I've lurked here for a while, but never posted. After 236K miles of problem free driving, my 1st Gen Prius (2001) finally died three days ago. While coasting on the freeway, all the warning lights lit up (including the "Brake" light) and my Prius began to lose power. I managed to limp out of the freeway and shut it down. When I re-started it, it seemed to regain power, but only for a short while. Long story short, I took it to the dealer and they said the battery pack was shot and the ECU had to be replaced. They wanted $6000 to do this. With a tear in my eye, I walked over to the show room and picked up a new '08 Prius. My family has owned several new cars, but we have never been as attached to one car as we were to the old Prius. My 8 year old cried for about an hour because he did not want to let it go, that is until he got inside the new Prius Over the lifetime of the Prius, it was only in the dealer for service once for a noisy rack & pinion. I commute 70 miles from the high desert (3000' Elev.) to the ocean. My average was 46MPG in the winer and 47.5MPG in the summer. I did all my own maintenance. Just thought I'd share. Ed
Thank you for sharing, Ed. I'm sorry to hear about the passing of your '01... We had a Dodge Spirit that was totalled... that also caused tears... it was a good car. Great news that you got a new '08! Naturally, we'll want to see photos of the new one! :thumb:
Did you already trade in/ditch the '01? Sometimes these "replace the battery and ECU" diagnoses are actually wrong and all that's necessary is a cleaning of the throttle body.... a DIY job. Certainly with that many miles it's possible that the diagnosis is accurate, but it's usually a good idea to check here before taking the dealer's word.
The throttle body? You're not making it any easier on me . [goes to his auto butt kicker and pulls on the string] No, I didn't know about that. With the kind of mileage it had, though, I'm sure the batteries were not in the best of shape.
Only with a Toyota would anybody imagine that a car with 236,000 miles might have some useful life left in it. Still, sorry your car died. Congrats on the new '08 Prius.
So sorry and congratulations! Welcome to PriusChat in the open, edvalencia. With over 200K miles, it was time for a new Prius anyway. You know we like details here: what color, what package?
Welcome out of the shadows edvalencia. Don't just want pics of the new car, I'd love to see a pic or 2 of the olde girl especially if you have any of her just before her sad demise.
Thanks everyone. I'll try to get pictures up this weekend. Tho old girl was white. Can't remember the package. I just remember putting the downpayment on it, then having to wait the longest 3 months of my life until they delivered it. It did not have the NAV, but it did have a CD player, along with a tape player. I could never figure out why such a high tech car would have a tape player :noidea:.
i'd say you likely got your money's worth out of that one- now work on getting your money's worth out of the new one our latest "investment vehicle" [sorry, bad pun] is a camry with 220k on it. the engine is *so* beautiful inside. DH is doing a little gasket work and some other maintenance, and selling for ~$5k. and we've had camrys with far higher mileage than that!
Here are two photos of the old Prius. That sad looking boy is my son, who literally cried for an hour because he did not want to let go of the old Prius. He asked me to take a picture of him with the Prius so that he can remember it.
