200,000 miles and 7 years in a Prius

[Dizzo]

Just passed the 200,000 mile mark! The car is a 2007 one which I've had since 2010 when it had 18000 miles on the clock. Apart from routine maintenance in that time, the only things I've had replaced are the radiator (although they call this a condensor) which I asked the dealer to do as it was 25% clogged up with debris, and a foglight as the reflector deteriorated.  In terms of bulbs I've replaced one headlight bulb (awful job!), a licence plate bulb and 2 sidelight bulbs.
I'm on the 2nd set of brake discs and all 4 brake pads have 110,000 miles on them and lots of wear left in them.
Dealer serviced, not cheap but they are very very good (Vantage Wakefield).
Average MPG the last year 62.3, up to 68mpg summer, 58-60 winter. A lot of motorway miles in that.
In the last 50,000 miles or so I now put in about a litre of oil between services.
I generally get between 30,000 and 40,000 miles on the front tyres, and between 60 and 70,000 on the back ones.
Gripes? Hardly any - the plasticky dashboard can be noisy sometimes, I have to apply copper grease to the front brake pad holders occasionally to get rid of disc squeal, and once I sprayed silicone lubricant on to the tie bar rubbers which were creaking a bit on uneven surfaces.

Hopefully it will be good for many thousands of miles yet!

However, there must be loads of Prius's out there with mega-mileages on them. In Leeds they are very popular as private hire cars, several of them have 57 and 58 reg plates.

[Hicardo]

Hey Paul, cool -  loads of great info there.  Just shows how incredibly reliable the Toyota hybrid platform is, and how right they got it in the design.  Im running an Auris Hybrid 64 plate, and I've just gone thru 33,000 miles, which means its hardly run in.  So until 150,000 you didn't notice any oil consumption at all.  And then only a litre a year, thats pretty amazing.  Im experimenting this summer by leaving the winter tyres on, and haven't noticed any particular downside, no detriment obvious in the braking performance or grip.  Btw I'm from Wakefield originally , get back there every few weeks to visit my folks in Crofton.  All the Best!

[danowat]

Impressive stuff.

The amount of people who, once I tell them I have a Prius, tell me that "how long do the batteries last, you'll need to replace them", is amazing, so much ignorance around about hybrids.

[Duffryn]

I've only owned Priuses/ Prii ? for less than 5 years, but in that time I must have been approached some half a dozen times by strangers (mainly in car parks!) and asked "how does it work?" etc. Most seemed to be impressed with my brief rudimentary explanations. Tells me that Toyota marketing strategy, such as it is, is not really reaching the masses...

[danowat]

2 minutes ago, Duffryn said:

Tells me that Toyota marketing strategy, such as it is, is not really reaching the masses...

Or that the car buying public are just so fixated on fossil fuel that anything is seen with skepticism and distrust.

It's changing slowly though.

[EcoKat]

Congrats on the 200k Dizzo. I love my 2006 but my guy talked me into getting a 2017 in July before taking a long distance drive to visit family (already over 5k miles on it) for the new safety features. He has an '08 & already had to replace a ballast in a headlight & my driver's headlight was very intermittent so nighttime visibility was very low. The dealer quoted almost $1000 dollars to repair the light ($120 to  test if it was the bulb or ballast) so in reading online that it was a common problem in the Prius of that generation, I was worried that it may happen to the passenger side also in the future. So, I succumbed to having a car payment. I love the new safety features & sunroof in my new one, but I so miss the storage in the old. Even the backseat is narrower - it is not easy to fit the same 3 booster seats for my grandchildren that I used last year & they could fasten their seat belts themselves. Now one can fasten & I have to struggle to fasten the middle & then 3rd seat. 

[PeteB]

6 hours ago, EcoKat said:

...my guy talked me into getting a 2017 in July before taking a long distance drive to visit family (already over 5k miles on it) for the new safety features...

Hi Kat - I didn't need any talking into the 4th Gen Prius, and ordered mine Feb last year before they officially started taking orders - the almost 4 month wait was agony!  Got it on 10th June, and well over 18,000 miles on mine already.  

I've owned all four generations of Prius, done almost 300,000 miles in them since 2002, more than half on a Gen 1 Prius (the sedan [I'm guessing you're in the US]) which had 8,000 on it when I got it and 163,000 when I sold it 9 years later.  I believe it's still in daily use, but needed a rebuild of the HV Battery at about 180,000 apparently.

I also love the safety features in my Gen 4, and my insurance dropped by about GBP £50 a year compared to my previous Gen 3 Prius.  Also like you, I hate the limited interior storage, and very much miss the space under the boot (trunk to you?) floor which kept my bits out of the way when I put my folding electric bike in.  I find the low rear roof is a problem too, harder to get in, impossible to sit upright, but luckily I'm almost always in the driving seat (plenty of room there).

I certainly think it's the best Prius I've had, no actually, the best car I've had!