For the Prius haters

A Vancouver taxi company "Yellow Cab" talks about the cost advantages of the Prius.

Link

"We change the brakes on a Toyota Corolla every seven to eight weeks, but on a Prius we change the brakes every 18 months or so," Sahota said.

Eighteen months in a cab's life is about every 250,000 kilometers. For regular drivers that's a brake job every ten years or so.

Great article, thanks for sharing.

- D

The Prius they mentioned was tested by CR was almost certainly the same one referenced in http://priuschat.com/forums/prius-h...-aging-2002-prius-says-retains-its-youth.html.

No hating here ....

Now that you mention brakes - Prius braking is great. When you lift off the accelerator, there is very little feeling of the car 'hurtling' forward. IOW, the car slows down nicely foot off the gas. Then you get the regen braking as double benefit of recharging the battery and motor acting as generator slows the car - brilliant.

In comparison, this new Accord Couple has a transmission that seeks to stay in a higher gear, likely for fuel economy gain. When lifting off the accelerator, it seeks to maintain its speed. IOW, the speed decreases quite slowly foot off gas and brake. When braking, it slows reasonably and I do that about as gently as possible since there is no regen braking.

Enjoy your Prius' - they are incredible

nice
but i dont believe that the battery wil last 35 years with normal use
but whe have to go another 20-25 years to see if thats the case ;-)

Many (including ours) Gen II's now have 100,000 miles on 'em and still have plenty of life left on the original brakes. Whacky but true.

.

This was how mine looked at 123,000 miles.

Front pads?

Yes. Front driver's side to be exact. It is where the most weight would be during braking.

Really eloquent.
Thank you.

wy did you remove them? look good for another 300.000 miles

I think I was adjusting the Sustec Pro NF and had the wheels off. So what the heck, I took a look.

174,000 miles and the brakes work just as well as they did on Day 1. My buddy who traded his Gen II for a Gen III had 246,000 miles on his 2004. He did a brake job at 225,000 miles. I'm expecting at least 225,000 miles if not 250,000 given the type of driving that I do.

This car is a wonder.

Great video. Is there anywhere this can be downloaded or posted permanently for future use? News website videos like this are often removed after only a short period of time.

i belong to two other car forums for several years.

even when they bring up the battery "transporting raw materials" subject, i bring up the the transportation of oil from the mid-east. suck, storage, ship, storage, refine, storage, gas lines, storage, transport to station. then it's "well you use it too."

but i only use half of what you use!


when they say my battery won't last and you'll have to buy one for $5,000. i say they have already gone over 200,000 miles. At 11,000 miles a year thats roughly 18 years for me. that Toyota not only recycles them they pay to get them back. the last figure i saw was only 371 failures up 2009 (Toyota video). you can also get them salvage for around $1,000.

when they ask maintenance i tell my oil changes are 10,000 miles vs. your 3,500-5,000. my brakes that last up to 200,000 mile depending on use.

when they say i should have bought the corolla it's cheaper overall. i tell them it is a compact sedan and the prius is mid-sized 4 door hatch with utility, apples and oranges. i got a prius III at $24,000, which other mid-sized 4 door hatch is at that price. oh TDI you say. well the TDI cost almost the same and while my prius runs on regular, the TDi runs on diesel which is the price of premium if not more.

then i hear.aahh...aaah the TDI is quicker. well you're you are correct but only by a small margin. and even if you go 0-60 in 5 seconds how does that help me in traffic? well the TDI will last forever. well go over to vortex and find out how many VW owners got screwed because VW won't pay to fix the high pressure pump at the cost of $5,000 while it's still under warranty.

i can scrounge up more but after a while of statements and links to prove it they are "misinformed", they shut up.



i think what in need to do is just keep one full copy with links so i can cut and paste in one post.



btw i link the thread with the brakes in another forum..........they disappeared.