299,999+ Mile Club

Isn't this one of the extended warrantee items? I got mine replaced at over 200K at no cost.

 

New to site - My wife has put 340,000 miles on her Prius since we bought it brand new in 05, odometer stopped @ 299,999. This car has been the most amazing vehicle we have ever owned. Most of the miles came from daily trips to work that were fifty miles from our house to town, then about fifteen miles of in town driving. This is one way and is not counting the many miles of running around before she headed home. She has always used this car as a truck and has the idea that if it fits, she can haul it. A couple weeks ago she told me I needed to unload some wood pellets, there were 20 bags @ 40 pounds each.

Mechanical - Replaced RF wheel bearing, spark plugs @ 250,000 miles, rear struts, due to tire cupping issue, wiper blades (2) sets, tires and oil changes every 5000 miles. Started out using oil viscosity called out in manual, but switched to Delvac 15W-40 same as my dodge diesel and tractors, at 200,000 miles. Have always used Fram Oil filters from Wal-Mart. Never touched the trans fluid, still original. Have not had any issues with either battery, both are still originals. One alignment after hitting dear, steering linkage is still tight and car tracks like new.

The only real issues we have had are body related; three different front bumpers and grills and two hoods and both head light assemblies, which were the result of hitting a rabbit, a raccoon and one dear.

Oil consumption is less than half a quart when driven locally between oil changes, and was the same for an 18 hour trip a couple of weeks ago. Most of driving was 80 mph on the interstate, still showed 45- 48 mpg on display.

 

Wow! Great first post, great story, great car!

Welcome to Prius Chat!

 

Purchased Nov. 2003 (2004)
303,000 miles
Original Battery
Transaxel drain and fill at 150000, then every 60000 now that I'm in So. Ariz.
Original brake pads
95000miles, Replaced air cond. compressor, bad bearing, under extended warrantee that cost 500$.
190000miles, struts and shocks 750$ plus ruined rear tires from cupping.
290000miles, MFD 188$ (Ebay).
Multitude of recalls, software upgrades, etc. Including replacement of the steering wheel shaft. But nothing that stopped me dead somewhere other than Home. The over sensitive traction control almost got me killed, until I learned and adapted. No un-intended acceleration.

Oil usage has been a moderate issue starting after 200kmiles-250k, down too 1500 miles/quart. then took several 2000 mile high speed trips and started gasing up at Shell and Chevron. which brought oil usage back up to 3500 miles/quart. Now it's slowly going back down, and is just under 3000/quart. Car has been run on full synthetic changing every 10,000 miles from the beginning, up until recently where I have added 1000 miles before oil change, for every quart of oil I add.

Wonderful car, best I've owned in the last 40 years, by a factor of 2. In fact a case could be made that the car has completely paid for its self in savings of gas, maint. and repair costs.

Millage started off at 46mpg the first 4.5years in Ca. Bay area carrying a 3-5person car pool over the Berkeley hills twice a day. Then around 50mpg commuting to Tucson Az. from Green Va. 92miles round trip. But had to keep the top speed down to 65-68mph, with 2/3rds miles on freeway. Then got a Hymotion 5kwhr plug-in battery pack installed at 125kmiles Nov 2008. That brought the average upto 65mpg up until the second pack died in Nov. 2013. This probably helped the Traction battery life as it was buffered by the plug-in bat. about 30-40 minutes everyday. Also the engine didn't have to work as hard, and in town was off 80% of the time.

After 200Kmiles I started babying the car by restricting RPM to 4000, on mountain climbs and up hill freeway ramps, and 3200rpm on normal stop light starts. I also have been using an engine block heater year round for the last 5.7years.

This car helped me to calm down from my frenzied type of driving when I was young. All you have to do is drive for good gas mileage instead of driving for shortest time. Then the plug-in battery got me all tensed up again because of the lousy Hymotion interface to the Prius system. You could get upto 300mpg around town during summer at under 40mph, but you really paid a price for the effort. And forget about winters. Driving our leased Volt has been a dream in comparison. I'm still kind of ticked off that Toyota went the direction it did with it's plug'in effort, which was essentially creating a fully optimized hybrid, not a worthy plug-in. Toyota is going to be content to dominate the Hybrid market and let others blaze the next step in electrification of the automobile. I'm really going to miss Toyota's durability but I'm commited to being an early adoptor, helping support any auto maker that dares to take that next step.

 

I'm truly impressed by all these positive stories here and am edging towards buying a Prius, even an old one appears to be fine..

 

I would be interested in knowing how to do that when I hit 299K. I'm at 240 now and even though I've had the combination meter replaced under warrantee, I suspect I was given one of the same type with the same 300K limitation. I don't like not seeing the actual accumulated mileage (miles this high are like being 85 y.o. - - you no longer attempt to hide it), but having a working odometer is still to be preferred.

 

I joined the 300k club on 1/27/14. Bought my car on 1/21/08 and am the original owner.

My Prius has been fantastic. I am the original owner and bought the Prius because I have a 150 mile commute each day. The only problem I've had with the car was with the catalytic converter which was replaced around 250,000 miles.

Still has the original batteries and original brakes.

I bring the car in to my dealer Precision Toyota every 5,000 miles for regular service and oil change. They have done fluid replacements and I think I'm on my 3rd belt which has never broke but had been suggested to be replaced. I bought the car under the tires for life program and I just got my 5th or 6th set of tires.

I average about 48 miles per gallon as my commute goes from Tucson, AZ which is about 2500 feet above sea level to Cochise County, AZ which is about 4500 feet above seal level so I'm going uphill to work and downhill on my return home.

When I bought my Prius I thought I would be happy if I got 300k miles but now that I'm there, I'm looking forward to 500k.

 

That is a strong vote of confidence in the car; I feel the same way.

 

Are you saying you never even replaced the 12V battery?

 

That's correct. Batteries are all original. Only major replacement was the catalytic converter. My dealer says the batteries are still in good condition. They get checked every 5,000 miles when I bring it in for service.

 

Since you drive 50K miles per year, that should log sufficient charging time for the 12V battery to stay at or near fully-charged status...

 

582,xxx

 

Does your odometer show 582k or was it reset?

 

Im on my third odometer. Total miles driven is 582,xxx. First odo stuck at 299,999. Second odo got to 276,xxx but most days the dash would not come on with the car. You couldnt tell what speed you were driving or how much gas was left.

 

Thats impressive! good to hear! Would you recommend someone (me) to buy a 2004 with 240,000 miles? Thanks

 

Such a car is way past design end of life. You should buy it only if you don't have to rely upon Toyota dealer service (which implies the use of new parts and the need to pay premium labor hour rates) when the inevitable four-digit repair is required. For example, the inverter or traction battery may fail at any moment, given that odometer reading.

If you can DIY and install used parts where appropriate, then the purchase might be reasonable.

 

You are a brave man to drive a car with no functional speedometer, odometer, and gas gauge!
I had a 1960(?) Volvo PV544 in that condition and ended up running out of gas at 2 am on New Years Day out on a lonely rural interstate with my infant son in the back seat and a semi-dissected fetal pig in the trunk. May you have better luck than I did!

 

If you do Prius work , could you post pics?