Did you buy a Prius with 100K+ miles? Share your story here!

I can't said the same about mine i bought it with 109,000 miles from the day one i got only problems with it the used dealer i bought it from they changed the transmition, they have to put cooling because it was making a noise in the electric engine and then the electric water pump went and it cost me 1,000 between towing the car and fixed it plus the recall about the steering and changed the multimeter display lucky was under extender warranty, replaced the 12v battery, 4 new tires and still getting only since day one 35 mpg on the winter and summer, i tried everything driving only under 60, tire presure 42/40, changed spark plugs, pvc valve, air filter, cabin filter, etc and still getting 33/35 mpg between city/hightway and only doing 277 miles before filling up full the tank or when the last dot it is flushing, i don't know what to do more to save gas. It been 2 years since i bought the 2006 toyota prius and i thinking selling it

 

Sounds like you got a lemon. Hopefully it didn't cost you much originally.

 

I agree, this does not sound encouraging.

So far I have put 10k on my Prius which I bought at 140k.

Coming from fast cars and fun trucks, along with being raised by a father and grandfather who are now retired from GM, I am happy to say so far I am quite the fan.

I've been getting around 42-44 avg. mpg

Last month I replaced the air filter, cabin air filter, and installed a yellow top optima.

Today I changed the spark plugs, idler pulley bearing, and belt. Soon I will need to change the worn tires which are comprised of four different brands

The oil looked fine when I bought it and the seller said the oil had just been changed. Considering the oil filter looked like it had been on there for the life of the vehicle I am lucky to have had no signs of issues (oil and old spark plugs looked great).

I have had two issues:

1) p0420 code (catalytic converter) which goes away anywhere from 2 days to a month if I reset it with my scanner.

2) While traveling, my car shut down at a very bad point of the highway near the colorado/utah border. The I believe the generic code said I had a hybrid system failure (can insert codes on here later). I asked the nearest dealer to reflash the software and they said they were backed up 5 days with cars to work on. Since I was sleeping in my car I asked them to look into it sooner for me as a favor even if they couldn't fix it I just wanted a scan.

They called me the next day to say they fixed it by cleaning the throttle body and instructed me to let them change the dirty air filter (they said it caused the problem bc it was so dirty the air filter actually caved in). I knew better and declined to their dismay. Sure enough after I left I checked the filter which had not caved in as they said. My opinion is that they reflashed the software like I asked and it fixed the problem. When I directly asked the assistant service manager if it needed a reflash he gave me a politicians response of "No" (while looking away with an awkward face), then when looking at me said "Like I said after we cleaned it it ran fine."

Here is my take:

A reflash would have likely been free, and since they did get me in sooner than 5 days I believe they needed the paperwork to reflect a just cause for charging me, hence the cleaning. I am completely fine with that in understanding the business side, but I sure wish I knew if the reflash fixed it (for troubleshooting purposes). I can say confidently that my car became much more responsive when changing the toggle from D,N,R as it didn't require multiple command attempts like it did previous to the dealer visit. Oh yea and it went into gear and drove fine which was an improvement!

In closing: Had the problem actually been a dirty filter (collapsed or not) causing problems I likely wouldn't have been averaging 42-44 mpg. My newly replaced filter showed little to no improvement.

I welcome anyone's opinion as I am always looking to learn.

 

Also, I'm new to the forum so I just want to quickly say thanks for having me!

 

Welcome!

 

Well it did cost me around 9,200 now the car make a noise when i going up hill it's like thr engine running hard

 

Is there a chance you got a Sandy-flooded car that someone cleaned up and didn't disclose?

 

Soon to be amongst you. but curious what did you guys check for when buying a used prius, and did you have a mechanic or dealer inspect it before sale? Is there a away to check the prius battery from the screen?

 

You check the same things you would on any used car, rotors, oil, radiator, inverter, brake fluid etc. Then of course drive it around but when you do, let the engine warm up until it shuts off, then reset the MFD. Drive it around for about 10 min city and 10 min hwy. During this drive monitor the "Energy" display, watching for sudden/quick discharging followed by sudden/quick charging of the battery (if you see this, that's bad). If you hear a constant fan running in the back, that's bad. If you see a smooth transition from fully charged battery to a low state of charge (SOC), that's good. The battery will likely stay about 5 or 6 bars the entire drive. Once you're finished with the test drive, you should switch back to the "Consumption" display and you should see at worst high 30's mpg's, and maybe up to 50+ at best. Other than that, it's cosmetics.
I did not have a mech check mine before I bought it (because I think I know more than most mechanics lol) but if you get the VIN, you can check the Toyota Owners website and find out all maintenance performed by dealers.

 

I would recommend having a mechanic look at it. They almost always pay for themselves. You can simply go back to the seller with anything wrong with the car and ask for a lower price.

 

We just purchased a 2006 with 162K on it. Had it checked out by Toyota, has an meticulous maintenance record and was in pristine condition. We love it! We are averaging 51mpg with combined hwy/city (my DH drives it to work during the day, I drive it to work at night). We are looking to get our first oil change and can't decide between conventional or synthetic....any opinions? (it is at 164xxx now...)

 

Synthetic might prolong the gasoline engine's life in your car. The price difference to dino is not that great if you DIY.

But if you have it changed by a quickie lube joint or stealership.....well, synthetic could make the total cost prohibitively expensive.

I use Mobil 1 or Pennzoil Platinum in my 05 Prius and change the oil myself every 5K miles.

