Possible New Prius Owner - Some Advice, Please

To answer your questions:
The "official" plural of Prius is Prii.
As to the more important battery question, the traction battery almost always lasts well over 160,000km, however battery failures do occur. The one in my 08 Prius has logged about 300,000km and is still going strong. In that unlikely event of a failure, a used or salvage battery can save a lot of money over a new one, and provide good service. Here in the states, there are remanufactured batteries available as well.
In other words, things happen, but your chances of a good outcome are a lot better with a Prius than with most other cars.
Hope this helps,
Joe

 

A cheaper petrol driven car would save you money. Honestly, the age of the battery is an indication that it very possibly will need replacement in the next few years.

We're Prius enthusiasts here, so the tendency is to say "go for it" but we'd be less than honest to claim that it would be a money saver for you unless you put many km on your car each year.

 

You don't mention the price? If it is a great price just buy it. If its near market value for your area try getting him to knock off some money because of your battery concerns, $1200 to $1500 would seem reasonable to me. One other factor you don't mention is how long you generally keep your cars.........if you are the type that changes cars often the cheaper conventional car may be a better fit but if you tend to keep your cars till the floorboards rust through the Prius will pay back the difference many fold especially as fuel will likely get more expensive.

 

have you looked into the cost of a rebuilt replacement battery or one from a wreck? it can be done here for much less than new from dealer. labor is minimal. welcome to p/c btw, all the best!

 

You have to take into account that the OP could be paying up to $2.20 per liter ($8.30 per US-gal) for his petrol in working out the economics of this. If he drives say 15k miles (24000 km) per year and saves 3L/100km, then he could be saving $1600 per year. So in the rare event that the battery did actually fail before 100k miles (160000 km), it would only be two years fuel saving to offset the replacement cost anyway.

El-Man, roughly how many km per year do you drive and what is the approx fuel economy (in either L/100k or km/L) of the proposed alternative vehicle.

 

From what I have read the Prius is probably the most reliable auto that can be had. I would go for a Prius over any used car of the same year. You are mainly city driving so this is where the Prius shines! I don't believe you would regret your purchase . H

 

EL-man, hello and welcome to PC. You are worrying about the wrong battery. The most likely battery to fail at that age will be the small 12 volt battery in the rear of the car.

The millage of the car (43,000) for a Prius is just run in, remember the engine does not run all the time, and is often at low revs.

As your climate is very much like ours in the UK it is more conducive to long HV battery life. Heat is one of it's enemies.

My own car although a 2008 is now at 92,000 plus miles and still drives and looks like new, and achieves 65 mpg or in excess of 600 miles to the tank of fuel. I fully expect it to go to 200,000 miles without major problems. I do not know how your fuel prices compare to ours, but at about £6.25 a gallon the savings are substantial.

John (Britprius)

 

El-Man,

First off welcome to Prius Chat.

IMO, you really can't go wrong with a Prius. Your concern about the traction battery is valid, however there are more expensive items on the Prius that could give you problems in the future. For the most part the Prius is a very low cost low maintenance vehicle which is VERY fuel efficient.

With all that said, I would follow the advice that others have already given you and then make your own decision. About the only thing I can add is this. With all used cars, there is the chance that something might go wrong in the future. However that also applies to a new car. About the only difference is that new one will have a warranty to help defray repair costs. I do agree that the high fuel costs should make up the difference in savings over a regular petrol car if you had to do any repair work further down the line.

Here is a link I suggest you read. It will help you to learn about the Prius.

What every newb should know | PriusChat

Good luck to you and once again "Welcome to Prius Chat".

Ron

 

I would say one thing to consider is how many other Prii are in your locale? The rarer the car, the more expensive/troublesome repairs/spare parts will be.

 

EL-man, before you get your hopes up TOO high, Britprius's mileage is 65 miles per Imperial gallon, which is about 54 miles per US gallon. Still pretty respectable though!

Britprius, petrol in the US is nearly free compared to British prices as we pay hardly any tax. It varies a lot depending on market forces and location (which affects both the base cost and the tax rate). Today, here in southern Ohio my nearest filling stations are charging between US$3.56 and US$3.90 per US gallon, which is £2.81 to £3.08 per Imperial gallon. Your price translates to US$7.90 per US gallon.

 

The OP is in New Zealand not the US, and I believe petrol prices there are comparable with the UK not with the US. We actually buy petrol in ltrs but the car records mpg and our distances on the roads are measured in miles so I actually travel 15 miles per ltr.

John (Britprius)

 

Yes, OP will be using kms and liters and will be paying rather similar petrol prices to UK. Around NZ $2.00 to $2.20 per liter.

 

Oops! I guess the hearty "Good morning from New Zealand" at the top of the first post should've been a clue.

I remember that the UK's metrification process got stuck between coffee and tea for a while -- one was priced per pound, the other per kilo. The last time I drove in England was 2004, and I remember wondering whether the first international-format speed limit sign I saw meant mph or kph. It was somewhere near Heathrow where I picked up the car, and although the number in kph would've been rather slow, it was just a little road at the airport where a very low speed limit wouldn't be that surprising. It soon became clear that the numbers are mph, but I have to wonder why they aren't labeled.

Provincially yours,

Andy

 

Things are no better now. Fuel is sold in ltrs, beer is sold in pints in pubs but bottled drinks, and shorts have to be in metric measures, road distance are in miles, bridge height signs in ft and inches, temperatures are given in C wind speed in mph, although the great majority of people were taut and brought up with F.

There was a news item on the BBC telling us about a storm somewhere and the wind speed was given in KM/Hr making it meaningless to most people.

For a while it became illegal "people were prosecuted" to sell good in imperial measures eg, LBS/OZS YDS/FT/Inches. It is now legal but metric must be shown alongside imperial measures.

Milk deliveries for those that can still get it delivered comes in pint bottles, but if you buy milk in a supper market it comes in ltrs.

Thats only the start, confused.

John (Britprius)

 

Here in British Columbia Canada prices are at $141.9 per ltr.. So we are catching up with you guys across the pond. H

 

Seems a bit high...

 

Traction battery last about 10 years

 

$1.49. 9 per ltr. In BC. Canada. Sorry. H