Prius Myths and their Rebuttals

2007 Prius owner. I've had multiple dead cells in my batteries (original and its replacements). I've spent a good deal on those, but that's really the only thing I've spent a good deal on. Never had any other major issues.

 

You will continually be paying out for replacement modules and have an unreliable car until you put a complete set of new modules in your car. Each to their own.

 

Oh this is funny. Read a few pages and have to admit back in 2006 I was a Prius basher. I now drive a 2006 Prius and love seeing how dumb "my side" was. Expected life 109,000? My 06 is at 235,000.

Hell even Mopar has a electric demon killer on the drawing board. Electric fad is standing the test of time

 

With 740,000km on our taxi '08 Prius, I can see what they mean about the unreliability:
It still gets punctured tyres
The tread wears down on the tyres to the point they have to be replaced
The wiper blades only seem to last a yr or so and they have to be replaced
The washer fluid runs out if I wash the windows too often
The self cleaning doesn't work as well as I expected, all the glossy advertising material shows shiny clean cars
The traction battery had to be replaced with one from a wrecked vehicle at around 600,000 kms at the outrageous cost of $400
Had to replace a catalytic converter at around 720,000km because it started to block up
The engine oil and filters still need changing regularly and the spark plugs don't seem to last much past 200,000 kms


But being serious, the 12v battery was a pain in the b*tt until I replaced it with 4 LiFeP04 cells that were getting a bit tired in an EV, but they work fine in the Prius and no more failed 12 battery problems.
I have replaced a rear wheel brg, but that turned out to be a tyre with the belts collapsing and not the brg at all.
I also replaced the timing chain, but that turned out to be the blocked catalytic convert and the exhaust banging against the manifold each time it released the pressure build up.

If only all vehicles were as reliable as my two Prii ..... well it would be terrible, in my first life I was a mechanic with my own workshop, Id have gone broke before I even started :lol:

T1 Terry

 

How often do you change coolants and transmission fluid?

 

Every 4 yrs generally, but I do suffer from serious slack a*se disease so it's probably over due at the moment

T1 Terry

 

how many Km’s now?

 

Been travelling and then had a double hernia repair op, so been off the computer for a while.
Hard to tell exactly because the displace dies on a daily basis now so the odometer doesn't add any to the total when the display isn't working.
First start up of the day, headlights on high beam, and indicator on anything else we can think of before putting the keyfob in the slot, then foot on the brake and press the button and more often than not, the display works ... until the car gets turned off, then forget it for the rest of the day Need to pull the dash out to fix it I know, but a backlog of work has built up that I need to clear first and my mobility is still a tad restricted .... and I can't lift anything much, but hopefully I'll get a chance to fix it soon.

Anyway, the odometer reads a bit over 745,000km now so that's a sort of an answer

T1 Terry

 

That it goes slow and cannot go fast, and if it does it's really noisy.

I got this in discussions with BEV owners.

My gen 3 has been driven all the way to 90 mph, and the wife regularly goes between 75-85 mph, no problems or shaking or anything.

With regards to interior sound levels, actual measurements actually show the interior noise is same as that in the Tesla 3 at various high speeds.

For example, at 75 mph, the Prius has 68.7 dB inside, while the Tesla 3 has 70.3 dB. Lexus cars of course are even quieter inside.

Interior sounds:

Prius 2014:
Results – Auto Decibel Database

Tesla 3 2020:
Results – Auto Decibel Database

 

Currently owned 3 high mileage gen2 Prius that are still in very good condition mechanically. Cosmetically they age but not terrible compared to other cars. One of the reasons why I bough them cheap is because of bad diagnosis from shops resulting from high cost of repairs. This gives the impression that it's not worth keeping the car. A bad HV battery can be DIY really cheaply or spend $1000 and it's back on the road. The heater coolant valve (3 way) and inverter pump are $125 each and also not a bad DIY job. Fan blower motor and wheel bearing/hub are also not that expensive and easy DIY. Some of the major components like ABS pump and engine failures (head gasket) are very rare, some of the engine rattles/knock are caused by ignition coils (misfire)

I used to own 2 Priuses before but I sold it to my friend.. at 260k miles it's still running and his kid daily drives it. HV battery has 2 blocks failed this year and for $150 DIY it's back on the road. The other one (225k miles) was t-boned and totally salvaged, bought it for $1200 and got $3000 back from insurance (profit!).