52k miles, "high mileage"?

Excellent chances, and more miles on top.

There are still relatively few Pruis with 200k+ miles, but the accumulating evidence strongly points to worry free 250k+ miles for the vast majority of owners. You may wish to read the threads posted by usbseawolf where owners with 200k+ and 300k+ miles report on their cars. They are *very* reassuring.

Another bit of great news is that the prius is a popular car, so the few people that do have a part failure can usually buy a lightly used replacement at reasonable cost and keep on going. Well versed independent hybrid mechanics are also starting to cover the US; you only need about one per state

 

I presume Patrick is assuming dealership repair costs; lightly used and installed by independents are 1/3 to 1/2 as a WAG.

I doubt the 30% total failure rate figure. Of the 5 components mentioned we would have to see ~ 6% failure rate per component on average in our high mileage cohort. Has it even been 1/10th that ? I wouldn't argue with your guess for the Highlander hybrid.

Addendum: This is the 200k+ miles thread.

 

Yep, though the more expensive transaxle failure is really one of the very least likely of the "big ones". Something like a (reconditioned) battery replacement at sub-2k is probably more likely (if in fact any of the bigger expense failures even occurs).

And let's not forget that if she actually does drive it 32k miles per year over 5 years then the fuel savings could potentially be massive. Over the time period involved gas is very likely to go well over $4/gal.

By my calculation, even at "just" $4/gal the fuel savings over a 25MPG Malibu would be about $13000

 

No guarantees in anything, but the car should be good for life of loan. It always comes down to how much you want to pay on repairs. Probably you'll have no major event like an engine go on you. If you do, you could keep it running but it would cost you. That would be very unlikely in five years in this car, though, even starting with 52k.

 

With oil steadily rising recently, you can see which family/friends are haters (still denigrating your decision) and the lovers (congratulate you for it ).

 

For maintenance purposes think of it as the transmission. It has a different name because the casing that holds the gears also holds the electric motors. For some reason dealerships charge $100 - $200 dollars for what amounts to a drain and fill of Toyota WS fluid.

If you are inclined, this forum has superb tutorials how to do the simple maintenance yourself, many written by Patrick. If you are trying to save money DIY is a no brainer.

 

So thats not so bad, assume its an average of $25k miles per year. So over 5 years you're looking at an additional 125,000 miles, plus the 52k, 178k. The car will certainly still be a good reliable car at that point, assuming its been cared for well between now and then. Change the transmission fluid regularly, and deal with maintenance issues as they come up...don't let them pile up...

 

Transaxle is the term used for a front wheel drive transmission.

So yes, same thing.

 

^^ Use the Toyota stuff, it is called WS ATF (affectionately known as "wild shit" but the mundane know it as "world standard."

 

Be aware that the Toyota stealerships will likely tell you 1 of 2 things when you ask them about changing the transaxle fluid. They will either say it will cost $300 because they have to do a complicated flushing procedure (not true, they are thinking it has a conventional automatic transmission) or they will say Toyota considers the fluid a "lifetime" fluid and it doesn't need to be replaced. While this is technically true (Toyota does consider it a "lifetime" fluid) people here at Prius Chat have found that the fluid gets very dirty within the first 30k miles. Since replacing the transaxle is a $6k proposition, changing the transaxle fluid at regular intervals is considered pretty cheap insurance. I believe the wisdom of Prius Chat is to change it at 30K miles and then every 45K to 60K after that.

 

Nope, different terminology...same thing.