Theoretically how long will the Prius last?

l-o-n-g commute!

Super-Commuter & high mile thread | PriusChat

 

Long commute. Somewhere around 220-225 miles round trip, 5 days per week, almost all highway.

 

So when my 2010 was sold off, it sold for what was essentially scrap. Dealer was willing to give $750 to send it away for auction. It had 257,000 miles on it. It was beginning to have some misfires on two of the plugs which was causing some sluggishness and some rumbling in the engine at idle. But the original OEM battery was still within spec. As for other issues on the car. Due to some unintended off roading, the car had three different front bumpers. Due to the miles, the car was on it's second set of brakes and fourth set of tires. I also replaced both of the back hubs due to some unintended bearing damage when I forcibly removed the rotors during the break change. But otherwise, there was no other mechanical repairs across all those miles. AC was still well intact, interior showed normal wear for that many miles, and otherwise the car worked fine. No rust, and what rock chips there were didn't cause any kind of major paint failure. There were no other failures or mechanical issues or repairs. Cleaning up the firing issue, the car could easily go to 300K and probably more.

 

This car probably was worth only $750 as the misfire probably was from a bad head gasket. So a car that need a new engine with 257000 miles won't be worth much

If you sold it on your own, you might have gotten $1500, but a dealer won't offer that

 

They are routinely listed on Consumer Reports as not only the most reliable vehicles but also best cars for used cars as well. With the hybrid system, it is lessening the wear & tear on many of the drive train parts that go out much faster on a traditional gas vehicle. An example being the brakes. My wife's prius has nearly 80k miles and is a 2013 still on original brakes. My dealership tells me she should be fine until 100k miles. Outrageous performance.

 

Considering the state of affairs of our species, I think my new Prius 2 is going to outlast us...

 

Here's a 2016 with 140K miles and no issues. (except now the 12 volt battery)

12 Volt for 16 Prius 2 | Page 3 | PriusChat

 

There's a couple of threaded holes on the rotors, for M8x1.25 bolts. Get yourself a couple, at least an inch long (fully threaded, obviously), for next time. This is common too, Honda has the same, on all their brake rotors and drums.

You just screw them in, a little at a time, back and forth, until it pops. The holes may be rusted up, just take your time, "chase" the threads with the bolt, go in as far as it'll go easy, then back it it out, blow out the dust, and repeat. Eventually you'll get the bolt clear through, and can start pushing against the backing plate, which is the prying action.

 

I had my Gen 2 for 12 years and never replaced the brakes. The 12v battery went out at 9 years. But I didn't drive much. Less than 80,000 miles when I totaled the car in an accident. I'd still be driving it if that hadn't happened.

Posted via the PriusChat mobile app.

 

We have a 2010 (picked up in August 09) and it has 133K on it. It is now my sons first car as my wife got a 2018. I fully expect the 2010 to see well north of 200K. He will be off to college in a bit over a year and since most places won't let freshmen have cars, it may be my winter car!

 

Funny: we picked our 2010 in November, 2010, but it's build date was August 2009. All dust/neglected, with maybe 15 kms on the odometer: it's been champion so far. Just waxed it a couple of days back, and spring oil change yesterday.

How was the transition to 2018, are you hurting, or loving it?

 

Let's ignore the Prius for a moment.

In 1989 I bought a Toyota Corolla All-Trac station wagon.
I was traveling between Winnemuca NV and Lakeview OR in 2000 and ran into a 140 mile stretch where I never passed a house or business. it suddenly hit me I needed a newer car.
I gave the 1989 Corolla to my daughter in Washington and bought a AWD 2001 Subaru Forester.
In 2009 my wife decided I was spending too much on gas and needed a Prius, so I bought one and gave my daugther the Subaru.
I drove the Corolla to a young lady with 4 children under 6 years old when her husband left her. It is not ideal for her as it does not hold all her children, but as it snows 10 months a year, there are times she needs the AWD.

So a daily driver from 1989 to 2009, then a winter car from 2009 to now. Not a bad lifetime. Front wheel bearing, oil and filters, tires.

Back to the Prius. If you were ready to replace the HV Battery about every 12 years, and did routine maintenance, and tires. I see no reason it would last less well.

The first Gen Prius in the US (2001 to 2003) had some battery corrosion issues fixed in Gen 2 (2004 to 2009) Gen 3 seems to have occasional Head gasket issues. Gen 4 is too new to have any identified issues.

 

Were those the squarish hatch-back Corolla's?

I tend to like vehicles that are different. I always liked those.

I think if I had one, I would of driven it through the apocalypse and beyond. They just looked like those type of cars.

Your story reminded me of a time when I was a little kid, when my Dad made an ill advised winter trip up to a snowed in Mountain Lake.
It was just him and myself in a Toyota Tercel, on closed isolated roads, with snow drifts that were humongous. When we finally made it back to relative civilization, my Dad had to get out of the car and move a barrier then put it back, that warned incoming cars that the road was closed.

But the Tercel got us home. It was however scary, and I think my Dad was scared too....but credit that light, front wheel drive Tercel. It made it through conditions I think would of made a 4 wheel drive vehicle blink.

 

Stock Photo



The roof line, window height, base, and angle, and width of car do not match the rest of the vehicle

 

Maybe, I'm thinking of a smaller Tercel version.
Those were odd looking but IMO kind of cool.

I've always like..."odd" or different looking vehicles.

That's why the "public" criticism of the Gen 2 Prius looks never bothered me.
I liked and still do like, the utilitarian, door stop shape of Gen 2 and Gen 3 Prius.

 

I liked the look of those Tercels with the pure glass hatch, vaguely recall that's what I took driver training in (I was a late automotive bloomer).

 

Tercell AWD wagon stock photo

 

Hey, the "bank machine" hatch.

 

Yep, there she is in all her automotive glory.
What can you say about that design?

When one of the styling ques, seems to be extending the black rubber bumper look, all around the body, well I think all you can do is stand back and applaud.

In the never ending debate between form and function, those Tercels never got the memo. The windows look like they were scavenged from a finished Habitat for Humanity home building project.

Plus is that the largest rear window wiper ever on a vehicle?

But seriously, I can't even say why, but I always did like those Tercels.

There was an unashamed utilitarian look to them. They were going to get from point A to B. And you could go camping with them, and any criticisms about them could be stuffed in the suggestion box slot conveniently attached below the 2 pane rear window.

Toyota needs to do a retro-flashback version of these.

 

Saw one these yesterday:



'79~'93 Mustang, the bumper car.