I have a 2007 Prius which I have loved into the ground. Gas engine knock-Yes. Undercarriage noise-absolutely. Gas engine burning oil-Yes. 166000 miles. Interior basically well lived in. I’m the quintessential rural to city commuter with at least 70 miles per day drive. Scared to death of when the battery goes down on top of the above. Should I even realistically expect anybody to take this off of me in trade or should I just run it to the ground and go looking for new wheels then. What are your thoughts. I do know, I do not look forward to fixing this piece up.
Please describe these problems: gas engine knock? Does it knock if you use premium?
Undercarriage noise? When?
Oil burning? How many miles per quart?
Have you had a mechanic tell you what’s needed? You might be surprised.
If you still find it acceptable to drive, nothing will be cheaper than keeping it going if the problems are minor, as most of yours seem to be (except possibly the oil burning). The batteries are generally reliable enough, and if all your miles are highway commuting you aren’t putting much stress on them. When they fail it tends to be a gradual process. You could easily get another 100k out of this car if the engine isn’t in bad shape, which I wouldn’t expect unless you’ve not maintained it well. A certain amount of oil consumption is normal even in new cars. How much are you burning? How often have you changed the oil and other fluids? And so on and so forth. The serious mechanics who help out here (I’m not one) like to know the whole maintenance and repair history before giving specific recommendations.
Thank You. The engine knock is actually a valve or lifter sound I believe. Confession, although I maintained a 5000 mile limit and used only synthetic 5W30 for some reason at one point I checked and there was no oil to be found on the stick. Since this time around 124000 miles I have been having this problem with oil disappearing at around 1.5 quarts every month if not slightly more. I will relax for now about the batteries. As for the undercarrage noise, given country driving several of my plastic panels under the car if not gone as toward the front of the car, are at least loose and may be contributing to this. The noise is most noticeable at cruising speeds above 35 to 40 and is more in the line of a low frequency hum, I have excellent comfort tread tires which should not be producing this. It has been my thought to baby as much as possible from this point and hang on as I agree it still saves me over time.
The other thought I had was. If I were to have to do major engine overhaul on top of the spector of a battery eventially going bad. I believe I am in for at least a third of the cost of this velicle new if not more. Would you agree?
It’s pretty much always cheaper to keep an old car instead of getting a new one. And probably “greener” too, as you’re not contributing to the manufacturing costs, energy, and waste associated with making another vehicle. But with a Prius, maybe it isn’t better to keep it. These are complicated animals and while yours seems to be mostly aging gracefully, any major failure will be expensive and possibly hard to diagnose too.
For your type of commute, a hybrid car doesn’t make a lot of sense. You might be better off replacing it with a non-hybrid vehicle. Perhaps you won’t get quite as good of mileage, but that’s debatable, especially if you get a small diesel or another very small car like a Fit or Yaris. You will never recoup the premium paid for another Prius, and the myth about them being “greener” than other cars is just that, a myth. Especially when you factor in the costs to mine and transport the exotic materials used in the batteries and electric motor.
Anyway, that’s my 2¢ on the subject…