100,000 Mile Club

[Prius Maximus]

I purchased my 2004 on 3/8/2004.
I just hit 100K this morning (4/25/07).

Two complaints...
1. I would like to be able to adjust the air conditioner temperature without having to turn the fan on. I miss those old mechanical temperature sliders.
2. The odometer needs commas. I can't read my miles now with all those zeros.

I've pumped 1,945 gallons of gas into this car, but have saved 1,615 gallons (7,435 gallons saved compared to driving my truck to work). That works out to $3,770 in saved gas money compared to my previous car. make that $18,000 if I was commuting in my truck. Who says a hybrid can't pay for itself?

I replaced the OEM tires with Michelin hydroedges (after making the change I wish I had done it sooner rather than being cheap and making the oems last as long as I could - the hydroedges are the best tires I've ever had).

Other than the 3 items in the list below, I have only needed routine maintenance - oil, filters, wiper blades, two tailight bulbs.

1. Console armrest fabric came loose on the front edge after a few months. I glued it back in with silicone sealant. still looks like new today.

2. The plastic retaining tabs for the springs on the upper glove box lid broke off. I replaced the tabs with a couple of screws and washers.

3. On an overnight trip, I hit a coyote on a 70 mph interstate. It mangled the front bumper pretty good. $2,500 in repairs.

That is my complete repair list. No other car I have ever owned has had so few repairs. (Since I had the screws and washers and silicone sealant laying around the house, and hitting the coyote doesn't count because that wasn't the car's fault, I figure my total repair bill for 100,000 miles is $0.00). And that includes the handfull of oil plug crush washers I got free from the dealer.

This car is the best car I have ever owned - by far.

[GZ1]

New user today. My 2001 Prius has 137,000 miles. I purchased the car in 2001 off of a dealers lot in Northern NJ. Car had 5,000 miles on it. Love it/hate it relationship. Early on, replaced tires (5th set) and windsheild (5th windsheild) too many times. Too many recalls over the years. Glad it came with 100k, 8 yr warranty for the Hybrid system. Wouild I do it all over again, YES , even with the negatives

[faith2walk]

2005 Package #4
Lifetime Gallons = 2352.163
Lifetime Miles = 106675.0
Life MPG = 45.4
Best Short Run = 179.9 Miles, 1.607 gallons, 111.9 MPG (learning to Hypermile)
Best full tank = 566.1 Miles, 8.307 gallons, 68.1 MPG
Worst tank ever = 291.1 Miles, 11.301 Gallons, 25.8 MPG (really bad stor, 50+mph head winds, and lots of rain)

I do all freeway miles (except for a few rare tanks) and there is generally an average 10-15 mph wind coming off lake michigan to suck my gas mileage down.

Emergency supplies (stored in the back) include: 1 oil filter, 5 quarts of oil, 1 gallon window washer fliud, 1 quart of brake fluid, 1 quart of power steering fluid, 1 gallon antifreeze, 1 power outlet powered compressor, 1 emergency battery regenerator, 2 emergency triangle reflectors, chains (in winter), a shovel (in winter), a full size spare tire in addition to the dumby, 25' extra heavy duty jumper cables, extra wiper blades, a blanket, a pillow, 2 changes of clothes (since I travel so much), a first aid kit, a tool kit, water proof gloves, mechanics gloves, and more which I can't think of right now.

MOD's I done include: BT Tech plate, Coastal's EV switch, Coastal's auto door lock, sirius satelite radio, replaced factory fogs for DRL, added REAL fog lights (100w), interior lighting switched to LED, MFD got a hood for X-mas, Blackberry has a stand to rest in, autolaptoplinkinc stand attached to passenger side to hold Dell Inspiron E1705 17" screen which runs DeLorme Streets 2007 and TOPO 6, converted front power outlet to always hot, inverter in the front powers a strip for the laptop, phone charger, bluetooth headset charger, and bluetooth gps by earthmate charger, center console power outlet runs a small refrigerator behind the passenger seat, upgrade rear wiper to sigma 20", upgraded all wipers to bosch icon, installed a bra, added a 12" bass tube, and more which I can't think of right now.

What I would change?
- The prius has a huge nose that attracts bugs, rocks, and rock salt (welcome to MI) and I bought the bra hoping to deter that...it didn't work. This fall I am going to have the hood repaired (some pretty big rocks with all the construction around here) and then have Venture Shield installed. Hope that does the trick.
- The seats don't hold up well to wear and tear. They don't have much support, and the upholstery is not that wear resistance (as compared to a mitsubishi and a honda that both saw 250k+miles). I hate leather, so it looks like I am going to have to bite the bullet and get replacements. I am just not willing to afford Recaros. We'll see what's available when I wear these out.
- Wish this car had a sunroof option.
- The seats don't move far enough back either...that's irritating, makes me wonder what they felt the average size person was that would be driving this car....very frustrating at times.
- Painted plastic...nuf said.
- Wish they had a mini-van hybrid, my wife would drive it in a heartbeat.
- More to come later

Overall impression - Wonderful little car, and it confirms, for me, the reason Toyota is the No. #1 automaker in the world now. Every car I drive could use some improvements, but out of all the cars I have driven, this one has made me the happiest and has the fewest complaints from me.

