Gen II Prius Most reliable car report

So what makes this report reliable?

Tom

 

I'm proud of owning one. Gen.2. :cheer2:
Thank you.

 

The Porsche 911 is a supercar? lol. That's like saying a Maserati is a supercar.

 

Assuming statistically Prius is few in defects, then on average the repair bill is low. However for the unlucky few that do encounter problems like inverter or transaxle or HV battery failure outside of warranty, they will still be facing mulit thousand dollar repair bills and may wonder why they didn't get a Camry instead.

 

The Prius has a great advantage in these inspections: minimal brake pad and rotor wear. These statistics are more an indirect measure of "reliability" however, since this is a study of safety defects in running cars. We all know how undriveable the Prius can get when there is any kind of a problem. I personally have found my 04 RAV (#9 on the TUV list) to have fewer problems than my 05 Prius.

 

Yes the repair bill is high. But this isn't a shocker to anyone with a modern car. You buy a petrol-only Make X Model Y and when someone just looks at it the wrong way, you are out over $1000. The "maintenance" on each of the RX's we have is between $1200 to $1600 each time, and nothing is actually broken. It is just what the book says to do.

But even if your transaxle or HV battery fail, you are looking at a bill between $800 and $3500 depending on who does what and how. If we assume a $3500 bill for just towing it to a dealer and saying "make it move again", then there is no difference then a different car whose transmission dies or engine blows and needs replacing. You can get the parts for $800 to $1500, and double that for installation.

It is not that a hybrid is more expensive to maintain and repair than other cars, it is that all modern cars are more expensive to maintain and repair than their older counterparts. Since the Prius has only been around in its "popular" NHW20 form since 2004 that's what most people consider the start of hybrids. (I am not stupid, I know they have been around for many decades, and the prius since mid 90's but I am talking general public where this misinformation is created and passed around) So you have a car that is 8 years old at most being compared with maintaining cars from the pre-OBDII era which you could literally repair with bubble gum, duct tape and the belt holding your pants up. It is a completely different ballgame, and if you take your diesel F-9million Quad cab thing into the shop because of a bad transmission or if the diesel emmision system collapsed, you are again looking at a multi-thousand dollar repair bill.

There are many more areas than that in terms of reliability, like the omission of a transmission in the standard sense or torque converter or really user-input. When users get to decide or tinker with their cars all hell breaks loose. "Oh I can improve acceleration and HP by drilling a hole in these pipes? Well lets do that then!" When the piston chambers fill with dirt that's a user-made error. These people staring a Prius will just give up. You need an EE/CE degree to mod the Prius.

I don't understand your point. When there "is any kind of problem", there is a problem. Are you saying that unlike my 80's sport car that allows me to drive on with an overheated engine, missing alternator, and a literally burning and melting electrical system the Prius does not so it is worse? If the Prius detects a problem it goes into "danger will robinson" mode and protects itself. Instead of many other cars that say "hey something really bad is happening here, you may want to stop" and then people keep on driving until a rod shoots through their engine bay. and their transmission falls off in little pieces.

Obviously this is in general as all statistics are and your 05 may very well be less reliable than your rav4. But the majority of people (including me) would say the Prius is more reliable. And we have an 03 Rav4 too.

 

Ah ha! The difference between 1AZ and 2AZ is like apples and oranges. No wonder you like the Prius better.