Mileage? original battery or replacement (cost?) ?
Read this. It discusses dealer replacement of the hybrid battery. You can get a refurbished battery for a lot less, but the labor estimate is the same. I saw refurbished batteries for $1250.
You’ll find out more on a Prius forum like Priuschat.
A good deal compared to an new one for $2850 or so the last time I checked.
2001 was the first model year for the Prius in the United States so it is unlikely a 2000 Prius exists.
Last year I spotted a first generation Prius (2001-2003) on the road, make me wonder what happened to all of them. There are a lot of cars and trucks from the 1990’s in use here but hybrids seem to have a shorter life span.
Not many got sold, no wonder they’re rare.
Approximately 66,000 first generation Prius were sold in the U S, most may have been scraped by now. Owners of aging cars usually give up when there is an expensive failure, hybrid specific repairs can cost more than the value of the car.
When I make my weekly visit to Whole Foods, there is almost always a first-generation Prius parked among the Audis, BMWs, Lexuses, Subarus, and Porsches. I don’t really think that it is the same first-generation Prius that I see every time (especially in view of the varying colors), so I have to conclude that there are still a fair number of these old Priuses still on the road.
My neighbor has a 2001 Prius with over 300K miles, on the original battery. It has been extremely reliable.
Actually, I hear the owners of those first-gen Priuses are not keen on giving them up. Meaning when they want a new car, they buy the new car AND keep that Prius. Trade-ins are apparently rare among those early Priuses
apparently, they have proven to be very reliable, from a mechanical standpoint
an online car magazine was saying that the automatic transmission “essentially” never wears out. I think it was autoinc.org . . . which is aimed squarely at independent shops
And there are supposedly several of them still on the first battery pack, with well over 200K miles
I wonder if they hold out in the rust belt :neutral:
I might be way off base on everything, but I kind of doubt it
I tried without success to find this stat on the internet. I can tell you that I see them around all over. The only thing I could find was a stat that 80% of Toyotas sold in the last 20 years are still on the road. That ain’t bad at all.
Actually, I had my '89 pickup for almost 20 years… and 338,000 miles… when it got hit and totaled. My current Scion is 11 years old, 238,000 miles, and still is in great shape. It needs a new valvecover gasket (some weepage) and the tensioner chirps in the winter, but other than that it runs and looks excellent. I plan to keep it for the rest of my life… unless I win the lottery. No reason to replace it.
I realize that the question is about the battery pack life. But hey, even if it needed replacement and it was $3,000, where else are you gonna get a great replacement car of known longevity for $3K?
There are 5 first generation Prius on Ebay, none of them are 2000 model year. One has no bids @ $780, two have a buy-it-now price of $1200. I don’t believe dealers will offer much for these old cars as trade-ins but the price is right for a great car for some.
Then they must be in questionable condition
Because in my neck of the woods, those cars are being held onto for the most part
I still see a 2001 Prius here in Knoxville, Tennessee at the local nature park nearby (Ijams Nature Park) and they still use the Prius for official business. I’m surprised to see it still running but it’s not used much though…
Wikipedia:
In 1995, Toyota debuted a hybrid concept car at the Tokyo Motor Show, with testing following a year later. The first Prius, model NHW10, went on sale on 10 December 1997. It was available only in Japan, though it has been imported privately to at least the United States, United Kingdom, Australia, and New Zealand. It was subsequently introduced worldwide in 2000.
Production commenced in December 1997 at the Takaoka plant in Toyota, Aichi, ending in February 2000 after cumulative production of 37,425 vehicles. Production recommenced in May 2000 at the Motomachi plant in the same area, before XW10 manufacture ended in June 2003 after a further 33,411 vehicles had been produced.
Yep that’s the real first gen. What we got in 2001 was the 2nd gen.
My Local Salvage Yard Bought A 2006 Prius At Auction And Has It For Sale.
They are very rare around here and it caught my attention. It must have come from far away (no rust). It is silver and immaculate inside and outside (looks like it’s new and was well-cared for and has mostly “highway miles”). It’s got 220,000 miles on it, but the owner has made several runs with it of hundreds of miles and has found nothing wanting.
I actually looked it over and couldn’t figure out “what a nice car like that is doing in a place like this” . That’s when I discovered it was from auction and knowing this place I’m sure they didn’t pay much and I also figured the “catch” was high miles. It was. Somebody probably dumped it thinking it was going to start costing big bucks to maintain or become unreliable.
When I started asking questions the guy I talked to, manning the “office” (stretching the definition of that word) couldn’t find the asking price, but I would guess it’s quite low. Now you guys have me curious. Maybe I’ll give 'em a call.
CSA
Maybe current owners can’t get more than $1000 for them and they run well. If the return is so low, why not hold onto it? This is especially true in Cali, where you can use the HOV lane if you have a hybrid and got in on the HOV waiver early enough. That should be true for any original owner in a major metro area.
There are 57 of these 2001-2003 models for sale on Cars.com, 6 of which have over 200,000 miles (about 10%).
In comparison, there are 508 Corollas of the same years (2001-2003), and 49 have over 200,000 miles. The same 10%! So these Priuses are similar to the Corolla regarding ability to rack up high miles.
Those 1st and 2nd gen Priuses no longer qualify for the HOV lane in California