Just curious, how many miles can you typically get out of a Prius? I'm about to buy one but am concerned about how long it will last. I drive about 25,000 miles a year and have well over 200,000 on my current Honda Accord.
Have you looked at the 299999 club? http://priuschat.com/forums/gen-ii-prius-main-forum/79235-299-999-mile-club.html On the other hand, someone just traded in one with 200,000 after blowing an engine rod (extremely rare). These are Gen II stories (2004-2009), Gen III ought to be better vis-a-vis hv battery and transaxle. Better to get a 2011 than a 2010.
I just traded in my 2004 with 150,000 mi. only replaced a muffler and 12v battery in that time. The Gen3 is even better built so it should go much longer.
Two months ago we had a garage sale. A middle age couple pulled up with a 2010 Prius. When they left I asked them how they liked their Prius. He stated that the last one they had over 300,000 miles and it still had the original battery. Here in Oregon the battery warranty is good for 150,000 miles because we are a CARB state... alfon
http://priuschat.com/forums/prius-h...ery-reliable-vancouver-yellow-cab-update.html 1 million km = ~621K miles 700K km = ~434K miles
I have a 2011, so no worries, but just curious why you said 11 > 10? I'm sure there are a few reasons lol; what were you referring to?
Oh, there are just a lot of build-quality issues associated with all-new parts on the 2010, such as the "oil change door", the front and rear brake caliper noise, etc. I'm sure there will be more. It was the same with '04, where there were lots of issues, tailing off to nothing by '09. Clearly '04 are not lemons, they just had to make several trips to the dealer for warranty issues.
Oh, yeah, good point. I didn't have any noises in mine and now with dynamite inside the door skins, I have even less
i imagine they over engineer them (as opposed to american mfg's who try to enfineer them just beyond warranty.) and as they prove out over time, they probably start cutting quality to an acceptable level to save costs. (as opposed to american mfg's who then have to try to improve quality after parts start failing prematurely.)
Keep in mind though that Toyota doesn't wait for the model year to change to roll out updates for this sort of thing. The brake calipers were fixed at some point during the 2011 model year (i.e. some 2011s still have the problem), the oil change door was fixed during 2010, and I've also noticed that later 2010s have more pieces of foam tape or other materials to quiet rattles than earlier 2010s do. So a 2011 is better than a 2010 in the same way that a 2010 built in November of 2010 is better than a 2010 built in July of 2009.
The Gen1 and Gen2 are still on the road here in DC Metro area - they appear to be about just as reliable as the Corollas. Everything I've read suggest that Gen1 last over 10 years before they may need a new HV battery or even had any major repairs. While I've heard fo Gen2 modified for plug-in (e.g. Hymotion/Engineer) needing their Li-Ion batteries replaced after six years, Toyota's NiMH battery pack for even the earliest Gen2 (2004 ... which is about 7 years old) are still going strong. SunCabs in DC has a fleet of 2nd gen Prius in the MD/DC/VA metro area - these Prius are still running today - several years ago, a local paper reported that some of these Prius had logged over 300,000 miles - I would think that these cars should even higher odeometer reading by now. The way Toyota manages their NiMH battery, the battery's longevity is not dependent of the total mileage but how old the battery is. FWIW - the battery's lifespan is dependent on its exposure to the thermal stress over time. hope this helps Walter Lee
Interesting discussion here. Walter, by "thermal stress", do you mean persistent high operating temperatures - as in always driving in the desert? And assuming equal operating temperatures, the "lifespan" of two GEN3 batteries would be much the same in terms of years - whether they had 100K miles - or 200K miles on them? Inquiring minds wanna know! - Bob
http://priuschat.com/forums/gen-ii-...here-start-there-checklist-7.html#post1397467 has some theories, also check out the post he linked to. There seems be a a correlation with some earlier/premature HV battery failures and those who live in hot climates and have (steep?) hills in their commute.
