Railroadrider

I am the original owner. Car was purchased in March of 2006. My late wife liked the car so much that she confiscated it from me that May. Told me to go get the Honda Insight I had been eyeing for a couple years. Drove that for almost 7 years, put 96k miles on it averaging 63 mpg. It was too impractical to keep as our only vehicle after I retired in 2013. The Prius had 50K at that juncture. On 5 June it rolled over 170K, on 6 June the "red triangle of death" illuminated, four days before we were to begin a 4,000 mile trip. Glad it didn't happen on the trip out in the middle of ND or somewhere. After much gnashing of teeth I dropped it off at the dealership in Missoula and we took my new wife's 2014 CRV. FWIW, they charged me $3400. I'm hoping that newer battery technology will increase my mileage. Up until now I've averaged 44.2 mpg, calculated the old school way, on pen and paper. That includes 3400 miles pulling a 1500 lb. trailer and motorcycle. That trip I averaged 24 mpg. I installed a tachometer several years ago and, because I was asking an awful lot of this little car, I kept the rpms no higher than 4000. Got pretty slow going over a couple passes but we made it. My goal is to run it until the wheels fall off. I figure, barring a catastrophe, I ought to get AT LEAST 300k out of it. Other than the usual expendables the hybrid battery is only the fourth expenditure. The 12 volt battery went in 2010, the water pump developed a leak in 2016 and the left half shaft started leaking in 2018.