My first car I kept for seven years. My second and current car I’ve had since 1992, using Click and Clack’s dictum that it’s cheaper to repair than replace with a new car.
I am considering buying the Prius. I intend to continue to repair and strive for twenty years. Can anyone estimate how long the batteries last? Am I looking at perhaps just one replacement or is it more likely two over a twenty-year span?
I average about 15,000 miles a year. However, I intend to retire within five years and travel around the country.
From what I’ve read, they’re thought to last 150k miles or more, so you’d be looking at one replacement in 300k miles. Course, there’s no decades-long track record, but that should be close. And they cost around $3000 now, probably less in the future.
A guy at work just got one and I thought he said the batteries were guaranteed for 10 years or 100K. Could be wrong. My personal opinion though is that a Prius is not a car to keep for longevity. Just too much unknown and too much too expensive to fix once out of warranty. If it were me, I would be trading every four years to keep it fresh and under cover, or go with a conventional car if you want to go the 20 years. 20 years is a long time though to keep a car. Maybe 8-10 and you still have good serviceability and few problems and some trade in value. After 10 years, unpredicable things start to happen and you want to be close to home for them and not in the middle of Montana or someplace. Just IMHO.
Unless you do a lot of city driving, a Prius isn’t any better than most normal cars. A good highway car would be a diesel car like the Passat or New Beetle. I seem to recall a regular poster on here claims up to 60 mpg with his Beetle TDI on the highway and 40~50 around town.
Just to add one thing. When it came out, I expected a lot of problems with all the hybrids. Now I have been amazed. Their reliability has been much better than I expected. They deserve a lot of respect for their work.
That said, I would not buy one myself because it does not offer me enough of a difference to justify the cost. But that is based on my driving patterns. If you do a lot of city driving, they may be a good choice for you.
The Prius excels in city driving. If you’re going to be traveling there are better cars from which to choose, and you won’t have to worry about the battery.
The average 58 MPG on mine but I drive it pretty carefully. After a mine it get’s to be fun trying to see how little fuel I can use.
The batteries currently cost $2300 from Toyota and you get $200 for your old ones, so $2100. If we continue to develop battery technology, I’m sure they will be far less expensive in 10 years. There will likely even be a vastly improved replacement by then, either from Toyota or the aftermarket.
The Prius gets far better gas mileage than most other gasoline cars on the highway. I would discourage anybody from buying a VW just because it gets better mileage. These things are expensive to insure and maintain, and being VW’s they require a lot of maintenance.
These things are expensive to insure and maintain, and being VW’s they require a lot of maintenance.
Certainly not in my experience.
The only thought along those lines I can buy is that anyone who fails to provide the recommended maintenance is creating a problem car.