 

At this mileage, you need to keep an eye on oil level at least weekly, for possible leak/burning. My 2004 started burning oil at 150K.
If no oil burning or leaking, oil change cost is really low. With synthetic, you probably only need to change twice per year at most.
Don't need to go to dealer for oil change. Lube shop should be good enough. But you can save some good money just ask a regular mechanic to change with synthetic oil and pay $10 labor.

 

I just bought my 2007 with 161000 miles on it on ebay. I flew from AZ to DE to drive it home. In less than 3 days & 2600+ miles of driving no problems.
I decided to buy one after driving taxi around here & almost all of the taxis I drove had between 300k 400k miles & still drove good.
Looking forward to lots of years of driving & saving on gas then will probably give it to my daughter as her first car.
John

 

Bought a 2007 Barcelona Red Pkg. III back in June with just under 161K miles on it, from the original owner. The low price was the biggest incentive, I test drove it having little practical knowledge of a Prius, basing my buy decision mostly on instincts and common sense. The car had enough going for it that I knew it would not last long at the asking price, and I got it for considerably less. No major concerns or red flags mechanically, checked Toyota Owners site and no major issues other than recalls and water pump (2) replacement. The original owner was a young guy who bought the car shortly after taking a traveling sales job, he didn't impress me as a "hard" driver. Apparently he switched to Jiffy Lube for oil changes at well under 100K, but always used synthetic, pretty sure Mobil 1.

I broke one of my cardinal rules for high-mileage cars by not getting a mechanic inspection prior to the sale, I knew someone would buy it if I hesitated or waited to make a mechanic appointment. I was driving an 05 Suzuki Aerio with almost 100K less miles on it, which I decided to give up for a high-mileage Prius, and it was pretty much a no-brainer in my book. Yeah, I knew I was taking on the higher risk of the hybrid battery failure, not to mention other part failures, but I figured this may be my only chance to own a relatively new Prius at an (what I consider) affordable price. If the hybrid battery goes bad, I'll rebuild it or replace with remanufactured and still not be in bad shape price-wise, overall. I took it into the dealer (wincing) to take care of a few outstanding recall issues, hoping they wouldn't find a ton of other problems, and not a one emerged, not even a transaxle fluid change. I asked them about several missing bolts/screws in the engine compartment, thinking it would cost a small fortune to replace them, and they replaced them for free, to create a happy new customer. So that was encouraging as well.

The car had a fairly significant dent in the right rear bumper when I bought it, due to a recent fender bender (not the owner's fault, he didn't want to fix it since he was selling it), I had it repaired without replacing the bumper for $320, very happy with the result, which included buffing out lots of body scratches in the rear as well.

I've driven it about 1K miles now and so far, so good. I've learned that a Prius is best considered the ultimate commuting car - it appears to get its best mileage with 10-50 mile trips in the 40-60mph range with the occasional stop or slowdown. I use mine primarily for shorter trips from home and it doesn't do as well mileage-wise in that capacity, you'll fall into the upper 40mpg range with a steady diet. If you pop a few commuting trips in there, where you can kick in some serious gliding, you'll get back into the low 50mpg range. At least that is my experience, limited as it is. There's definitely driving techniques to maximize mileage, as outlined many other places here, and I use them on every trip and look forward to learning more.

All in all, very pleased with my high-mileage Prius, my plan is to take it up near 200K and look for a Gen III, probably another high-mileage, to replace it.

 

So, you plan on driving the new to you Prius for only 39K miles? How many miles do you drive per year?


The residual value of a Gen II drops quite a bit past 200K miles. You'd be better off continuing to drive it to 300K miles (assuming no major repair is needed).

 

We just bought a 2005 Prius with 120,000 miles on it from a mechanic who happens to work at a Toyota dealership. I looked through the manual and I must say that I was terrified at how little I understand about how this baby works.


As it turns out, we had to drive a neighbor with an emergency (in his RV) nearly 250 miles back to his home, and then back home, so 500 plus miles round trip, and I must say, I am very impressed so far with this vehicle.

It has the brake/tail-light broken LED problem, that we have ordered on ebay and I'm getting ready to go from fl to ct to visit my very ill father.

I must say that I'm a little nervous about taking such a long trip in a new (to me) vehicle but after our first successful jaunt of 500 miles, I'm much less concerned now than I was initially.

I need to grab the repair manual with hopes of understanding the car a little better and higher hopes of never needing it !

 

I only drive around 12K miles annually, so I figure in about 3 years it will be closing in on 200K and I'll want to replace it. I know many owners here put a lot more miles on their Prius, it's like I say - Prius owners drive their cars like gas is free ;-). Even my attitude has changed somewhat, previously I would carefully watch the miles driven on my car, but now I actually look forward to a drive across "town" (fairly big city), to see how I can pad the mpg. I'll also forego route shortcuts that involve more stops/starts so I can increase mileage and save on the brakes.

I figure by 2016 there will be a lot of Gen IIIs over 100K and under $10K. To be honest, I'm quite infatuated with the Gen III body style, it's such a cool-looking "robocar". That plus all the other advancements have me lusting already, but I'm fine with my '07 until the next good deal comes along. A c hatchback would be awesome but definitely out of the park price-wise.

I think by 2016 the passenger car landscape will have changed fairly dramatically, with battery technology much further along. No doubt we'll see more practical/usable all-electrics and advanced hybrids sporting 100mpg and beyond. Despite that, I believe the Prius will continue to be a valuable used car, even with higher mileage. It's hard to beat Toyota's hybrid track record.

 

You said hello yet on the eastern Nebraska thread?

 

No I haven't, thanks for letting me know! Would be nice to interact with local Prius owners.