About a month ago, I became a Prius owner and has been very happy about it. It's a single owner car (2006 Prius) with package #8 and had around 118K miles on it. The previous owner was gracious enough to add new tires and asked for $9500 which I think was a very fair price in Northern California. The previous owner sold this as he got a new PIP. Recently took the car for 120K service at Luscious Garage in SFO and Carolyn had good words about the car and mentioned couple of things about the front breaks (at 30%), dark brake fluid and possibility of crack in the accessory belt and advised to do those next time. She even mentioned that inverter water pump looks original and asked to do that over at the dealer for free. For the first few weeks I averaged around 42-44 mpg and lately have been getting around 48 mpg consistently. With little more practice, hopefully I should be able to touch 50 mpg, which will be amazing. Yesterday I crossed 120K miles and hope to cross 200K some day with this one. Fingers crossed. Just wanted to say hi and thanks for every one who shared information on this site. It was very helpful in my decision making and maintenance and improvement. And kudos for the site owner too.
SR13, Congratulation to be a Prius Owner! It is funny that 2 years ago, I bought a 2004 (2 years older than your 2006) also at around 110K miles, with similar package. I wish my good experience in past 2 years will mirror yours in next two years. Currently I am at 163K miles. I only changed oil at 8K miles interval, a 12V battery and transmission fluid. I did change spark plug and serpentine belt for preventative move. Nothing gets wrong, I drive them every weekday and weekends. My plan is to drive it another 5 years or so until it hits 250K mark. Toyota cars are very reliable, as long as you keep good maintenance. BTW, the maintenance cost of Prius is very very low. I am at $1/100 mile level. I also have a Lexus LS400 1998. At 180K miles, it still drives like new. Other than driver seat, most interior material still looks very good. Even the body paint is still shining. It is unbelievably good in my view. I am very confident to drive it another 5 years with little trouble.
Thanks for the welcome and feedback. Allen, Stories like yours (and others on PriusChat) gives a lot of positive vibe for new owners like me. I am glad Transmission fluid was changed in my car around 60k once (by previous owner) and I also did around 120k recently. Hope it helps the longevity. Getting stoked about the possibility of battery dying, as it opens up the option of making it a PIP.
Looks like I am on my way to post my max mpg this time. Currently at 51.9 mpg so far after 232 miles and plenty of gas still left in the tank. It's an understatement if I say the hypermilling techniques posted on PC helped a lot. Thanks guys and keep on rocking. I bought a SGII (already on the way) and that should also help going forward.
Welcome and congratulations on the nice mpg's. I am closing in on 100k soon and I will be changing some fluids and getting a few things looked at good.
Welcome to PC and I hope you enjoy the new/used ride. If you keep the A/C off or down to a minimum of usage, and keep the tires aired up, you should see even better mileage than what you are experiencing now. Good luck and welcome once again!
Your car should be fine. I just sold my 2008 Prius last month with 160k miles for $9k. The guy who bought my car has a 2001 Prius with 280k miles on it and still running on its original battery.
I am able to increase the mpg to 52.5 now on the same tank of gas. I could have posted much higher mpg if not for a short drive (around 2 miles) to daycare everyday morning. From a cold start, I have to go uphill (can't get past 15-30 mpg) and downhill its hard to beat (5) traffic lights because of morning rush. In the past 2 months, I have beaten the lights only twice. The only downside of hypermiling is when my wife starts to count the number of cars that drove past us :-( she absolutely hates that I am driving just the posted traffic speed or sometimes (5 miles) below the posted limit. Thanks to Luscious Garage, I replaced the inverter water pump of my prius at the dealer for free. Some lady was cursing at the dealer (in shuttle while dropping off) as she came for oil change but was given $1300+ bill. I wish more people will come to this site and learn about their cars and about Luscious Garage.
SR, I know the feeling all too well. My wife does similar things whenever I am trying to squeeze the mpg on her Prius. She starts rocking forward and backwards in the passenger seat imitating her little sister. Her little sister always does that to let you know to go faster. Since I pay for the fuel, and upkeep on her car, and since I am the primary driver I try to keep everyone happy while still trying to get good mpg. Just out of curiousity, do you use the A/C a lot or sparingly. The climate down here in Texas is a little warmer than where you are, so A/C is on quite a bit of the time unless I am alone and it is at night. Ron (dorunron)
I would say sparingly. If my daughter is driving with me then we use more often otherwise not so much. I live in bay area and somehow people tend to be very impatient on local roads. No one drives around 45 mph where posted limit is 45. Most people drive around 50 mph and if I drive around 41 mph then I stood out clearly. Sometimes, I have to roll with traffic.
Hi SR, Thanks for the update. I do note a little bit of a mpg hit with the A/C, that is why I mentioned it. I am still getting used to our prius too, and I finally got fuelly.com incorporated with PC. I will say this with out a doubt, if you set for long periods of time with the A/C running on a blazing hot 100 degree F. Texas day, it literally kills the mpg. My worst number is 28, but that was sitting in parking lots for long periods of time in ready mode and A/C set on AUTO 72... Yeah, I know 78 is more economical, but I am like some of the guys on here who sweats bullets Texas drivers are the same or worse than what you describe. Speed limit 40, drive 45-50, limit 65, drive 70+ Thanks again for the update and the reply, and welcome once again to PC! Ron (dorunron)
Guys, I know how excited you are on higher mpg everyday, or be sad when it goes down. I've been there and I am with you. But after 2 years of ownership with my Prius, I finally treat it as a regular car. Running through the number, you will know that pushing the mpg limit does not worth the inconvenience, not to mention the fight with your wife. By simply driving a Prius, we've saved the Lion's share of the fuel. Increase mpg another 10% is not make much difference in absolute $ term. I roughly drive 30K/year, that's 660 gal of fuel at 45 mpg. 10% of that is only 60 gal, or $200. Plus, our time also worth a couple of gallons per hour But anyway, when I am not in a hurry, and no one is complaining, I still occasionally hypermilling a little bit, just for fun. Happy driving!
