Did you buy a Prius with 100K+ miles? Share your story here!

Bought a 2004 with 186,000 miles in summer 2009. Now has 285,000 miles. Milage in rural Maryland 48.5 in warm and mild temps, around 42.5 to 43 in cold weather. Same as when purchased. I check it every fillup. Mobile 1 synthetic. Used a different synthetic once at 250,000 miles. Bad choice. Find a synthetic that works and stick with it, IMO. I had a major dealer service when I purchased the vehicle and now Jiffy Lube every 5-6,000 miles. Money is now tighter so I will start changing the oil myself.

Tires make a difference. I felt the Goodyear high mileage tires " floated". Now on Hankook 727 and lost maybe 1/2 mpg, but gained better control.

Problems - nothing major. Deer have run into the side of it several times. Change tires, light bulbs. Pulling off the front bumper to pull the headlights is a simple thing to do. Start to finish takes about an hour, but I am slow. BTW, get an extra bulb check to make sure the bulb works before putting the bumper back on.

Worst problem - mold/mildew/crud coming from heater a/c. Started last summer. I figure on a once every 4 to 5 month treatment which I am investigating how to self apply. Toyota CHI service a little pricy to do 3 times a year. The only way to cure the problem would be to remove all dirt and debris from inside all the HVAC system.

 

cthorsman,
Does your Prius burn oil? If so, how much? I guess you are driving 90% time on freeway right?
My 04 burns 1 qt/2k oil if I drive less than 60 mph. If 75 mph+, then 1 qt/1k

 

Just purchased 2004 Prius Package #9 on ebay with 241k miles for $4050.00. Stoked. I had a new 2008 Prius that I put 110k on before it had 3 accidents and I sold it. I'll update the post after I pick it up (I just won the ebay auction today

 

I took a real chance when I bought a 2006 prius , got it at a Auto Auction for $6500 , has 112,342 miles on it. I did a carfax and found no problems after looking at the car and doing a test drive. I just bought the car today and have been checking things out all day, I did the battery test and all is well with that ( thank God ) . All the checks I've done are from the amazing posts from the great people from here and I thank you! Another good thing I found very helpful was the "Toyota Owners Portal" where I registered and found out that the car I got was maintance on a regular schedule at toyota dealerships and had an Ultimate Maintance Package and had castrol syntec blend 5W30 oil changes . I had the tire pressure light go on on the way home from getting the car and was kinda worried what the light was for , once again you guys came to the rescue , it was the tire pressure warning light , so I went to check the air pressure and sure enough I had to adjust each tire , the light went off !! According to these maintance records from the Toyota owners site , who ever owned this car took very good care of it.
Once again , I want to thank all the people who make up this forum and for all the great info and posts that it supplies, Thank you very much , Gregg

 

We bought our 2005 in May 2012 with 125k from a local Toyota dealer. Car had 1 owner, who had all service preformed at the Toyota dealer along with all recommended work done at Toyota recommended intervals, every service record available to us via toyotaowners website. Car has been outstanding for us, it now has 136k on it and rocking and rolling. We are considering selling it in the next few months though to buy a minivan that my wife needs for a business she is starting this summer
I'll still have my 2010 prius though, have to buy that guy out from its lease because I'm going to be about 5k over miles by August.

 

I like your thinking but her business will be a preschool/daycare and she'll be toting around kids and she needs a 7 seat van. We will still have our 2010 which makes me happy since I drive about 60 miles round trip a day. Plus we'll likely stay in the Toyota family with her other car, looking at used Sienna's.

 

Just picked up a 2007 prius at the locall toyota dealer for 10k with just under 100k mile son it. It kicked over 100 k before the week was done. Only issues i have had so far was the passenger side seat belt was torn and sewn back up by what looks like the previous owner( dealer is taking care of that one) and the 12 volt battery from what i read everywhere is bad but the dealer insists its good as they charged it for 3 hours before i picked it up. when it was warm (40's) i was getting about 50mpg. Now the spring is here in MI. I am getting about 45mpg and the temp dropped to mid 20's. So far on a tank of gas i am getting around 300 miles but could probably go more but i do not want to push my luck in the cold with the gas guage. I am still gettign used to driving it and think i should be able to get better mpg when my foot learns to back off a touch.
On a side note i love stealth mode. Driving up to a fast food window and catching them off guard is priceless.

