Prius v: 200,000 miles club

I'm gaining on him. We picked up our new v5 this morning. 138 miles and counting.

 

on average, how many miles do you put on a year? 2 fas 4 u? is it exhausting to drive so much? are the seats comfortable for that long? do you eat in your car?

 

How many miles per year? Well, let's see... about 240k miles in about 20 months, as shown in this thread.... so do the math.

 

it's just insane. is that really 12k miles month? how is that even possible?

 

2Fas is a courier. He drives some 8 - 10 hours a day, 5 days a week. IIRC it works out to ~ 600 miles a work-day. If he takes two weeks vacation a year it works out to 150k miles a year.

 

incredible story. i followed his gen 2 prius as well. toyota should definitely contact this gentleman and have some kind of a media outlet for it. it's really a great advertisement to the prius and prius v family line of vehicles.

 

IIRC 2Fas approached Toyota for some kind of advertising deal but could not drum up interest. Of course that was then, and now may be different. He may need a storyline to go along with the high mileage car.

Fwiw, I tend to think he might actually be well served by keeping a low profile. He is making a lot more money than his fellow couriers who do not drive Prius. I know from my experience deducting business miles that the government pays for more than 100% of my business miles actual expenses*. That was never the government intent, but it happens because the reimbursement rates are based on unreliable gas hogs. I don't think 2Fas is concerned with tax deductions, but the same idea would apply to whomever decides on his reimbursement rate.

It works out like this:
Per mile reimbursement is 55 cents (varies with fuel price);
My tax (income and SS) deduction is worth 46%, so I am paid 25.3 cents a mile;
The car cap cost is about 10 cents a mile, fuel is about 6 cents a mile

I don't know how 2Fas' company reimburses, but in the end it must be car_expenses + salary. A Prius cost/mile is about half what the company is paying since mileage and fuel economy are both about double a non-Prius.

 

Stephen, there is a long thread on his first 100,000 mile journey. I think he hit 100k in nine months and 200k nine months after that. He drives something like 800 miles a day! As far as I know, the only repair he has ever done is replace a rear brake cylinder around 150k. He was on the original tires until at least 150k!!! It's an amazing story.
See if you can find the thread.

 

Here it is:

Prius v: 100,000 Mile Club | PriusChat

 

thanks, Kenterfly.

 

Thank you, USB. When in touch with 2Fast4U, can you ask him about oil consumption?
I vaguely remember the previous 2Gen had a bit of oil thirst from 150k-200k on...

 

The amount you get paid or can tax deduct for business miles has to pay for more than gas.

The payment is designed to cover a portion of insurance, repairs, maintenance, depreciation, tires, battery, tags, registration, state tax, county tax, city tax, etc. etc.

So figuring you profit because the reimbursement is less than your gas cost is dangerous. Not that on a Prius you might not be making some money due to MPG and reliability. But it isn't as much as you think.

 

I deduct my business car expenses, and have calculated that the deduction covers *all* my car cost including capitalization.* My private use is pretty much free.

Depending on your point of view, this is the power of Prius, or the stupidity of the American tax code that presumes that businesses will use gas guzzling, unreliable cars with high depreciation.

*The calc is pretty straightforward:
50 - 55 cent/mile standard deduction
25% marginal federal, 15.3% SS, 5% state taxes averted
--> 22.65 - 24.92 cents/mile reimbursement

Prius costs
1 - 2 cents/mile maintenance and repairs
7 - 8 cents/mile fuel
8 - 11 cents/mile net capitalization (acquistion - sale)
3.2 cents/mile insurance
--------
19.2 - 24.2 cents/mile

 

Did my oil change today at 5000 miles she just started burning about 4 ounces. I change filter at 5000 and top off with about 12 ounces. About to do my second tune up in about 10000 other than that every think else is good.

 

She's burning about 4 ounces per 5k, is that correct? Not bad at all.

 

Was that Prius V a taxi? My V has 42,000 miles.

 

Courier

 

Good to see you on here again, I followed your GenII thread and was encouraged by it's performance. Hope your V does as well and hope you keep us updated.