Hello all, I have a 2010 Prius which I bought new with 130K miles. In future I am not expecting to do as many miles per year as before so it would probably take me more thananother 10 years or more to get to the legendary 250K. I found a lot of threads about high mileage but not much about lower mileage cars that are up to 20 years old. I’d be interested in posters opinions on whether the car is likely to “fall apart” in some way purely from age before the mileage gets me. I have full Toyota service history and so far never had any issues with the car.
I'd imagine you should budget for an HV battery replacement at some point (by then, I'd imagine it'll be age rather than mileage that'll wear it out). Or maybe you'll be lucky and it'll last 20 years. Definitely keep in an eye out on the EGR and head gaskets. Most here recommend an oil catch can and an EGR cleaning to extend the life of your engine.
Usually an accident will take it out of service before it lives its full life. But on the other hand with maintenance and regular parts replacement such as HV battery, tires, shocks, other stuff, frame repair etc it could last forever and a day. It depends on how much monero you are willing to put into it to get it road ready again. There are lots of "antique" autos that are still on the road and daily drivers.
In my experience (some with other makes and models), repair parts availability becomes a rapidly intensifying headache as the 20-year mark approaches. To get an idea, you could head over to parts.toyota.com and browse through random parts categories for the Gen 1 Prius (now 19 to 21 years old) and see how many of those parts are shown as NLA. That's especially painful for Gen 1 because there were only around 52,000 ever made (if I remember right), so it's not as if parts are plentiful in salvage yards either. Later generations were made in much larger numbers, so the salvage picture isn't as bad. Still, when things reach the point where every repair project calls for a parts-sourcing expedition, that can get kind of exhausting.
130k on the odometer, definitely time to clean the EGR cooler and valve, and the intake manifold. Start changing the oil at 5k intervals instead of the factory allowable 10k intervals because the 2010 has piston rings known to seize up with carbon from the oil and soot introduced into the combustion chambers. Something the EGR cooler/valve, and intake manifold cleaning and installation of an oil catch can can help with moving forward. If the spark plugs are original, then it's due for a fresh set, as well as a drain and fill of the engine coolant. Posted via the PriusChat mobile app.
The common fails are the hybrid battery sometime from 150k-200k miles and gen3 specific issues like brake boosters, inverters and head gaskets. Many start burning a lot of oil in the same time frame. Then egrs clog up, intake manifold fill with oil and the heads get seriously carboned up. Assuming you don't have corrosion issues at your location, the rest of the car will look and drive fine which makes each issue seem like it is worth repair. Until you look back and realize you have had each by 250k miles. The reality is the car does not simply fall apart. However we are no longer just nickel and dimed* by repairs; these days it is often several grand ** each time. * transitive verb. 1 : to impair, weaken, or defeat piecemeal ** countable noun. 2 : a grand is a thousand dollars or a thousand pounds
it depends on how you want to define it. it will last as long as you are willing to pay for repairs, but everyone has different risk aversion. you may go another 10/120 without major issues, but more likely you will need a battery at some point, maybe an engine and brake actuator. possibly a/c compressor.
Thanks for the replies all - as mentioned, I guess many of these repairs are still a lot cheaper than buying a whole new car but I will see how it goes.
Yes, some things will wear just sitting with age - especially if exposed to the elements. If you stay on top of everything as it comes up, you can make the car last forever (and with the Prius as popular as it is, parts will be available for a long long time). Alternatively, you can slowly let it degrade until it is time to be scrapped. For example, on my 2010 the little rubber/fiber window scraping weather striping on the bottom of all my door windows is starting to break apart from the sun (Toyota calls it "Door Window Belt Weatherstrip"). They're easy to replace, but each one costs ~$50 and there are 4 doors. Is it worth $200 to me to replace them? Yes if I'm keeping it forever - no if I'm scrapping it in the next ~5 years... Either way, the increasingly frequent very annoying repairs will almost certainly still be cheaper than how much extra you'll "pay" in depreciation each year on a <5 year old car - not to mention the higher costs of insurance & registration fees (I assume UK registration fees are also based on vehicle value, like they are here). On the other hand, driving a 20 year old Toyota won't make you popular with some of your more status conscious peers nor will you have all the latest safety features & gadgets.
It also helps to go hit those exterior rubber thingies now and then with a UV protectant, before they start disintegrating. Which reminds me ... I ought to go do that again ....
