how many miles on your Prius? Problems?

Owned 2 months, put on 6700 miles, did 2 oil changes.

Not 1 problem.

 

Roughly 2,875 miles. I believe this problem has been commented on before: The front door of my apartment won't open when I walk up to it even though I have my apartment keys in my pocket. The Prius has led me to expect doors to open for me. There should be a big bright offensive sign stuck to the sun shade with permanent glue, warning me that the door of my apartment won't open for me automatically.

 

Haha, tell me about it. My mailbox still refuses to do anything as I stand in front of it. I try telling the neighbors it's not my fault, it's the mailbox! They just avoid me now, though.

And why, after almost 6000 miles, do I still occasionally try to take the non existant key out of the non existant ignition? Old habits die hard, I guess.

-m.

 

I just filled up 9.7 gals. = to 50 miles a gal. the first time I have broke the 50 mile barrier. I have 1820 miles on atootie. I took delivery on March 11, 2004

 

'04 pkg 3 Prius received with 3800 miles on it (started life as a TRAC car) Between driving it back from Minnesota to Idaho and a side trip to Oregon, now has 8700 miles on it. No troubles to speak of.

Jon

 

A little after I hit the 12K mile mark, a rock cracked up my windshield and now it will have to be replaced completely. Other than that I have had no problems and am in love with the car.

~Andrew

 

Hey everyone,
I am almost at 13,000, (I do a lot of driving). I have had my car since late Nov. and love it. I was getting about 40mpg with four snow tires, and now am getting between 45 and 55. I am still working on my technique. As far as problems, I have only had two, The first is a mystery, and the second is my fault.

First, I live in NH, and we had a cold winter at times. On the coldest day (so cold school was canceled because they couldn't start the buses), my girlfriend drove my car to her work (about a mile away). I usually drive in stealth mode for the last 5- 10 min of my commute home (longer to work). And my commute is about twenty minutes highway with five city on either end. She doesn't have this. So, she takes it to work, and it was fine. She gets in and turns it on to come home and the big problem light is on, I call tech support (incidental it was a bit of an ordeal, I recommend you try it before you are stranded so you know what to expect), they couldn't help but said if the car ran it would be fine. So I told her to drive it home, and the ICE was barely running on two cylinders. She pulls into the driveway, and it dies. I call our local shop, and support again, and they tow it to the dealer. They cleaned the plugs, and charged the battery a bit and it has been fine ever since.

I think what happened is that I drained the battery when I drove home the day before, the cold air took care of most of the rest. The drive to her work almost finished it off because it didn't have time to recharge. So in the afternoon when she went to back up it just couldn't take it. I think it couldn't figure out whether to recharge the battery, or drive the car (the prius ICE doesn't have a reverse gear, we rely on the electric motor). I have been all over New England in it, even colder than that day which was about -35F plus a 40-50 mile an hour wind and have had no problems since.

Second, I was the guy who ran out of gas. For those of you newbies reading this wanting to know, YOUR TANK MAY HAVE ONLY TEN GALLONS MAX. I know it can have more, but that day it didn't. It was in the middle of a snow storm, and I knew I could make it home with a bit to spare if the gages were correct, and all of the sudden the car seems to stall, and the problem light comes up again. So, I put my hazards on, slowed down to 30 (I was on the Interstate) and drove on the electric to the gas station. TOYOTA DOESN'T RECOMMEND THIS, and I watched my power meter the whole time, I figured that when the battery got below two pixels I would pull over and admit stupidity, but it never did. It did drain fast, but I was able to use the riling hills in new england to my advantage, and actually gained a few pixels I had lost before completing the 5 miles to the next gas station. I called the shop, and they said that it was fine. I am not doing that again.

I apologize for my long winded post. Thank you all for the great board.
Leko

 

Sumpin' sounds wrong: the ICE is supposed to run whenever it's temperature is too low or whenever the battery needs charging, no matter what you're doing. It wasn't driven in reverse for more than few hundred feet, right?

 

Renton/Port Townsend, Wa area. Tideland BC wife's car.

!st fill up 462 mi - 9.5 gal for a 48.6 mpg.

 

I took delivery mid January and I'll be cruising past the 10K mark this week. I've done 2 oil changes and a tire rotation. The only potential problem I've seen so far is predictable in that I wouldn't want to try crossing the Rockies in my Prius. I was watching the battery indicator during a recent drive along Rte 33 in VA accross the much smaller Appalachians and by the time I crested the top it was showing 2 bars and the car seemed to have a little trouble mainting the speed limit. I'm not really complaining since the car definitely performed better than previous 4 cylinder cars I've driven. There's nothing like torque for motoring through the mountains.

 

Two problems since new. At about 2000 miles I got a warning light and car wouldn't run right---posted on this board somewhere. Disconnected battery, cleared code and problem hasn't returned. Just noticed right rear shock is wet with oil (shaft seal leaking). It is getting replaced. Total milage 5225, two oil changes and a tire rotation. Nothing is perfect but for a car, this is as close to perfection that I can find. Really pleased with the entire vehicle.

 

Only have one weird issue with the audio system. Every CD I put in plays the White Album and every radio station continuously plays #9, strange. :mrgreen:

 

I've had my car since the beginning of February. 9200 miles as of today. I took it to San Francisco yesterday, and I can honestly say that I've never driven a car in that city that performed as well as the Prius. Plenty of power getting up the hills, and the brakes were great on the down hill stretches.
No problems so far.

 

2003 Prius - 22,000 miles - zero problems. Lifetime mpg - 46.5
2004 Prius - 6500 miles - zero problems. Lifetime mpg 51.2

Love both cars! Hope they both stay healthy!

 

Don't worry about crossing the Rockies! I've made three round trips on I-70 so far. Yes, you will draw the battery down all the way, but the Prius still does 65-70 mph and is keeping up with traffic just fine on the ICE alone. And the battery draw-down is only for fairly short 10-15 minute sections. And the best part is I've been getting 46-48 mpg on my trips. My only grip is that the seats start to get a little uncomfortable after 3 hours. I've got 7500 miles so far. The only problems have been a rock chip in the windshield (fixed with injectable polymer) and the recall for reprogramming. I've really loved the car.