reverse in particular relies on certain specific cells in the HV battery, and I may have lost some of those. Luckily, having no mechanical reverse transmission makes it effectively in neutral in reverse and I am generally able to stick my foot out the drivers door and "flintstone" out of most spots, and I learned to always look for pull throughs and what not.
Now I am having trouble getting the car going in the mornings (especially since winter came back this year). The ICE stalls shortly after starting, and not the normal going in to standby until needed, if I pull away in electric it never comes on no matter how fast I try to go it just depletes the battery. So I pull over and restart it.
My morning routine is then: 1. Start car, it stalls but is still "on"; 2. Try to put it in reverse (chances are presently 1 in 3); 3. regardless of whether it actually goes in reverse my driveway is steep enough to roll on gravity into the street, then pull in front of house on electric power; 4. Turn off car, wait about 30 sec and restart, get into drive and gun it to have some gas flowing and things go fine from there.
If I drive for 2-3 hours in a particular day I can usually restart it and have no warnings or alarms and actually have reverse the rest of that day, but it starts all over the next.
I really love my Prius, other than the above its never given me a bit of mechanical trouble, and its been paid off for years. I'm thinking if I never replace the HV battery it will eventually just become more or less a 4 cylinder conventional car with no reverse. I have a Volt on order and now need to decide to sell the Prius or get it fixed up and given to my son. I'm thinking spending a few grand on the repairs might be better investment in an otherwise reliable old car then taking some unknown for him off a used car lot. Either way I am just hoping she can make it another 8 months til my Volt arrives.
This is the longest I have ever owned a car and do not regret my purchase at all.
Have you ever had the 12V battery replaced? If not I suspect that your problems may be due to that rather than anything else.
How much money have I saved in gas thrift? Conservatively about $12,000.00 over these 8 plus yrs. That ain't chicken feed folks. That's the definition of thrift. Low maintainence is true to form. Original brakes at the near 150K miles is unheard of in any other vehicle. I don't know exactly why but I love it. Brake jobs these days run $600.00 to $800.00 and that is money saved. By this time frame I would have had to replace exhaust, starter, 12 volt battery (twice) and most likely a rebuilt tranny. Do the math. That's about $2,500.00- $3,500.00 conservatively speaking.
Lastly, I get a kick out of the styling that ran the nearly same look for 8 yrs and even close to the 3rd Generation look also. This supports a better resale value to the owner and as long as gas prices continue to flirt with $4 bucks there will be folks lined up to buy a used one.
I'm back presenting the same subject matter but with 146 K miles on my '04 Prius. Here's the low down on my experience as of today.
4th set of tires.......5 set of wipers......3 hdlt bulbs......1 waterpump (139K).
As to my appreciation of the '04 Prius, I'm even more impressed than I ever thought one car could make me. Yes, the car has a bit of wear & tear but still looks good and almost 8 yrs old and no rust, original exhaust, smooth tranny, and most of all....original brakes untouched at 146,000 miles. I influenced 8 other folks to take the plunge and buy a Prius and not one has been anything but a happy owner. Nuff said. I'm looking into the Prius V for my next new car and why not?
#2 (Batteries)...What was once the scariest issue..(longevity of the batteries) seems to be a non-issue since there have been relatively few problems with them. My car is close to 9 yrs old still running strong (summers 45-48 mpg & 40-44 in winters. The secondary battery (small one) is still working fine unlike conventional car batteries that last usually 4-5 yrs. By the way, you can only buy that battery thru Toyota as of today.
Try not to set your hopes on over 47 mpg's since that requires extreem frugal tactics. Normal driving usually gets you my general mpg's. If you've got bad habits expect less. Plain truths as I see it. Lastly, with nearly 146K miles the Prius has not only proven itself as a leader that set the bar where others can only hope to achieve but the Prius, over the past 8 yrs has saved me over $14,000.00 in gas savings. That ain't hay folks.
Speed, outside temperature and driving style seem to impact the Prius more so than other cars I've driven.
So possibly it could just be the winter formulation. That still doesn't answer why two other people I know also have '08 Priuses and both get better mileage. One of the drivers tend to drive fast, as well. It's a mystery to me. :confuse:
That's because individual components are made within tolerance ranges and if you have a car with a lot of components towards the poor side of the tolerance range, then you'll have more friction in those componts and worse MPG when you add up all of those minute variations. For example if you have an inefficient but working alternator/motor, more electricity is needed to turn the motor and less electricity is being generated, so more gas is required.
So in other words, you may have a car with more inefficient components than the Prius driven by your friends. And it's possible too, that you may have more part failures for the same reason.
Other than that, I do love my Prius and have had no problems with it except I had to have the starting battery replaced (I call it that for lack of a better description). That cost me over $200.
