30's couple buying Prius-battery a legit concern?

A VW salesman/dealer is as relevant about opinions on a Toyota as a Toyota one is for VW. Both totally biased and should be ignored when opining on a competitors' car.

We're all biased on these forums but the Prius is a superior automobile to the TDI. If you don't want to take my word for it, run the numbers yourself on cost and gas, look at the reliability data, and look at the volumes sold. VW has earned itself a reputation for dodgy quality in recent times among a lot of people.

 

Response: "That's great to hear! I'd love to get a new one under warranty!"

 

Salesman are going to tell you what they think they need to tell you to sell their car, period.

Everyone has corrected the erroneous info already, so I'll just add that I, too, test drove the TDI before buying my Prius and I have ZERO regrets. The TDI has a lot going for it, but a lot of negatives as well. Different strokes for different folks, but I think you'll be VERY happy with the Prius and don't let the competing dealer sway you with misinformation/lies.

 

There is about one requirement to be a car salesman, and a high school diploma isn't one of them.

> It's the ability to piss in a cup. For the drug test.

There is about one skill required to be a car salesperson.

>The ability to lie. Hence the reason for the requirement above.

Why would you believe anything the salesperson has to say to you? At least you had the sense to come on this site to verify their claim.

 

I applaud the OP for visiting Priuschat to get the right answer though. Think of how many people don't and something like this goes unfixed.

 

Times are changing. I used to hear that Prius have battery replacements within 5 years

 

Toyota Prius sold over 315,000 units in Japan in 2010, the most Toyota sold of any model, ever, in one year, overtaking the Corolla's previous record.

Traction battery - don't worry about that.

[ame]http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Toyota_Prius[/ame]

 

That's actually backwards, though I don't know if that's actually a consideration to be made in terms of the hybrid battery.

When on the highway, you'll be very close to 65% state of charge (for the original poster, this is around the optimum charge the Prius actively seeks out). I can't imagine a practical highway scenario where you'd regularly be all the way down at 50%. The battery is constantly in use on the highway, it's a misconception that it's "dead weight" at those speeds. Since you have a 2007, if you go to the Energy Display while driving on the highway, you'll be able to see energy flow to and from the battery.

Either way, OP, don't worry about the battery!

 

Regarding the price for a new Gen 2 traction battery, I see that it has now dropped below $2000.

Champion ToyotaWorld

 

Remind me never to go with you on a road trip. I have to eat!

 

The VW dealer obviously has not heard of Duffy's Taxi here in Winnipeg. They run a fleet of Prius as taxi's. This climate can dip to -40 in winter

Using the VW dealership logic, every Duffy's taxi should be broken down on Broadway by the Legislature

Not

 

The unknown though in all this is how high Gas prices will rise within 6-12 months. They show no sign of falling back and the UK goverment say we may be in for a long haul in the middle east where tensions are driving up oil prices.

 

Strange that you think what I wrote is "backwards." Let's be clear:

I really know only enough about batteries to know they're pretty complicated, but

1) Heat, and especially cycles of heating and cooling, is what reduces the life of most devices -- batteries included.

2) Drawing power out and charging power back into a battery makes the battery hot.

3) This happens a great deal in slower, hilly, suburban driving, as I see the battery charge display varying greatly, from nearly empty to nearly full.

4) While driving on highways, the battery charge display generally shows half full -- occasionally +/- one bar more or less than half, rarely +/- two bars more or less than half.

>>> When I awkwardly described this as "essentially barely used" when driving on the highway, I was trying to communicate that although the hybrid system does make withdraws and deposits from and to the battery, in order to keep the ICE running at high efficiency RPM and torque, these power transfers are relatively small, resulting I would think, in minimal heating and electro-chemical degradation. So I agree that the hybrid system isn't simply "dead weight" as highway speeds, but it also seems clear it's doing much less work at highway speeds, has a smaller relative MPG improvement benefit at highway speeds, and transfers less electric power. And of course there's very little regenerative breaking power produced from highway driving.

5) When driving at highway speeds, I think people are more likely to have the air conditioning running turned on, which helps keep the battery cool. The few times I've heard the battery cooling fans in back turn on, I've been driving, again, with the windows down, on lower speed, hilly suburban roads.

So if it's backwards that the battery of a young, high mileage (implying mostly highway driven) Prius has had LESS stress on its battery than an old, low mileage (probably mostly city and suburban driven) Prius, I certainly don't see how. (Excepting the exceptional case where the old, low mileage Prius was kept in a temperature controlled garage, not used much in-town, and only rarely used for long highway drives. I'd agree that such an exceptional vehicle, while older, might have had less wear and tear on its hybrid systems.)

Also, the references to taxis surely are the best evidence for the toughness of the hybrid systems, since those vehicles probably have the most miles, and the most hybrid energy using miles on them.

 

For that minimal difference, i don't see why you wouldn't buy the new one.

 

^ I concur. The basic warranty is only 36k miles.

 

Yeah, concur, mainly for peace of mind and that in theory, a bunch of running changes and improvements will have been made between when the two were built.

The only plus about it being certified is that if it's a TCUV, then the warranty is a bit longer than what you can get on a new one (Toyota Certified Used Warranty). But, the previous owner already ran up the mileage a whole bunch.

 

Just for reference I paid $24,810 for a 2011 III in the KC Metro area (sticker was $25,010) about 1 month ago (got 2657 miles already) the dealer can charge you whatever they want on a used car, but they are kinda stuck at MSRP on new ones. Offer $200-300 under sticker...they won't say no!

 

I live in Miami but found a "deal" online in Maryland. I was able to beat a "vendor" discount available thru the SE distributor by about $2000. In January '11 I found a 2010 Prius III, brand new, for $21,300. I found the car online, was able to broker the deal and even arrange Toyota fiancing at .9% on the phone prior to catching a flight and driving home. The salesman even picked me up at the airport 30 miles from the dealership. The car was clean and waiting for me when we arrived. I would recomend finding a car wherever you can. As long as it is brand new and carrying a full Toyota warranty you can always have it trucked to you if need be. If the savings warrant a purchase far from home it can be well worth it. It was for me. I am a Prius convert now. Got 6000 miles on it already...

 

Hey fdf, I see what you mean. My apologies if my post seemed confrontational. I can assure you it wasn't, I know that it's impossible to tell without tone on the internet.

You bring up good points - I don't have the background to know if one is more stressful than the other, but it sounds worth considering. Interestingly, every Prius has its battery relatively significantly drained and recharged on startup, with all acceleration within the first minute or so being all electric, even with the engine running. After that discharge the car sort of super-charges itself back up, in that the rate of recharge is elevated by 100% or so compared to after the warmup phase.

For the state of charge percentage, the reason it looks like 50% is because the battery display on the Gen II only shows from 40-80%. That's why what you perceive as a little above 50% is actually probably 64% on the highway.

Apologies, too, to the OP for mildly hijacking the thread with this topic Hopefully it was at least a little helpful. Enjoy your shopping, keep us posted.