Looking at a Prius for driving 80K+ a year

welcome!

gen 4 is as yet untested and unproven. we would like to think the best, but gen3 turned out to be much less reliable than gen 2.
my opinion is that toyota over engineered the gen 2, figured outwore pennies could be pinched and cut corners on gen 3.
gen 4 is likely designed for 150k to get past warranty.

 

You're asking a lot from any vehicle. My 2012 Prius C had almost 150k miles on it when I had to replace it due to a car accident. That car had zero maintenance that wasn't part of the routine maintenance. Even at 150K miles, the brakes were barely half used and I was about to be on my third set of tires. With such high mileage you'd probably have to replace the battery much soon than the average owner but if you do all your own maintenance otherwise I can't imagine why you couldn't learn to replace it as well.

 

It's a difficult question - "a bit like how long is a piece of string". There are some Gen 4 PRIUS which were over 100,000km with no issues, one chap sold his about that stage. But long distance driving is "easy" on a car compared with city driving. The battery would likely last well, as it would go to the extremes of low/high much less than city driving. Brakes - well, highway work they tend to last much longer anyway, but PRIUS Taxi Drivers have been getting long life in city work, as the majority of braking is regenerative. The engine isn't stressed, as it always starts in Electric mode. There isn't a gearbox.

Before I bought mine, I checked with various users - though, I tend to change cars much sooner than you're talking about, generally when the warranty runs out. Taxi operators were talking about those same miles as you're talking about and having almost no problems, some still on the original brake pads and rotors.

Your fuel use - I see FUELLY showing the majority of Highlanders using between 18 and 24 US MPG. PRIUS would be much better than ½ that use, so your fuel savings would be very good - though I'm not sure of your local price.

Check that she's comfortable in the car - some feel the seats don't suit them.

Another ½ way option could be the RAV4 Hybrid - I think there's a completely new 5th Generation either just released or about to be - but would use more fuel than PRIUS..

Yet another to look at is the Camry Hybrid - would use a fraction of the fuel of a Highlander and probably more of a long-distance cruiser than PRIUS - but would use more fuel than PRIUS.

 

Color me impressed.

Assuming an average speed of 50mph, your wife is spending 1,600 hours per year driving a car. Give or take, that's 30 hours per week! I don't work 30 hours a week at my actual job. Yessir, I'm impressed! It also means an oil change every 3 weeks. Given her schedule, how does she find the time??

Setting that aside...

Employer reimbursement (or IRS deduction) is somewhere north of 50 cents/mile these days. With the low fuel and maintenance costs of a Prius, she would be making money on reimbursements. Gross of upwards of $40,000 per YEAR!

If I was in that situation, I'd buy a new Prius every 18 months or so.

 

I'm gonna chime in. I doubt the battery would need replacing in such a short life span despite high miles. Taxis have proven this and they are in city where the battery gets used much more than on the highway...but the gen 4 does use the new Li-ion battery chemistry which is different from the previous gen. Depending on the speed your wife drives, the car will do exceptionally well, MPG wise vs a Land Rover or any other 4 Cyl car out there but I wouldn't plan on it being 50+ unless shes doing 70 MPH at max. The transaxle is proven super reliable in earlier models, but they did tweak it in the latest gen. Same with the electric motors. No belts to worry about which is nice since my earlier car, a 03 Matrix (sold at 333K) would squeak every 10-15K and I would have to change it out.

So In short, no one really knows the reliability that far out but I really like mine (40k miles) so far, averaging 58-89 MPG and only required regular maintenance besides an annoying tapping when breaking, which was remedied by replacing the drivers side axle (thank you warranty).

 

Are you asking about the likelihood of a new or used one for this difficult assignment? I would not worry about a new one- in fact I regard that as the ideal usage pattern. Get it young, pour the miles onto it and get out before the calendar catches up to the odometer.

I don't think I'd try this with one more than a year or two old though. That just adds too many unknowns to the complexity of the hybrid drive.

 

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I'd say NO. This is extreme heavy-duty use. The Prius was never made for full-time highway driving in the first place. About the only thing made for this level of highway use is a commercial diesel vehicle.

Now, people use Prius' for taxi/uber use which racks up a lot of miles, but this is city use (not highway) I'd argue.

 

See the experiences of 2fas4u who drives for a living.

Prius v: 300,000 miles club | PriusChat

299,999+ Mile Club | Page 20 | PriusChat

Do you think a Prius could go 1,000,000 miles? | Page 5 | PriusChat

 

Wow....

