Is there a point where you don't risk a long drive?

I see no reason to be hesitant.

 

me? i'm nervous at 70k

 

I had a 2002 Prius that reached about 175K miles the summer of 2019. I had no worries about taking it from the San Francisco area to Oregon once a month. That's a 500 mile trip each way, traversing a couple of mountain ranges along the way.

I'd still be driving it today if I were not seduced by the Prime version. I have reached the age where the cross traffic alerts and blind spot monitoring are useful tools, so I upgraded to a Prime with the advanced package.

Dan

 

It depends on the particular car. I put my last Ford, a 1984, on a short leash (100 miles) at about 100k. And was glad I did, as it had a couple more significant problems and a stranding before I got rid of it at 130k.

But I've never done the same for any car since, including a 1986 Honda (kept to 235k, replaced by a 2010 Prius), and a 1997 Subaru (kept to 175k). The Subie actually did have a major problem 800 miles from home, but it delayed the return trip only about 8 hours thanks to our host's favorite shop. An additional problem as it got home, stacked atop some deferred issues, led to its replacement.

That Honda later reappeared with a young kid six blocks away. When I last saw it, as he was leaving the neighborhood and moving to Seattle proper, it had 310k. Much worse for the wear, but still kicking.

Mine has only 100k right now. But since the EGR circuit was cleaned a year ago, I have no thoughts of putting it on a short leash. It was scheduled to make a cross-continent trip this past autumn (with an extension to Halifax, 3200-3750 miles one way, depending on route), but that became a victim of the pandemic. We are still hoping for this coming autumn.

 

On the bright side, that nervousness has probably helped alot of manipulative car salesman make their sales quota over the years...

 

Well, after about the fourth drink I try to keep under 20 miles or so.

 

with about 166k on the 05 .. i dont really want to venture 50 miles away .. if more then i need to know of service places that are open just incase .. -- i got dash board lights abs and 'brake' ..so really less than 25miles is even better for the peace of mind ...

 

With 239k on mine (27k on engine swap), and a newer hybrid battery swap, I would take mine anywhere. I let my parents take it on a 7 hour road trip only 500 miles after I did the engine swap. Granted, I knew that if anything happened I would likely have to go recover the car, but the car rewarded us with 50+ mpg and no issues.

 

i did an engine swap when car had ~100k .. supposedly the engine was 1 yr newer and only had 60k miles on it .. had an incindence of hydrolock ..

what happened to your engine ?

 

Blown head gasket. Tossed #1 rod out the front and back of the block. Broke the #1 piston into multiple pieces. I never found the wrist pin.

 

If it is well maintained and no current issues, why not? Are you willing to take any disruptions in stride? If you feel comfortable driving without a spare tire, then I'm guessing your comfort level is fine for these trips. If you are sure to pack a spare in the back at all times, then likely not. [Full disclosure-- I did a 13,000 mile PA-AK-PA trip without a spare.]

 

good advice ... not only should have a spare hbut also a can of 'fix aflat' or 'green slime' ...
comfort level is not high with the gen 2 prius after 125k -- aux batteries die without warning .. abs pmups go (with warning but it is subtle) ... and traction batteries go with also subtle warning

 

Unfortunately, you are correct about the warnings for the majority of owners. If you are more of a "car" person and are a bit more in-tune with your vehicle(s), the majority of these failures advertise themselves for weeks or months prior to complete failure. I say 'majority' because the is always a chance of sudden catastrophic failure (like an inverter water cooling pump failing and blowing the AM2 fuse). Or the owner can be like many I know and be completely oblivious to all indications. Get in car. Brain goes blank. Turn on car and radio. Drive. Park. Get out. Brain may or may not go into gear. Repeat as required.

12v battery: All our family vehicles have the 12v battery CCA checked ~monthly using a digital battery tester. It's easy to see when one is getting weak and is heading for replacement. I'd recommend this for everyone, whether you have one car or a fleet. A $100 tester can save a lot of heartache and allow time to plan for replacements or time sales for the best deals.

ABS Pump: These advertise themselves via how often they cycle when the brakes aren't being used. I currently have two Gen2s (a 2005 and a 2008) that finally have ABS codes and the cycle time is around 9 seconds due to leakage. All the rest of our gen 2s will make you die of boredom waiting for the ABS pump to cycle.

