My Prius 2006 with now 180k has been almost repair free. Two repairs, one was heater water valve. I heard it was common and the small 12 volt battery for starting. But no brakes, no plugs( I should do), nothing but oil changes. Never had a car as good. When it was new, I used to pay attention to the way I drove it, but not so much now
People I meet say the same about there’s. How’s yours?
We’ve had two, both bought new. We never needed any type of repair at all. Just the regular scheduled maintenance. Great reliable but boring cars that are horrid for an enthusiast to drive.
Just curious, the 12 volt battery is for starting the Prius? I thought the Prius starter is powered by the main battery. The same one that powers the wheels.
Sounds like you really like the Prius. Reliable, low maintenance cost, and, along with lower greenhouse gas emissions, you save some dough on gasoline too. Consumer Reports agrees with you apparently; they’ve said in the past it is very reliable and the main battery often remains in good shape after 10 years.
Good, informative comments, thanks for posting.
btw, time to change the spark plug … lol …
Agreed, boring, handles like a sack of potatoes. But reliable. Amazing not even brakes. There’s not a lot of maintenance on most cars today. I’m hoping I can get the plugs out at 180k
My daughter bought a used (2012) model Lexus CT-200 hybrid which is a Prius with a different body and a deluxe interior and a trick dash display you can change the information presented…It has 3 driving modes. Sport, Standard and Economy. In the “sport” mode it is not boring to drive…It’s quick and responsive. I love driving it, in the standard mode I can use careful driving to nudge the mileage meter up to 48-50 mpg…This is done by maximizing the regenerative braking and limiting acceleration. It has 11,000 miles on it with zero problems. Came with an 8 year-80,000 power-train warranty…So if you want to upgrade from a Prius, check one of these puppies out…
Yes the same same battery as all cars have 12 volt or starting and lights. But it is a special size in the trunk. The electric motor batteries are under the rear seat. Not a lot of cells , bet a few hundred volts. Yea the prius was the hybrid invention. A lot of R&D in it.
@GeorgeSanJose, the really small 12v battery is used to power up the control modules and provide a source to maintain the ‘keep alive’ memory. The lights, control modules, and radio are all 12v based. The large hybrid battery is designed to run the tractor motors and start the engine and typically runs at 144v if memory serves me right. Also, I can see the brakes lasting 180,000 miles if you drive conservatively and mostly use regenerative braking instead of the hydraulic brakes.
My cousin has 175k on his 2008 Prius and has had the same experience…super reliable, zero maintenance.
Your experience confirms the Consumer Report feedback that Prius is a very reliable machine and the extensive uses as taxis proves it further. Cab owners work on overall operating costs and fuel is a big item. A Prius easily doubles (and sometimes triples) the mileage of a typical cab.
The cost of a battery at $2800 does not scare these guys since driving close to 100,000 miles a year can save $6000 per year at $3 per gallon.
Yes
If I was Toyota I’d offer the customer the option to pre-purchase the replacement battery at the time of the initial Prius new car purchase. For, say an extra $1000 at the time of purchase, that would give you a free replacement battery (and installation) when the first battery konks out.
The hybrid component warranty from the factory is 8 years 100,000 miles. If people are going close to 180k to 200k before battery replacement of $2800, $1000 might be a good deal but anything much more isn’t worth that commitment for over 8 years and an additional 100k miles if that’s equivalent to say, a transmission or new motor on a regular car. That is a long time to commit yourself to a car that far down “the road”.
It would be rather expensive peace of mind, George, since very few people who purchase a Prius new ever need a new battery. Indeed, quite a lot go to the scrappers with their original batteries. Even if they get a little weak individual bad cells can be replaced for far less than replacing the whole battery. A battery offer like that would be much like any other extended warranty. Pure profit as few would ever make a claim.
I’m at 225k on mine… with almost no repairs. Same year as yours. LOVE IT! It’s boring as sin to drive, but I’ve saved… what, tens of thousands over the life of the car so far? Amazing!
2005 Prius with 295K miles. getting 48mpg on current tank
1 battery module died at 291k
2 electric water pump failures since 206K miles when I bought the car in 2009
1 engine water pump leak through weep hole and was replace.
1 PCV valve
Cleaned out all injectors after battery rebuild.
Everything else was general maintenance. The Prius is one of the most reliable cars I have ever driven.
"I'm at 225k on mine... with almost no repairs. Same year as yours. LOVE IT! It's boring as sin to drive, but I've saved.. what, tens of thousands over the life of the car so far? "
Compared to what? At 50mpg, you burned 4500 gal of gas. A car getting 35 mpg would have burned 6430 gal. At $3.50/gal = $6750 saved, about the premium you paid for the Prius; i.e., you’ve just broken even.
I don’t think 35 is realistic for a non-hybrid. My '08 Cobalt is smaller than a Prius, and gets 26 combined in actual driving.
That means roughly double the fuel burn, so an extra 4,300ish gallons…around $13k, at current prices. So, a ten of thousands, at least.
Comparing a hybrid to a regular car in mileage v cost of ownership, is all about the type of driving. Non city dwellers who don’t use them to deliver mail, might be hard pressed to get the pay back. Now,it seems, if you include up keep costs, you start getting closer. But, for a lot of people who lease and live from one month to another on a fuel budget too, it might make sense to them, at least in their eyes. It does for one person I know.
I do comparison based on vehicles I own and not comparable vehicles that I would need to buy. so I wont ever buy a Cobalt or the mythical 35mpg car. I have a 1999 F150. so I compare my saving vs driving my truck to work. I got my car for $6000. After the 1st year, I expect to have saved in 4x$6000 in gas over the past 5 years. The first year went into paying off the purchase of the Prius. As you see, I came out ahead and I didnt put 90K miles on my truck. It would have cost me $600/month to fuel my truck and it costs me $120/mo to fuel my Prius to work. Guess which vehicle gets my commuter miles.
My numbers are my Real World numbers with real world vehicles and not some made up fantasy numbers by someone that does not own a Prius to make up their fantasy point. If you start throwing out fantasy cars and numbers at me, you better be buying me that vehicle so I can prove your point.
Yeah, but that’s not really “money saved by driving a hybrid”; it’s "money saved by not driving a truck."
If you want to calculate how much driving a hybrid saves you, you’d need to compare it to a car that is identical to the hybrid in every possible way, EXCEPT the hybrid powertrain.
That’s the scientific way: hold all variables constant except one. A Prius-sized non-hybrid ought to get about 26MPG. The money saved from that action is around the $13k I mentioned.