[Dave]

100,000 miles as of yesterday. My gas mileage has improved over the last year... I'm not sure if it's something about the car, or that I've finally figured out how to drive it.
I'm on my second set of tires. Replaced the OEM's at around 30,000 miles with Hydroedges. They've still got tread and I'll replace them when the rainy season starts. I had the front shocks (struts) replaced around 10,000 miles ago as one of them had failed. Other than that, the car has a few rattles around the dash, a few chips in the windshield, and I haven't gotten around to gluing the fabric back down on the center armrest.

I do wish the car was smaller. I miss my Tercel. On the other hand, I could not have hauled a 50 gallon water heater in the Tercel.
The backup lights are close to worthless. I think they're mounted too high. My driveway is twisty and relatively steep. I guess I could mount a light under the bumper, but I'm lazy.
I have learned a new way of driving since I got this car. I rarely drive fast anymore. I stay in the right lane and enjoy the scenery.

I could go on for pages, but I won't. I am very glad that I bought this car, I'm also grateful to Danny, efusco, galaxee, Frank, john1701a, daniel, and all of the people who post helpful information here at PriusChat.

Happy motoring,

David

[sarian]

i hit 100,000 miles 2001 prius aprox 2 months ago my prii ran great up until 3 days ago aprox. 113,000 suddenly no warning whatsover car lost most of its acceleration with the check engine light on and problem screen highlighting the car icon with !, the car seems to function fairly normally. aside from slower accelartion but error is persistant p3191 battery "charges and discharges rapidy with little to no use, but no hybrid icon illuminated no main battery icon illuminated and no error codes other than p3191 however suddenly it started throwing the brake light on the dash? dealership support around my area is nill and god bless the fools if its not from the eightys its too high tech for them. when i called to enquire as to the meaning of the code i spoke with service dept the response they gave me was i dont know and i cant find out until monday. frustating to say the least this is my ownly mode of transport and my lifeline i work 75 miles from home and of course if i cant get to work i cant pay to fix the beast i love my car and it has preformed flawlessly up to this point. any thoughts or recommendations would be greatly appreacietd otherwise happy motoring to you all

[john1701a]

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(sarian @ Aug 26 2007, 04:32 AM) [snapback]502284[/snapback]</div>

i cant find out until monday[/b]

Waiting isn't necessary. Try the search function here and on google now...

http://priuschat.com/index.php?showtopic=2...mp;#entry286555

http://www.google.com/search?q=p3191&r...amp;startPage=1

[mrbazooka]

Traded 2001 Prius with 106k miles July, 2006. 2006 Prius has 32K+ miles.

[sarian]

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(sarian @ Aug 26 2007, 04:32 AM) [snapback]502284[/snapback]</div>

i hit 100,000 miles 2001 prius aprox 2 months ago my prii ran great up until 3 days ago aprox. 113,000 suddenly no warning whatsover car lost most of its acceleration with the check engine light on and problem screen highlighting the car icon with !, the car seems to function fairly normally. aside from slower accelartion but error is persistant p3191 battery "charges and discharges rapidy with little to no use, but no hybrid icon illuminated no main battery icon illuminated and no error codes other than p3191 however suddenly it started throwing the brake light on the dash? dealership support around my area is nill and god bless the fools if its not from the eightys its too high tech for them. when i called to enquire as to the meaning of the code i spoke with service dept the response they gave me was i dont know and i cant find out until monday. frustating to say the least this is my ownly mode of transport and my lifeline i work 75 miles from home and of course if i cant get to work i cant pay to fix the beast i love my car and it has preformed flawlessly up to this point. any thoughts or recommendations would be greatly appreacietd otherwise happy motoring to you all
[/b]

UPDATE! Toyota of course stood behind their product, took me and the dealership aprox 5 hours to get ahold of a case manager(not bad they have a full buissness day before they have to call you back) from corporate it took him aprox 10 minuts to get me approved for a full battery replacment, having them put new brakes new tran. fluid, oil change, air fillter cabin and engine, pretty much the whole nine Yards i must say that my experience with toyota has always been good but i went to a new dealership this time, closest one to where i was stranded and the experience was 10x better thanks Fayetville Toyota for one of the bes out of warranty warranty repairs. to all of you happy mottering and good luck even though my car is out of comission for 4 more days due to shipping delays this has been a positive experience and i cannot wait to get the customer satisfaction survey.

[tochatihu]

Good for you Sarian. Please also consider writing 'the happy letter' to Toyota Customer Experience Center, copied to the (good) local shop and your regional service manager. That little Karma pay-back may help out the next Prius that needs help.

[zippyprius]

Just passed 100K on our 02 and still running very strong. Mostly to/from work and an annual vacation around the country.

We're traveling from Denver to Minnesota and some of Canada in a few weeks, so I'm debating what (if any) 100K service I should have done before we leave. We've done all the required maintenance through about 40K, then just oil changes and tire rotation every 5K and the air filter every 10K since. Nothing else. I've read through the posts and some say the CVT fluid should be changed at 60K, some say 100K, and apparently Toyota says never. The antifreeze is still bright pink on both sides (engine and inverter).

Also, I've seen mention of 3.5 qt. oil changes. We've always put in approx. 4 qt. without a single problem, so what's the story on that?

Thanks!