Truth about Battery/Convertor etc Costs??

The Prius is an economical car to own. Service for the first 100,00 miles is just oil changes and air filters every now and then. There have been very few battery failures even in Prius used as taxis that have logged hundreds of thousands of miles. The same with the convertor. Funny how people worry about this and yet don't give a thought about automatic transmissions that fail in other cars at a much higher rate and end up costing at least as much.

At the rate you put on mileage you will save a lot of money on gas. You should get at least upper 40s for mileage and depending on terrain, weather and your driving style possibly quite a bit more.

 

I agree with jburns, the Prius is one of the most dependable cars available, check Consumer Reports for information on reliability.

I am not fanatical about mileage but I do try to be careful. With my 2005 Prius (essentially the same as the 2008 you are considering) I usually got in the high 40s in the winter and in the low 50s in the summer. One 700 mile trip mostly over 2 lane highways with speed limits from 70 to 55 MPH I managed to get almost 60 MPG.

Get them to give you the car for a long test drive and take it out on the highway. Make sure it tracks well and the steering is good and solid. Brakes are not a problem they last a very long time on the Prius but test them anyway, tires you can look at but they should be fine after only 20K miles. Make sure the warranty is transfered to your name and don't let them sell you an extended warranty. You can get the Toyota Platinum extended warranty throught this site for $1055 if you really want it, I never buy them. If you are really parinoid about used cars like I am take it to a different Toyota dealer and pay them to check it out for you.

Good luck and enjoy.

 

In every state the battery and hybrid components are warranted for at least 100,000 miles (7 or 8 years) and as much 150,000 miles (10 years) in the SMOG states like CA and the northeast. The battery is truly designed to last the entire life of the vehicle, and because the failures have been so rare they can be replaced for as low $500 for a battery from a scrap yard from a wrecked vehicle. Compare that to the $3000+ the VW dealer charged me for the replacement of my wife's transmission on her beetle, and that was after she argued it down 20%.

 

With the amount of driving you do, the savings you will have in your monthly gas bill will be significant. If it helps ease the mind, reinvesting that money into the extended warranty might make the transition into hybridville easier.

 

Helo talk2me ... and Welcome!
First ... are you one of the VERY few that even keeps a care for 10 years? That'd put you in the minority. But even if so, the posts above already tell you like it is ... to NOT worry about it. Find comfort in the fact that there are taxi fleets using prius. Why? They need the BEST mpg's as well as reliability. Some of those taxis now have 200,000 and 300,000 miles. When's the last time you put THOSE kind of miles on your car

 

At 4000 miles a month, that's 48,000 a year. With the 20,000 already on the car, yes she is over 200,000 in four years.
I'd tell you a Fit is a fine car, but at 1,000 miles a week, if you average 30 MPH, that's over 30 hours a week of driving. That's over six and a half hours a day. Better get something real comfortable. Do you drive for a living?
On edit, I think most get EPA est. mileage or around 50

 

Hi Talk2me,

With that amount of Driving, the Prius is for you. In a standard car you are going to be changing oil every month, in a Prius , every month and a half. That adds up.

The 2nd Gen Prius wont need friction brakes nearly as often. Around here, its 125K miles for the fronts to be required due to the regeneration of kinetic energy into battery charge. But depending on where you are in Colorado, it will be 60 to 125K miles. I drove through Colorado once, and there were areas that were flatter than Illinois. So, that depends. The Prius battery will charge up in about 500 feet of vertical drop. Which aftewards the friction brakes are going to be used. There is also a B mode which switches in engine braking to help.

The Prius transmission is very mechanically simple, and the 2nd generation Prius has had very long transmission life (which includes the hybrid motors). The 1st Generation Prius had sleeve bearings in the single planetary gear set, and the metal from those resulted in a a metal load in the fluid, which apparently caused some service to be required similar (in my experience at 80 to 120 K miles) to traditional automatic transmission cars. Which was a disappointment to some people. But, the 2nd gen transmission uses needle bearings, which do not shed metal nearly as much. Its rare for a 2nd Gen Prius to need transmission work before 200 K miles.

One issue with the battery in the mountains, is at start, the Prius prefers to use the battery, over the engine. This lasts for 1 minute, and if you have a very steep climb in that minute, it will wear out the battery prematurely. An easy workaround is just to let the car sit for that first minute , and the engine will be used for the steep climb, preserving the battery. Downhill, no problem. Just drive slow till the hill accellerates the car for the first minute.

 

The HV batteries were bulletproof by 2008. Insist that this car has the inverter coolant pump with two bearings, not one (I don't know when that change happened). Tell them to change the WS transaxle fluid, which they will say is unnecessary.

The last and best use for your concerns about this car is to support the low price you are going to offer for it. Then 'steal' the car and forget those concerns.

If you really perfer the FIT, ignore all above. Extended test drives of both vehicles should happen.

 

You will be pleasantly surprised with acceleration. You won't feel the acceleration, since there is no shift shock or sudden neck whiplashing. All you get is more engine noise and smooooth acceleration, suddenly finding yourself going much faster than you intended. The Prius really gets up and goes when passing or merging.

Tom

 

Prius' acceleration does not degrade with terrain. It will accelerate consistently due to the electric transmission (eCVT). You'll be surprise how it handles hills so well that you'll start to question why a non-hybrid would suffer in the same terrain.

BTW, Prius is the only car (I know of) that accelerates 5-60mph faster than 0-60mph. Every other (non HSD) cars accelerate slower rolling from 5 mph.

 

I'm pretty sure you can as long as the original 3 year/36K mile warranty is still in effect which it should be. But to be absolutely sure contact Troy at Warranty Shack and ask him. Be sure to tell him your from PC.

Just remember you don't need the extended warranty for the hybrid battery, it's covered under the emission control warranty 8 years/100K miles even longer in some states. The power train (engine, drive train stuff, etc.) is covered for 5 years/60K miles. So you may want to save the cost of the extended warranty.