HV Battery: look at the SOC display every morning and compare it to what it displayed the last time you parked the car. If it's significantly lower (like 2 purple bars) you are starting to show early/mid stages of failure. If you SOC display has pretty wide range swings in a very short period of time, same thing, because that is caused by a weak/low capacity module showing a low SOC and then that same module charging up it's voltage very quickly due to being low capacity.

Inverter cooling water pump: Test it every now and then. Failure doesn't always blow the AM2 fuse. Failure doesn't always cause overheating if you don't drive high speeds, but it will bite you once you take the car on a longer, highway type trip. With foot off the brake, press the power button 2x to put the car in IG-ON mode, where the ICWS should run but the car engine will not start. Listen for the hum of the pump or verify it at the pump motor or verify ripples in the reservoir. No hum or no ripples=need new pump. This could also be considered as a regular maintenance item and be replaced every 60-80k miles.

Throwing a rod: Well, sometimes crap happens, but usually this is due to a loss of lubrication or excessive high rpms. All you can do here is maintain the engine as recommended by Toyota, and check oil level weekly. Sometimes failures happen.

Inverter failure: Sometimes this is preceded by days/weeks/months of abnormal or excessively loud high pitched whining noise from the inverter. Many inverters make high pitched hums, so it's important to know what normal is for your car. Sometimes preceded by random over temperature warnings (see ICWS pump)

 

I bought a 1989 Toyota Corolla All-trac wagon (and you thought the Prius was gutless) and in 2000 I drove from Winnemucca NV to Lakeview OR and for 140 miles I never passed a home or business. And it hit me, I need a newer car to be crossing this desert with my 15 year old.
You need to think about where you drive, how many days would it be before they found you?

https://goo.gl/maps/ephX3q4bkZemEDSq7

At one point you can see Denio NV in the distance, but you never get there, you do pass toilets in a Wildlife Preserve.

 

This has a LOT of weight in the equation.

Where are you going?
How far are you going out of the way of civilization?
Do you have time to absorb a breakdown if it occurred?
Who is going with you?

I feel comfortable doing a road trip with any of my daily driver cars.
Confident, but not quite so comfortable, if I had a wife and child with me.
One of the things we did when wife became pregnant was to purchase a new vehicle (of her choice, mostly) to minimize the chance of her and baby ever having a car problem when away from the house (and giving me peace of mind). Worked out perfectly. That car went back to the dealer a week after we bought to replace the homelink mirror, and then never saw a 'repair' dealer again. Sold it a couple months ago with 200k+ miles on it, and needing the power steering pump replaced.

 

I keep cars for a long time. If I were afraid to go on a long trip with one, I would get rid of it. When I get a new car, I usually will either sell my old one privately as long as I am still confident that it can do a long trip or trade it in (so that it will be wholesale auctioned - buyer beware). I do check when my Prius is due for an oil change before going on a trip as doing an oil change at an unproven shop is a risk.

JeffD

 

I was confidently road-tripping in my Gen 1 at 15 years and 23x,xxx miles, and now in my Gen 3 (or would be, but for COVID) at 11 years and 15x,xxx.

I typically buy used, so for me there may be a little greater concern early on, while I'm still confirming the overall condition of the car and that the previous owner hasn't done too many dumb things. After it's been longer in my hands and I've personally been into most of the major systems and know their condition, my confidence generally goes up.

It helps to address small issues when they arise. I don't get used to warning lights on the dash, I find out what they are warning of and fix it. If one starts getting used to driving around with warnings on, confidence properly takes a nose dive. In part, that's because even if you looked up the condition being warned about and decided "I'll just live with that", you will be ignoring any later conditions that would be warned of by the same lights.

Even when I've bought new, the confidence curve for me has basically had the same shape; I trust the car more after I've developed first-hand knowledge of its condition. The shakedown period might even be a little longer, as I might not be personally wrenching on a new car as much in its first few years.

You never know what might disrupt a long road trip. I had a metal hook in the road lengthen my itinerary by about a day one time, because I was traveling on a holiday weekend and couldn't buy a tire until a shop opened. The donut spare is ok for limited driving, but certainly not for completing a 600 mile trip.

 

So when I took this picture, I was on a short route out of Lakeview;

This was pointing towards Burns. And the sign was replaced sometime between Streetview's visit (Oct 2009) and when I passed by (May 2012).

 

Easy peasy, the taxi that was put on a pedestal surpassed a million mile should tell us all turd gens can get to a million also. People come here saying theyre looking for a prius after the pedestal read.