General maintenance costs

Well that is good thing. There have been a few other folks hot about cost of oil changes for their new car. From other posts on PC you will notice that the oil changes will cost more (due to synthetic oil about $35-45 DYI or 50-60+ Dealer) and probably more frequent (5,000 miles or 6 months) depending how often you do them now.

With that said, there a lot of other things you will not have to worry about. Like no belts, fewer lubrications to check, etc. I just glanced at the maintenance schedule and it seem a lot simpler than say for my Kia van.

I am sure others will have more details but I perceve that maintenance will be a lot less overall on the Prius than most others.

Peter

 

Oil is the only thing (routine maintainence wise) we can complain of because in the first 100,000 mi all you have is 20 oil/filter changes, 20 tire rotations, 3 cabin air filter cleanings and 3 cabin air filter changes. I am a DIYer so I'm looking at $1000 over the first 100K miles (I'll let Toyota see it every 25K mi or so for an oil change and inspection)

 

jiffy lube + Prius?:frusty:

 

IMO changing synthetic oil every 5000 miles is a waste. I run ~7500 on regular oil. Lots of oil threads here. Do what you want. Air filters are very easy DIY items.

 

There is a good reason for the 5K mile oil changes. The engine is stopping and starting many times during the day while driving.

The car I replaced with a Prius I ran Mobil 1 and 5K mile oil changes.
The oil was toast as they say according to oil analysis by 5K miles.

Why?

Same reason as why Toyota wants 5K mile synthetic oil changes. I make lots of short trips and that is considered SEVEAR use.

Because the Prius engine is starting and stopping so much due to the car being a hybrid the engine oil never gets up to normal operating temperatures above 190 degrees. That means any fuel or moisture contamination that is occurring to the oil during normal use of the car never gets "boiled" off. That is considered severe duty.

My Highway car that is used exclusively on the interstate is one year or 10K mile oil changes. If I drove it as my daily driver 5K mile oil changes would be the norm.

I hope this helps explain why Toyota requires the 5K mile synthetic oil changes.

 

I not an oil engineer or anything but I would suspect that because there will be an increased demand of 0W-20 that a manufacture will likely come out with a cheaper, non-synthetic or blend alternative. Then we will all be back to normal costs for an oil change.
From what I gather, the Toyota 0W-20 may very well be a blend.

Peter

 

I doubt Jiffy Lube will do a Prius. It's not a spin on oil filter. I'm sure, but have NO proof that the 5,000 mile oil change interval is due to a law suit, not anything mechanical.
You should consider doing your own maintenance. Why leave it to the High School drop out at Jiffy lube? I can say that because I am a mechanic, and was even a High School drop out for a while.

 

The quick change places are accustom to filter inserts and removing plastic. They even carry 0W-20 synthetic. I checked already.

Of course, I've changed oil once myself in the 2010 now too. $46.49 for first-time costs (since I needed a new wrench). $37.24 for subsequent. Those values represent the use of 4.4 quarts of oil, which brings the level up to the "full" mark. 1/4" below that takes precisely 4 quarts.

Many photos were taken. An oil-change document is on the way...
.

 

Look forward to the photos of the process. I can say that my first experience with an insert was in my 2006 Hyundai Sonata and I definitely have liked using that kind of filter vs. a screw on metal type. The Sonata is top mounted which also made the process much easier!

 

My Kia Sedona is the same and I really like the setup. However the Prius container is under the car and that will make it a chore / dirty I am sure.
Peter

 

Any reason why my neighborhood mechanic who's been sucessfully caring for several Gen I and II Prius's shouldn't be able to perform the regular maintenance on my Gen III? Anything radically different for him?

Thanks!

 

Maggie, it should be completely fine. Just buy the oil, filter and tool for him. The ONLY benefit of the dealer doing it is that they rotate your tires, which your neighbor could do but its much easier on a lift.

 

Thanks Jestoy7. He's a real mechanic - meaning he owns and operates his own shop. So having him rotate the tires will be simple. Assuming he has acquired and uses the appropriate tools, etc for the other Prii he works on, it will be very convenient to drive two blocks, drop off the car and walk back to my home office.

 

Maggie, the tool I mention is one that Toyota made to pull the filter cartridge without damaging the case. I don't know if the Gen II uses that same style, but the tool is real cheap (I just priced it) and it costs less than $10.

 

But doesn't Toyota recommend a longer oil change interval in other countries? Honda has the oil life indicator on the Insight hybrid and I think some owners get signaled for an oil at 7.5-10k miles.

So does the Prius really need the oil changed every 5k miles when it's out of warranty?

 

It's looking like Toyota is playing it safe because they don't have an oil life indicator. Why not is the $64K question?

I wouldn't go on instinct. I'd start running oil analysis on the oil about a year out before the warranty is up. Based on the results go from there. Everyone drives different and lives in different conditions so be safe and get it checked before extending your oil changes.