long term and reliability

There is a gentleman up in Canada, I don't know where the thread went, who has a fleet of Prii as taxi cabs. Actually he is on his second set the frist ones were Gen1 Prii. He had well over 200k on the first generation and I think that the 2004 Prii that he is using are reaching their retirement age of 200K plus miles.

 

The person is in Vancouver, B.C. his name is Peter Grant.

 

ok just called and asked how many Km's on YC15 Andrew Grants 2k4 Prius and as of right now Oct 31,9:34AM it has 319,000 Km's on it and no major repairs. Also just found out that Andrew is no longer the owner of YC15 but the 3 drivers that used to work for him bought the car and are carrying on with it.

 

the reply that I got was "he has a good job now and is attending college" Didn't press for more information than that.

 

While I think it's great to see Prius out there with so many miles, I don't think that type of driving necessarily equates to the typical driver.

The major difference is that it might take a normal drive 10 years to put 200k miles on their vehicle, while a taxi might do it in just a few. Aside from the actual mileage itself, the vehicle is also potentially exposed to many more environmental effects (weather) and the batteries are used less frequently.

This really goes for any typical vehicle as well, not just Hybrids. The only potential difference is the effect on the battery, although as long as it's used regularly, it's unlikely it would have much of an adverse affect.

 

kaida:

Er, sometimes we get a little distracted.

It's a big question you're asking. For the "big picture", see the thread running here about the 10 top cars for reliability. Prius is there.

Toyota knew potential new owners in '01 would be fearful of breakdown with such a high-tech car. So they put unusually long warranties on the "big battery" and on the drivetrain (engine/motor/CVT).

So far, five years in, the battery packs are performing superbly. And they should be. Even more impressive, compared to other cars, has been the drivetrain. There have been a handful of "transmission" (CVT) failures---but they're very expensive ($4-8K) if you're out of warranty (60K mi.)

I've heard of no failures (and there may have been some) of the gas engine, "big" electric motor or brakes. The "small" (12V) battery, being too underpowered, has little reserve capacity and has been a pain in the butt for many (e.g., leave a door ajar a couple of hours, ceiling light's on, car won't start).

As would be expected, many of the problems we hear about are related to the sophisticated software and electronics of the car. Warning lights on the dash come on for no apparent reason, including the dreaded "triangle". Some Priuses just stop running, even at high speed. Of these, many will re-start (re-boot) after being shut down, but the behavior is still unnerving. (Hence, also, Toyota's provision of free roadside assistance for a while).

When these glitches occur, dealers' specially-Prius-trained mechanics are supposed to be able to find "error codes" explaining all failures. Sometimes they do, sometimes they end up scratching their heads, too, including sometimes replacing parts by guesswork that may not have required replacing. On early models, accelerator pedal sensors were prone to failure, and some steering columns (but the electronics in them, not the actual steering).

I can't tell you the frequency with which these kinds of problems occur compared to other cars, and of course, NO other cars have nearly the extent of "drive-by-wire" technology that the Prius does.

Toyota monitors their cars' failures carefully, through dealers, direct calls and, to an unknown extent, monitoring online resources such as this group. They are adept at avoiding wholesale recalls, which is how most of us learn about the extent of problems in the first place---but that's a gap in knowledge that forums such as PC have proved invaluable in helping to fill. Our "comparing notes", tedious as it sometimes gets, is an anecdotal record simply unavailable otherwise. Unfortunately, the numbers of Prius owners participating in these groups is relatively tiny, or we'd know a lot more!

Then, of course , there are the usual complaints most cars are targets of---strange rattles, squeaks and other noises, seats, fit-and-finish (paint, interior plastic) issues, sound systems, etc. Toyota has fewer of these than most.

Overall, for the amount of astounding new technology involved, I think most of us would still say the Prius lives up to Toyota's reputation for reliability and for fixing problems. Individual dealerships, unfortunately, can be and are another matter.

Among the members of PC and other groups I subscribe to, quite a few have now crossed the 100K mark. Eric Metzler, on the Yahoo toyota-prius group (he started it), has 177K on his '01, with nothing but normal maintenance except for (I think) one electronic failure. Then there was the Vancouver taxi with similar mileage.

Now Priuses on the road are starting to number in the low hundreds of thousands. Data is accumulating rapidly. And it's mostly very good.