Lots of Miles!

What year is this?

 

That is a 1st-gen Prius of some kind. That is very encouraging since I just bought this '02 prius with 157,000 miles. (Yeah, everyone is tired of hearing about it now) and as of last night put a new traction battery in it and finally have it up and running.

BUT.. I've been a little concerned as to how long it may last. I've never had such high mileage on a car before. My previous record was an old Eagle Talon with 129,000 miles on it and I sold it once it started smoking really bad because I knew the engine was basically going to need replacing.

But I keep hearing of these Gen-1 priuses with well over 200,000 miles and now this one with over 300,000 is quite encouraging.

Granted, I have no idea what the previous history of the vehicle I just bought, but everything appears to be functional. So the best thing I can do is just try to take care of it. I don't put many miles on a vehicle since I live 4 miles from my job. Also since I'll be putting a plug-in kit in this car (if it ever arrives) so that means I'll be using less of the gas-engine and more of the electric part of the car which is probably more durable anyway. The way I have it figured, a Prius's engine really only has half of the miles of the actual car since it spends so much time powered down. So that means my engine really only has about 75,000 miles on it. Does that sound plausible?

 

Is that Jesse's Prius? Or is it a different Gen 1? Jesse made it to 349k before his car got totaled in an accident.

http://priuschat.com/forums/gen-ii-...ter-349-531-miles-but-not-natural-causes.html

 

I once had a Corolla that had over 360K miles on it... when I gave it away to the next person, it was still running strong...

You might have the ICE inspected, you know, timing belt, whatever...

 

This 2nd Gen Prius that Carolyn featured last year must be over 300k by now:

Luscious Garage | Blog | 250k Mile Prius

 

Im sitting at 229k right now. Ill snap a pic of it and post sometime this week. I average about 1200 miles a month, so it will be a while to 300k. LOL

 

That mileage has now been beat, 318000.

 

Uhhh, as we mentioned already, Jesse's Prius hit 349K miles before being fatally damaged in an accident. Some pics at John's Stuff - Toyota Prius Owner - Jesse 4.

http://priuschat.com/forums/prius-h...ery-reliable-vancouver-yellow-cab-update.html is probably the record holder now, w/over 1 million km on one.

 

my 2001 is running 190000.. Have around 5k miles with new transmission. no problems.
I am a little concerned of long trips....
has any one drives say 700 miles in a one way trip (10 hours)? with a car getting this high in miles?

 

The main issues to be concerned about with a long trip is whether you will have a powertrain overheating problem because the engine and inverter coolants have been neglected and the systems are clogged; and whether your tires can withstand sustained high speed operation.

If you have replaced both coolants at 30K mile intervals (or 50K mile intervals if using Toyota Super Long Life Coolant) and have inspected your tires to ensure that tire pressure is correct, tread depth is 4/32" or better, and there are no strange bulges or cracking in the tire sidewalls, then you should be good to go.

If anything is marginal then it would be better to have that taken care of now, rather than be stuck on the side of the road having to pay a premium for towing and repair service. Good luck.

 

2001 Prius just turned 225,000. Second battery installed at 197,000 miles Jan 2009. Battery life appears to be about 8 years. You are right that the Prius ICE spends much more time not turning than in other cars. It's rpms are closely controlled by the computer to prevent over revving. My current oil has over 3000 miles and it is still clear. I expect the car will last as long as I am willing to replace the hybrid battery about every 8 years.