 

It goes like this:

A Prius (like most small, FWD cars) is designed for a life cycle of about 10 years or 250,000 miles.
That's 3-4 years given your intended usage, although I would start out with a 1-2 year old used G4 and run the car for 4 years and use proactive maintenance to push the life cycle out past 250,000 miles, but that's me being me.

The idea that a sedan hauling one human on the interstate for a few hours a day constitutes "heavy use" is not at all accurate, and in fact the opposite is generally true otherwise Priuses would suck as Taxi vehicles and Ubers, and they generally do not.

The Achilles heel in your plan is OCI, or OIL CHECK INTERVAL.

As outlined in the maintenance schedule, it's every 30 days or 1,000 miles.
Unlike the mastodons that you're used to driving, the Prius has a very small oil sump.
Skip the oil checks, and the flickering light of shame will illuminate eventually!

Follow the maintenance schedule assiduously, and add proactive transaxle fluid replacements probably every 60K in your case.
Also replace the water pump proactively at about the halfway point and see if the EGR cleaning that the G3 drivers have to perform is applicable for the G4s.

Following these practices, I would unreservedly recommend a G4 out to at least 300,000 miles.

NOT following these practices would probably shorten the G4's lifespan by at least a third, and you would rapidly approach the part of the spreadsheet where a non-hybrid makes more "sense" and "cents."

Good Luck!

 

Wow.....what, exactly ?
That opinion is as valid as any other.

I would agree that a hybrid probably isn't the best choice for a LOT of highway miles......especially if the driver tends to have a heavy foot.

If gas mileage is important, a Corolla might be a better choice. Maybe even a Yaris.

But it's gonna boil down to what SHE WANTS.
What we think ain't gonna matter a hill of beans.

 

I seem to be odd man out, Prius would be excellent consideration.
But we need to check with Gen4 owners doing heavy miles to see if reliability holding up.
Prius is not necessary an 80K per year car from seat comfort perspective, but not everyone is 185-lbs like me.

 

Sam mentioned.............
That opinion is as valid as any other. I agree 100%. Everyone has an opinion and they are all worth the same. The world would be a boring place if we all thought the same.

I would agree that a hybrid probably isn't the best choice for a LOT of highway miles......especially if the driver tends to have a heavy foot.
If gas mileage is important, a Corolla might be a better choice. Maybe even a Yaris. I wouldn't agree. I drive hammer down a lot. I'm still sitting at about 45+mgp. That's better than my coworkers Yaris, which is in the mid to high 30's. Hybrid or non-hybrid, it's a car. They're all made for driving. Granted, I only put about 23k miles a year on my Prius, of which about 80+% is highway.

Here's why "Wow"....
The OPs question.......

Can I expect 320,000 miles in 4 years out of these vehicles if they are maintained properly?....last 5 are key words here. He did not say "Can I expect 320,000 miles in 4 years out of these vehicles if I do no maintenance?"

I'd say NO. This is extreme heavy-duty use. Really? Once again, we're all entitled to our opinion. My personal opinion is highway miles like the OP is talking about are about the easiest miles you could possible put on any car. OP made no mention of her driving it like an Indy car.

The Prius was never made for full-time highway driving in the first place Is that somewhere in Toyota's design parameters? Owners manual? Maybe I missed that. Once again, we're all entitled to our own opinion.

About the only thing made for this level of highway use is a commercial diesel vehicle. Very well may be true but not necessarily. Most commercial diesel vehicles are designed to be durable due to the demands placed on them by industry, not by highways. Big weight difference, towing difference, hauling difference, etc.

Now, people use Prius' for taxi/uber use which racks up a lot of miles, but this is city use (not highway) I'd argue. And this is easier on a car than highway driving? Maybe I'm misunderstanding something here.

Any car is merely a piece of equipment. Anything taken care of properly and used within it's design parameters should provide years or decades of reliable service. Any piece of equipment that can be run in a steady state condition within it's parameters will typically outlast an identical piece of equipment operated from one extreme of it's range to the other. To me, 80k miles of highway driving a year would qualify as a fairly steady state condition.

 

I would get her the safest and most comfortable 4-door vehicle I could afford. Make sure it has advanced cruise control along with other safety aids. Toyota's acronym is DRCC. Once you've driven with it, you'll never want to be without it. That will GREATLY reduce her driving load.