Question about Prius and possible burning oil problems?

The ICE on the Prius works less often than a regular ICE and much less stressful by means of the HSD.
I traded in a 2004 ( a while ago) with 134 K miles and it never showed a sign of burning oil.
My wife's 2011 with 110K is in the same conditions; the oil level is basically the same after 10K miles during oil changes.

 

I don't get what your concern is here.
I don't read a whole lot of posts here where people are complaining about abnormally high oil burning problems with aging Prius Engines.
I don't really think the Prius has a propensity to burn oil as the engine wears, any more than any other engine. And as pointed out, since the engine is conceivably running less than a ICE ONLY vehicle, you could argue the wear for X amount of miles might be less.
And synthetic oil is recommended. And it can help prevent wear, but as with any oil it's not magic.

So if you want a used Prius....buy it.
As it ages could it start to burn X amount of oil? Sure....just like any other vehicle.

If at 50-65K it's burning a significant amount of oil? I'd say you bought a problem. And one that's ground work would of been placed before you owned it.

If it's a used Prius with under 70,000 miles on it, that has been maintained reasonably well, I wouldn't expect an oil burning "problem".

 

seems that some start to burn oil around 150k or less. but they are usually second hand with unknown abuse.

 

i know where you're coming from as i had an early 2003 corolla with the same engine as yours and it did consume oil from about 75000 miles. toyota fixed the problem later in 2003, but only in the 1.8L engine, and their 2.4L engine still had oil burning problems till it was discontinued and replaced by 2.5L sometime around 2009-2010 IIRC.

now, the 1.8L engine in 2010+ prius is VERY different from the 1zz-fe engine used in the 1998-2008 corolla and there should be no issues with oil consumption. However, we hear on this forum about occasional problems in prius with more than 100,000 miles. my take is only the top notch synthetic oils should be used for the 10,000 mile OCI. if one does 10,000 miles on discount bulk oils used by most shops (including dealerships) deposits slowly form on pistons and eventually the piston rings are shot.

 

We have never had a Toyota/ Lexus product that used any amount of oil ... The 11 Prius now has 122k and did not need any top up from 110 - 120k

 

good for you.
it doesn't prove they don't exist.