I just came back to PriusChat after a long time away to post something on this thread about my catalytic converter being stolen, and I thought it would be interesting to give a summary of the past 12 years with my car. Mine is a rare "base" model that I bought in April of 2008 for $21,000 using Toyota's "College Grad Rebate," just before prices spiked with $4+ gasoline that summer. It was the first car I ever owned. Since that time, I've driven 124,000 miles through 30 American states and the Republic of Korea, and I've shipped it across the Pacific ocean 3 times. For 25% of our 10-year marriage, my wife and I have shared the Prius as our only car. I was a single dude when I bought the Prius, and for a few days last summer when our minivan was unavailable, we actually had 3 car seats installed across the back row! It has been rear-ended 2 times, causing $1,500 of damage. It's on the 3rd set of tires and 3rd 12v battery. The traction battery still seems strong. The original brake pads are still good. Not counting the replacement catalytic converter, the only unplanned maintenance has been $420 for a coolant control valve (111,000 miles), $580 for an engine coil and spark plugs (116,000 miles), and $80 for an oil drain plug and gasket (122,000 miles). I still get 50 MPG and I still love the car!
My bought new in 07 at now 155,000 has had tires X3, struts front and rear, inverter coolant pump on a tsb, new water pump belt, sparkplugs, all 4 cops, new pcv hoses, new valve cover gasket, new cabin fan motor, 2 new window washer motors, cigarette lighter socketX2 don't smoke radar detector in/out kills them, new radio, new front speakers, 12 volt battery X2, new combo. Nothing major or expensive whatsoever. Bought Prolong 3 years ago battery doing well.. Lots of wipers-oil changes--filters-trans fluid-coolant-inverter coolant changes. Probably $6000 all in including Prolong not counting fuel divided by 156 months of ownership is $38 a month maintenance. Great car.
$80 for an oil drain plug and gasket....that include the oil change, I hope? Interesting no transaxle fluid change out.... Good news. I am probably missing something, but my '08 at 127k: 1) Hubby "borrowed" two-week old Prius (BRAND NEW CAR) while I was gone on a business trip and ran the front corner into a tree -- $900 repair-- included replacement of entire headlamp unit and side markers (and that is why he seldom touched the Prius again). Body shop 2)Five sets of tire (I drive a lot of gravel) 3) One passenger side sideview mirror $165 DIY 4) One driver side sideview mirror $165 DIY 5) One drive side tweeter speaker & grille $9 DIY 6) One water pump $430 -- Dealer 7) The inverter recall 8) Two Transaxle fluid changes ?? 9) One 12v battery $195 DIY 10) Spark plugs $ ?? 11) TWO change outs of the passenger side headlamp, within a year of each other. $20 DIY 12) Numerous "glue downs" of the plastic panel on the underside passenger side of the car $8 DIY 13) Goop fix of the water leak into the hatch $4 DIY 14) Hatch open and close latch $65 -- DIY 15) Replace reverse lights with LED $11 DIY Around $2200, more or less, not including tires.
Yes, the $80 included the oil, which I count as unplanned because it had mostly leaked out well before I was due for another oil change. And I did change the transaxle fluid at 97,000 miles, but that was planned based on what I read on this forum. Same with the recalls. Same with a serpentine belt. "Unplanned" is when I am inconvenienced and must unexpectedly get something fixed before I can continue driving the car
Oh, I just remembered that I also replaced the rubber hatchback button/handle when the original basically melted. That was DIY for maybe $20. And I replaced both key fob shells after those buttons started to disintegrate, $10 each DIY. And one tail light for another $10.