 

I just got a 2007 Prius with 105k on it. Put Torque on it before I bought it and checked the battery cell voltages, resistances, 12v health, and all the other checks suggested by the good members of this site. Everything checked out and I'm happy with the car so far (had it about a week now).

I registered with the Toyota Owners website and found the service history for it. Shows it has been serviced for all the recalls and nothing out of the ordinary in there except for a service visit about a month before I bought it where it showed the following:

"RED COOLANT LEAKS REQUIRES IMMEDIATE ATTENTION. ~|~WATER PUMP LEAKING, COOLANT FLOW SENSOR OUT OF RANGE ~|~CUSTOMER DECLINED REPAIRS AT THIS TIME."

I checked the inverter pump and the traditional engine belt driven pump and saw no evidence of leaks. I put about a thousand miles on it last weekend with no problems and both coolant levels are at right at the high mark. No evidence of coolant stain on the engine water pump belt and no evidence of leaks under the car after sitting overnight. Plus I don't think this car even has a coolant flow sensor on either the inverter or traditional pump, so not sure what that's all about.

I don't mind changing the engine water pump. I've done quite a few in the past on other vehicles and looking at Youtube instructions for this car it doesn't seem difficult at all. What I am afraid of is if the prior owner did see a leak and dumped a bottle of stop leak in it. I may try to flush out the radiator and do the air bubble dance just in case. I'll be doing an oil and transaxle fluid change this weekend anyway, so may as well take care of everything.

But other than that minor uncertainty, the car has been absolutely perfect. Torque shows the engine (MIL) light hasn't been on in over 31000 miles (appears that's when the inverter pump got replaced), and I'm confident I'll get many trouble free miles out of it.

*Edit - Thought I'd mention my mpg figures. This is in Austin, TX with travel between here and New Orleans, LA. Temp while driving has been in the mid 60s -> 70s. Getting about 48 in typical city driving and about 43 on multi-hour interstate drives (70-75mph).

 

Jason,
Honestly, that sounds like the dealer trying to bilk money out of the customer. I've seen numerous posts on here where the dealer tries to have the customer replace the ICE coolant pump but, our PC members are too well educated to let them do it.

 

Bought an '04 last June with 192K on it for $7000. It had all of the then-available options, which means no camera, leather, or MP3 jack. I bought a leather kit from eBay for $330 and successfully installed the passenger seat cover last December. In seven short hours. I have elected to await warm weather to finish the job.

The water pump recalls had been done and I just took it in for the steering shaft (recall) and the speedometer display (warrantee extension). They did both in three days and offered a rental for the $13 (daily) deductible waiver. Incidentally, the fuel gauge stayed on one blinking pip through two fill up cycles and popped back on after the third. Wheel left a few degrees canted to the left after the work. Mileage is around 55 to 57 in the warm weather and 50 to 53 in cold with a few high 40's when it was REALLY cold or I drove at high speed on the interstate. It now has 213K on it and with my new MFD, I should be able to continue reading the odometer past 300K, a figure I fully expect to reach. I'm down a bit on oil, less than a quart, but have just noted that I'm 6K since I changed it in January. I suspect that a 70 MPH run to Mobile, AL (from Atlanta) may have increased consumption a bit. It was this trip that the fuel gauge chose not to make with me (last Saturday).

I sold a Gen 1 Insight after buying the Prius and am even more pleased than expected with the differences. In the Insight's defense, it got 70 to 75 MPG in the summer and 65 in the winter, or what passes for winter in Georgia. The Honda was a beautiful and beautifully designed minimalist approach to fuel economy and clean air. But I love Toyota's full hybrid system and all of those wonderful options like Bluetooth phone, navigation, proximity key with push button start, and a CD changer that even plays tapes. The mirror dims itself and opens my garage door! I do need that headlight leveler gizmo (this car lived in Massachusetts before moving to the South to spend its golden years) but for now I have manually set it midrange. Plan to do the "foglights on with parking lights" modification and also the speed wire interrupt switch, so that I can read an incoming number from the display or dial out the same way. I know that Toyota does not really believe that it is safer to pull your phone out of your pocket when it rings. Wonderful car showing few signs of its age.

