HV Battery fail @ 126K miles

That is plenty if assuming that no additional parts failures occur. He may replace the traction battery in the Prius than get hit with a Inverter than a Transaxle, than master brake cylinder, surely new springs and struts, a few brake jobs, oil will start burning so new or rebuilt engine replacement. The owner is not a mechanic. That 4K can disappear quickly.

Old cars are accidents waiting to happen

 

You did notice that I mentioned it was highly unlikely, right?

 

Yes sure did

My take you only live once buy the new car and enjoy today because tomorrow you may get flattened by a trash truck crossing the street

 

Jmd, guess I better get rid of my 88 Camry. anyone looking for a good car?

 

The driver of that truck

 

LOL, he looks like he doesn't know how to drive.

 

I know. Can you imagine the look on his face

 

That Camry is old and holding up. They just don't make cars like that anymore.

 

Bought it new in NC in 1988 for 18,500 and it didn't have a spot of rust on it until I moved back to NY 4 years ago. Now I remember why I left in 1981.

 

The OP has been honest and straightforward about his experience. But something was pestering me about the whole thread till I recognized what was bothering me. The OP has not lived through owning a bunch of GM, Chrysler, and Fords from decades ago. The GM stories of long ago about "how the engine seized driving the car home from the dealer" made me realize the new standard for Toyotas is a very high bar indeed.

 

spell check no help here. sigh.

Thank you FL_Prius Driver for correcting your error!

 

Long Island was the same I recall. Salt in the air from the Ocean and they salt the roads after snow. It just rusted the cars

 

That why I only drive my Prius in the warm weather.

 

So the 88 is your winter beater, eh?

 

It wasn't until I got here, but it is now.

 

I bet this girl influenced the sale. The Rav4 genie

 

I certainly think the OP has a valid point here. We Prius owners tend to be proud of our purchase and brag about thousands of fuels savings we are getting. Hence some politicians want to move in and add taxes to hybrids. But up to the first $10,000 savings just goes to offset $4000 more for the car + dealer markups + greater sales taxes + $2000 extra taxes + fees in Virginia + possibly large expense such as battery. So if everyone was a little more respectful of the extra costs of a hybrid (as the OP certainly is now) it might help.

I calculate only $1100/year fuels savings for the Prius over 28 MPG RAV4, and that's for a road warrior doing 20,000 miles a year. If you have less say 10k miles/yr, it starts to be questionable savings for hybrid.

 

LOL, now you are showing both of our ages I know for a fact that Ford means "found on road dead". Had two of them do that to me. Both of them were due to distributor failures, but also had a Mercury (fancy Ford) that had to have the tranny replaced $1600 back then (mid 80's) definitely equivalent to the cost of a traction battery today when you consider inflation. I was lucky to be able to drive the Mercury to the tranny shop. OD was completely gone, all the clutches were fried by the time I got it to the shop. The truth of the matter is that cars today are built a LOT better than they were 30 or 40 years ago. In the old days, if it made 100K it was a miracle. Today, you expect 200K and more and groan if something breaks before hand. I won't discuss the Volare my father in law owned, what I will say is that in five (5) years time he actually saw the road through the floor boards.

Ron

 

I thought it was fix or repair daily.

 

fix or repair daily, found on road dead - pretty much the same thing. I forgot to mention the Mercury Sable, that was the last Mercury we owned. In the last three years of the Sable's life, I spent 3K each year in repairs. Traded it for a Mazda, guess what - another FORD!!! Nice MPV Van except the tranny shifted crazy rough and the check engine light was on more than it was off. Got shed of it a 65K, to get a Chrysler Mini Van (GAS HOG), one month later got shed of it and bought the Prius and have not looked back.

Does anyone here remember the variable venturi Ford had? That was a joke and a half. Worst carburetor ever made. Of course it was not called a carburetor back then... new technology, sort of like Windows ME.