Comfort And Battery Replacement Cost

[sheila99]

I have to replace my beloved V-reg Corolla as someone managed to rear-end me twice (same person!!). It has now been written off by my insurers and I am thinking of getting a used Prius - probably about 4 years old - but wanted to know:

Is it comfortable for long journeys?

how much would a new Battery cost if it went? Has anyone had this problem?

Any advice much appreciated, thanks.

[cootuk]

You might find the smaller Battery needs replacing after about 5 years.

The HV side is warranted for 100k miles.

I've driven about 300 mile in a day and found the GenII is quite comfortable.

There's not a major amount of fine adjustment on the driver seat though.

[fuel miser]

I have to replace my beloved V-reg Corolla as someone managed to rear-end me twice (same person!!). It has now been written off by my insurers and I am thinking of getting a used Prius - probably about 4 years old - but wanted to know:

Is it comfortable for long journeys?

how much would a new battery cost if it went? Has anyone had this problem?

Any advice much appreciated, thanks.

Last Thursday I drove 480 miles in one day in my latest gen 2, I still have a four year old one I'm about to advertise, I frequently drive 3-400 mile trips and a few months ago I drove 740 miles in a day in it! I'm 6ft 2in and I find the comfort absolutely fine, I particularly like the fact I never have to pull my seat forward as a 6ft passenger can easily sit behind me. My only criticism of the car, as far as driving it is concerned, would be that it's just a bit of a dullard on long distances, and not exactly entertaining on twisty A or B roads. They are, however, smooth, quiet, refined and as you'll see from my thread a little further down, totally reliable. I just wouldn't worry at all about the batteries, I've only ever heard of one rogue gen 3 that had a problem.

[Grumpy Cabbie]

Apparantly the HV batteries fail very very infrequently with both the gen 2 (2003-2009) and the gen 3 (2009 - ). Some of the first Prius (Japanese Only 1997-2001 & Gen 1 2001-2003) are not quite as reliable but remember they're getting on for nearly 10 years old.

I bought a gen 3 Prius new for use as a taxi and hope to run it to big mileages. There are a number of American and Canadian taxi owners who have run their Prius upto 200,000+ and even 300,000+ miles before Battery problems. From reading some of the posts on the www.priuschat.com website, it appears the Prius can have problems if it has been subject to hard accident damage and then subsequently repaired. So check out any prospective purchase very carefully!

I personally would be more concerned that the transmission has had its oil changed at the correct service intervals and as such, I believe a Toyota service history would be the way to go if buying second hand.

Hope this helps.

p.s. You might want to have the garage replace the 12v Battery if you are buying a 4 year old Prius as these batteries start to fail around this age and can cause all sorts of weird computer errors whilst they do. They should cost about £100 fitted by a main dealer, so you could perhaps get them to include this as part of the sale - and for your peace of mind.

[Ikelos]

I think the one with the rogue Battery was mine, and as far as I can see, the only one that Toyota have ever replaced under warranty, I did post about at the time, the dealer got the Battery down overnight, it all came to light when a few warning lights came on, but then the dealer had to get in touch with Toyota to make sure.