200,000 Mile Club

2012 Prius V model 5 is now at 254,000 miles. Lifetime mpg 43.2
No major maintenance. Just replaced the PCV - almost eliminated the low speed/light throttle knocking.
Mobil 1 oil, K&N air filter.
My personal Prius total mileage is now 135 + 399 + 254 = 788,000 miles.

 

205,000 Mile 2004 Prius Here!

My dear Blue (She/Her) spent the first 13 years and 150,000 miles in Maryland garage kept and dealer maintained.
Then she spent 4 years in San Francisco street parked.
The last 3 years in New York City street parked.
The last 7 years 100% of the maintenance and repairs were done by me, in the street and occasionally underneath an overpass.

1) Did you replace the HV battery pack?
Yes, at 170,000 miles I got the red triangle of death. I then tried to condition the battery, which turned out to be a terrible idea because the battery had already failed. I managed to explode the entire battery, black smoke and everything. I feared I totaled the entire car. Then I dropped in a battery that some guy from Baltimore sold me, and she was back on the road immediately. A true marvel, it's as if the engineers knew someone would do ill-advised things to the [then] highly experimental battery and packed it with electrical safeguards. It's been 30,000 miles and she's running fine.

2) Did you replace the 12v lead-acid battery?
Yes, twice always with Toyoa OEM 12v.

3) Did you replace the hybrid transaxle fluid?
Yes, first time at 80,000 miles, Second time at 180,000 miles.

4) Did you replace the brake pads?
Yes, at 100,000 miles, and currently still have 6mm left. This car appears to heal itself.
Incredible considering I also spent 4 years in San Francisco with unreasonable hills and braking demands.

5) Your lifetime MPG (if available)?
47mpg in summer with AC Auto function on
35mpg in dead of winter (New York City), if I drive in the suburbs I still get 42mpg in the dead of winter.

6) How often do you change your oil? What brand / product did you use?
Every 3-5,000 miles, I've used the cheapest 5W-30 Full Synthetic I could find.
Since she hit 200,000 she was making a slight knocking sound at cold start and only in the dead of winter. I switched to whatever the cheapest 0W-20, a thinner oil that was default for the same prius in Japan since 2004 [I read the manual in Japanese]. She doesn't make that sound anymore. It's only been a few thousand miles but she isn't burning oil yet with the thinner oil.

I use toyota filters or aftermarket denso filters.
The best advice I got on this matter is that it's more important to do it at 3000 miles than to buy expensive filters and oil.

7) How about post a picture of 200,000 miles on ODO?
I would upload if I knew how to do it on this website.

Additional Repairs and Maintenance

1) I hit a deer once and had to replace the front hood. I went to a scrap place to get the parts and did it myself. Spent about 400$. Super simple super light parts. Fun fact the hood and the entire front bumper fits inside the same prius.

2) Catalytic Converter was stolen in San Francisco (a badge of honor). Serendipitously I shipped the car back to the east coast because I was moving back. I installed an aftermarket magnaflow for 400$ by myself. She has had zero codes for 30,000 miles now. I don't think the Toyota OEM Cat was worth it since it costs more than the car.

3) I went without AC for many years, the deer accident started a slow leak. I finally replaced the condenser myself for under $100 Toyota OEM. I had the AC gas recharged at Toyota. She's still leaking but works fine.

4) I spent about 2 years with the engine light on because of a three way control valve malfunction. Drove fine, no hit to MPG either. I finally replaced the 3 way control valve myself. I made the mistake of using aftermarket. It failed in under 1000 miles lesson learned. I got a Toyota OEM part and replaced it. That was 3 years ago and no engine code since.

Draining and refilling the coolant is tedious. I tried using vacuum pumps but ultimately, I did it the old fashioned way and had the ICE run continuously in maintenance mode and burped all the bubbles out.

5) I replaced the front passenger side wheel bearing myself. Getting the bearing out of the knuckle took me many days and many experiments. If I were to do it again I would have a mechanic press out the bearing and put in the new one. Or just buy a new knuckle. The bearing has been fine, it's a Toyo aftermarket part.

6) At 200,0000 miles I switched out the spark plugs and the coil boots. denso plugs and NGK boots. It didn't need it, I just wanted the peace of mind.

7) At 200,000 miles I cleaned the EGR.

8) Have been using Bridgestone Ecopia tires from Costco for about 30,0000 miles. They're fine, try not to think to deep about this as long as it's low rolling resistance.

I learned everything I know about cars with this car and fully plan on driving to 300,000 miles.
I want to replace all 4 struts because its just time, not because of safety.
Maybe put in an entertainment system if I feel like killing some time.

I have another one, a 2009 prius gen 2 100k miles. She had a front bearing issue and uneven braking issue. Otherwise she is still on the original HV battery.