 

I bought my 2007 with 98K miles, so not quite 100K but almost, for $10500. It's a fully loaded model, with smartkeys, GPS, VSC, etc. I've driven about 5K miles so far, and the car has been great. I did 100K service, so that cost about $500, and the only other service I've had to do is A/C, which wasn't cold for some reason. The freon has been recharged with a dye, so I'll take it back to the dealer in a month to check for leaks. I've replaced the HID headlights and installed XM radio myself. I've never loved a car before, but I love this one. Nothing makes me happier than to see 45MPG on that little panel.

- Sung

 

That's a super good deal!

 

I just got a 2005 Prius with 159,000 miles on it (smartkey, gps, JBL) for $6,900, driving great. Doing a bunch of work on it that the prev owners did not do. I have all of the service records and the car fax looked good. Old owner never cleaned the inside or outside from the looks of it.

Already:

• Unplugged Middle Console Speaker
• Removed Rim Covers ( dirt was just sitting there, asphalt stuck under it, and believe it or not gum that turned black until you scraped it and found out it was minty green )
• Cleaning the inside, the guy let it get so that it looked like vinyl on the places where you put your arms, slowly getting it back to all looking like felt.
• Changed out stock Toyota battery for a Yellow Top ( other battery was running at about 11.8 under load, but it was the original stock from the looks of it so figured better change it out for a better battery, water was in the battery area, gonna take that apart sooner or later again (someone message me if you have any ideas on how to seal that up / drain it) to clean that out and seal up wherever it is coming in from )

The cleaning of the interior has been amazing, it looked like a lot of the interior paint on the dash was worn out, turns out most of it was just the guys sweat dirt all over it. Lots of scrubbing has solved this.

I took off the paint on the buttons for the glove compartments because it was already pealing off, so it looks better having 2 glossy buttons.

Should be a nice car for a while Better than my 2007 charger that burned oil and sounded like it wanted to die at 62,000 miles.

 

I unexpectedly bought a 2007 Prius for $7500 in February. It belonged to my son's girlfriend who was moving out of the country. She needed the car right up until her departure and didn't want to have to mess around with a last minute private sale or craigslist—so I bought it to help her out. I was planning to turn around and sell it, but I started driving it and have decided to keep it! It had with 128,000 miles on it when I bought it and I'm up to 132,000 now. It's a pretty amazing little car. I get around 50 mpg no matter what kind of driving I do unless it's really cold outside. I commute about 90 miles roundtrip to work most days and the Prius has been great, except when we've got significant snow.

I had it checked out at a dealer before I bought it. They replaced the front brakes & rotors and completed a couple of recalls (electric pump, steering shaft, 90L). The only thing that still seems to be a problem is a vibration/noise in the front end. I went to a local tire store that I've done business with to have the tires balanced and get a front end alignment and was told the L front wheel bearing is going bad. They balanced the tires and told me to wait on the alignment until the wheel hub assembly was replaced since that job should include an alignment. I may need to get that done soon. (Is that a common issue?)

 

Just bought mine today and wrote a blog post about it. It's everything I hoped it would be. Looking forward to contributing to the discussions here.

 

Nice blog osunick, you'll have to report what MPG you get on your commute once you get enough miles on it to get a fair estimate.

Make sure you read up on techniques for getting the best out of her. You can get good MPG in a Prius without any special measures, but there are a few simple techniques that can take it from good to great.

 

Great write up. Exactly the reason I added my Prius to my F250. I've saved $2k in fuel since November and the very costly maintenance/tires for it. Prius will pay for itself in about a year and a half I think. I paid $10.5 for an 08 with 101k. I'm

 

I was also thrilled to find a full service history on the Toyota website- looks like virtually all service was done at the dealer.

 

We bought a 2006 with 120,000 miles Aug 2012 for $8200 from a private owner. Car appears to have been perfectly maintained and Toyota dealer could find nothing wrong with it. Driven 12,000 miles since then. Uses only about 1/2 qt oil per 5000 mile change. Even though we live on a mountain (which really hurts gas mileage), we average 45 mpg. Only repair needed thus far was a new 12 volt battery. Best car we've ever owned.