I'm taking it in for it's 60,000 mile checkup. Kinda worried about that--cost-wise! Not sure what to believe with the dealer regarding what really is needed for this check-up but...
What should I expect to have done at this check-up? Thanks in advance.
Just a routine oil filter and air filter change at 60k miles, plus some inspections. The big stuff (spark plugs, coolant, etc) aren't needed until over 100K.
As far as tires, generally new tires have better traction but the increased traction means increased friction and less MPG. How were your previous tires when new with MPG. Also check in the tire pressure on the new tires. Maybe too low? Are the new tires the exact same size as the old?
The Maint req light comes on a little before every 5,000 miles. I use Mobil 1 and change the oil and the oil filter every spring and fall. (About every 5,000 miles) I am about to switch to the extended use Mobil 1 (12,500 mi interval) and plan to change the oil once a year. I have a 2004 with 80,000 miles. I have my first paid service issue last week. A rear coil spring that I broke on a speed bump and a leaking water pump. I did not change the brake pads or rotors as recommended because the pads had 8/12mm left and the rotors were rusted around the outside perimeter which I found out was normal.
His heavy foot may cost more MPG than my light one.
I noticed that my solar driven cooling fan wasn't working this summer. I thought the fan had maybe died but then I looked at the solar panel and saw that green copper corrosion caused by long term moisture infiltration had shorted out the solar panel and it was unable to produce electricity anymore.
I had the Dealer look at the panel and by looking at the panel from a ladder he ascertained that the moisture infiltration had reached all the way across the panel to the rear as evidenced by the green corrosion of the wiring in the panel.
Now this just didn't happen overnight, but most likely, moisture had been infiltrating the panel for several years. There was no moisture visible in the pane, just the evidence of long term corrosion throughout the panel.
What I am saying is this. These panels were manufactured by an outside vendor for Toyota. If made properly, a solar panel should be hermetically sealed. Most solar panels normally have a useful life of 15 years. This panel was defective the day it was made and it just took 3 years for the corrosion to infiltrate deep enough to disable enough of the solar cells to render it inoperative.
The reason I tell you this is the solar option is an expensive option.($2000 replacement cost) If you are still in your warranty period I would suggest having the panel inspected for corrosion before you experience a failure. Once you know what to look for you can examine it yourself. Much like a hermetically sealed double pane house window there will be some clouding of the glass panel where the moisture has infiltrated.
In my case the infiltration appears to have been going on for years before total failure. Since it is tinted and part of the roof design you won't notice the subtle changes in the color unless you inspect the panel closely.
In conclusion, these panels should be waterproof and sealed during manufacture. If any moisture infiltrates by means other than from damage it is a design and/or manufacturing error.
I am interested in getting a used one, so will definitely keep this in mind.
So has anyone found a hitch or had one installed? Usually the 1.25" receiver hitch which many bicycle racks fit into would work fine for towing a small low profile utility trailer with total gross weight of under 700 lb or so (basically less weight that a car full of people).
So far, on my own, I have learned that the Generation 2 is probably the best minimum consideration.
The car already comes with a limited powertrain warranty for 7 years or 100K miles with $50 deductible per visit, and factory HV battery warranty for 8 years or 100K miles (both warranties starting from the original date it was sold as new which was 2010). We drive about 7K miles per year.
I wonder if it was a good idea to buy the VSA and I am considering cancelling it, so I wanted to get an idea from other Prius owners of what your experience has been regarding your maintenance/repair costs for the first 8 years / 125K miles? Would you recommend keeping the VSA or cancelling it?
Thanks in advance for your advice!
Enjoy the MPG
I have 2010 Toyota Prius which has 53,000 miles on it. I regularly use it as a taxi cab. people love the roominess of the inside as they where not expect acting it to be so roomy. I bought this Prius at 39,500 in December 2012. This is my first Prius and I love every minute I'm inside the car. I have driven it from Massachusetts to Walt Disney world and only had to stop twice to fill the tank. The only thing I needed to replace so far was a cv joint for the back right wheel but only paid $100 dollars because I have an extended warranty. The winter is cold in Massachusetts and the heater does not kick in till I'm almost frozen to death. When driving it on slippery roads it does not have enough power to get up hills. More horsepower would be appreciated or better traction control. Also their is numerous of times when I slipped and the traction control kicked in by stopping the front two wheels. It felt like the front axle was going to fall out of the car. When I back up I can not see that well and have hit things numerous of times should invest in backup camera. Also I do not know why but people think that they can tailgate my car which creates near collisions to the back bumper and front bumper. Since owning this car I have hit somebody with my front bumper and have gotten hit twice on my back bumper. One time with a used uh auld truck. I will admit it does have one sturdy piece of car more damage was done to their car and truck then mine.