short answer: yes long answer: Mileage is not a factor because - the Prius battery management system doesn't allow the HV battery to fully drain or fully recharge ( IIRC the HV SoC is kept from 35% to 85%) and restricts the top electric power speed to 25mph . In contrast, the 2Gen aftermarket Plug-in Hymotion Li-Ion battery discharges down at a much lower 20%, recharges up to 100%, and puts an incredible high drain demands on the battery with a top electrical speed of 60mph. The resulting higher thermal stress on the aftermarket Plug in Li-ion battery pack shortens its lifespan signficantly. Thermal stress is the persistent/periodic material stress on the batteries due to extreme(high) temperature. High temperatures are caused by high discharge rates (e.g. hi power drain rates from accelerating from 0-60 mph in 8 seconds), high recharge levels (i.e. the HV battery resistance to accepting a charge increases exponentially as the charge level reaches closer to 100% thus by avoiding recharging the battery to over 90% Toyota engineers avoid the thermal stress of topping off the HV battery SoC level -dang! that's clever! If it hurts when you touch it - then don't touch it! ) and/or operating temperatures ( the hotter the outside temperature is the more difficult it is for a battery to dissipate the heat cause by the electric current it produces). IIRC if the NiMH battery pack get too hot while the Prius is on then an intake fan next to right side of the rear passenger seat will go on to try to cool off the battery pack. So if a Prius is driving in the desert, the onboard computer system is going to try to protect the battery pack by either turning on the fan or shutting down the battery (so you're covered as long as the Prius is on). However, when the Prius is parked in the desert and turned off then the onboard computer is not going to activating the battery pack's cooling fan even if the temperature is dangerously high!!! Yikes- it's the Prius HV battery's Achille's Heel !! Hence, some people are parking their hybrids in cool/shady locations in hopes of extending the HV battery pack's lifespan. I suspect that the Gen3 batteries will last longer than the Gen2 batteries and the Gen2 batteries will last longer than the Gen1 batteries. My guess is that the HV battery packs of Prius' that are parked in a temperature controlled area will last longer than Prius which are persistently parked outside in extreme temperatures. Some complain that the Prius air-cool battery system is really primitive and subpar. Are there better longevity solution/component for battery thermal stress? Tesla uses a much more expensive and difficult to manufacture liquid coolant system for their Li-ion battery pack system to allow its Roadster to go from 0 to 60mph is a few seconds. Hyundai's BlueDrive Li-Poly Batteries which allow for a 60mph drain are designed to be really flat with this huge thermal dissipation area/surface. hope this helps Walter Lee 2010 Toyota Prius 3
Are you talking about the Gen 3 Prius here? Because mine runs electric-only up to at least 40mph: the ScanGauge shows rpm=0 as long as the load is held below a certain level. I think the speed limit is 46mph but it gets tricky as you approach 46mph because it's hard to keep the load below the ICE-on limit. The ICE kicks on if the load goes past the midpoint of the HSI bar. All of this is without using the EV button, which I almost never touch. I just stay in ECO mode.
I've been hanging around Prius Chat now for years...and monitoring information about Prius and Hybrids in general for longer. I think it's fair to say at the very least, one can expect with the usual and proper care and maintenance, the longevity of any well built modern vehicle. I think you will hear the occasional "nightmare" about an unfortunate early demise...and you will hear the occasional "legend" of the undying Prius.... But in general? Durability and longevity of Prius has been perceived as being excellent. Fear of durability or longevity wouldn't be a reason I would shun Prius.
all of my old cars died in one way or another within 40k miles of me owning them... they weren't new... but used with a lot less miles than my prius. my prius has basically had 0 problems... i don't count the HID or spark plugs or any other maintenance.. i see these as general wear and tear of owning a vehicle. my brothers and fathers trucks died around 100k miles.. my dad's truck has been rebuilt 4 times by ford.. my brother has rebuilt his truck from the ground up once... had a few turbo's replaced (i see that as wear and tear too) people tend to hand in their cars before 200k miles... some consider it lucky for a car to survive that long... i'm almost at 200k.. and i'm curious about 300k... when toyota tested the battery system for a prius.. they simulated 20 years and over 500k miles.. they predicted upon that load test and such that a prius HV battery basically should last "the life of the car"... btw.. if it's ever super hot out.. i keep the a/c on.. this way the battery is a tad cooler when you turn it off.. and the cab is cooler.... i kinda leave the car on and sitting till the engine turns off... this way i know the system isn't too stressed.. i've had several times where i've turned off the car with a hot battery.. when you turn it back on, it's an uphill battle as SOC tends to be lower then when you turned it off.... just my (.02)... not that it's really all the relevant.
Yes - In stealth mode, the Prius can gently be ramp up to about 42 mph in Gen 2 and 46 mph in Gen3 - this works because the load/torque/power requirements to within the limits of the electric motor and the battery system. However What I'm referring to is when the Prius is starting from a dead stop in the EV mode - the power drain to accelerate from 0mph to 25 mph can overwhelm the Prius battery/motor setup - even if the SoC is over 50%. This does not happen with the a fully charged Tesla Roadster, the Nissan Leaf or the Chevy Volt which are setup with a higher power drain threshhold than the Prius. The thermal dissipation is mainly linked to the power drain caused by acceleration because that is when the most power drain and dissipated heat levels are the highest.
