How many miles can you put on a Prius before needing a new car?

There is always the possibility that you got a lemon, of a Friday car. But if you can avoid those a Prius should be reliable to 300k.

What I am seeing is all the plastic has become brittle. The wheel well liners, the body panels, and the undercarriage skid plates, have all gone brittle. The rubber grommets used to hold them in place have released. I have body panels that have cracked, and the best idea seems to be drilling a series of 1/4 inch holes and threading tie-wraps to hold them together.

 

I'd say the key to getting 400-500k out of a Prius is to drive at least 26k miles per year.

Lots of little things on these cars go soft somewhere between 15 and 20 years of age, regardless of miles.

So I think of it as a buffet- all you can eat until closing time. If you don't show up hungry while dinner is hot, you won't set a record.

 

How long is a piece of string?

I saw a Ferrari 360 a few years back that had 160,000 miles - even a traditionally "unreliable" car can be kept on the road if you've got enough money, mechanical skills or persistence. I've also seen people junk a car that just needed a set of tyres or a windshield

Everybody's got a different breaking point is what I'm saying, I guess

 

354,742 miles.

 

I'll make 600k in the next 3 years easily All of my Corollas from 74 SR5s all the way up to 2002 made over 300k with little or no fuss never an engine replacement nothing just breaks tires batteries and whatever little things humans want to put in their cars for whatever reason but Toyota has never let me down until the 2013 persona I bought because my wife liked the color instantaneously needed an engine and other miscellaneous parts etc I doubt this car will make 400k but it might with its second engine and other bits and pieces in it but I generally do not head to that car to get into to use I use my Gen 2 let the girls have the Gen 3s because they're parked all day at work. My Gen 2 is on the road making customer calls.

 

Impossible to answer.
It depends mostly on LUCK and your tolerance for ongoing repeated maintenance headaches.
Just like any car.
Only maybe worse because of the big battery that is involved.

 

It depends on a number of things...some aren't under our control...liking getting t-boned or hitting black ice and rolling her.

If you really want to get her to last, you have to stay on top of maintenance and rust-protection. Rust can kill any Toyota and, even when maintained well, if the brake lines and frame rusts out, the car is toast.

Find "The Car Care Nut" on YouTube and watch his maintenance videos...he even shows ruined engines on Toyota's where the owner only changed the oil every 10,000 miles. He has excellent maintenance videos and even talks about trouble areas to watch for in Toyota models...down to each generation.

And learn to do your own maintenance like many of us in here. Right now, the only things I don't do are major suspension work on our vehicles and have learned to change any and all fluids. It starts with changing the oil and oil filter, the best thing you can do for any vehicle if you want it to last. (Every 6 months or every 5,000 miles...no exceptions and don't listen to folks who say hybrids/plug-ins can go a year or 10,000 miles...and engine is an engine is an engine.)

 

If you put on the average of around 15,000 miles per year, then your Prius is nearly guaranteed to last 150000 miles, and likely to last 180000 miles. That would be 12 years, the average age of cars on the road right now. At or beyond 12 years, it’s likely to start needing some $500+ repairs if it hasn’t already. I know my car has needed some. And from then on, it’s a matter of consistent maintenance, timing, and luck. No car lasts forever, so you have to determine for yourself the costs that would be too much and would convince you to move on to another car. It could be a single $3000+ repair or the collective cost to repair a number of things in a particular year or the fact that the safety equipment or entertainment options are out of date, or a number of other factors. If you really love your car, you can keep it until you run out of money or parts. But for most people, I would say a Prius is designed to last 12 years and 180,000 miles.

 

Best start saving for my next car

Posted via the PriusChat mobile app.

 

I’ve only had them last to 220k most but I beat mine…

 

First, you have to consider that only 3% will ever make 200,000. The rest will find their forever home in an auto salvage yard before making that number.

Second, commercial users don't mind significant operating expenses because they normally have extra cars and they know where to get major mechanical work done fast and for a reasonable price. Taxi fleets are a case in point.

Plenty of people get 300,000, some get four hundred thousand, but most of those will be replacing an engine, replacing the battery and fixing a lot of small things. With gen3, you have to include brake boosters, inverters and oil consumption.

These days an engine or battery replacement is cost-effective compared to buying a new car, especially for those who value low operating costs over solid reliability. That was not the case before the pandemic and will not be the case in a year or two.

What you don't want to do is to buy a high mile Prius today thinking you can get a reliable hundred thousand out of it. Especially since car prices are often $5,000 to $10,000 over valued and interest rates are high. The used car market is sure to crash - leaving today's buyers upside down. Those buyers will end up having banks repossess while their credit goes down the tube. Especially when an engine is needed and they are still making high payments.

 

Agreed, used cars are on the cusp of returning to there normal values. Tesla for example have just knocked off 6 months of there delivery times as people are cancelling there orders in the UK due to cost of living rises.

Posted via the PriusChat mobile app.

 

It’s all about regular use and maintenance. How “nice” your ride is after 200K depends on your driving habits and how well you take care of it.

 

mine only lasted 35,000 miles and the tires went. too expensive to replace, so i dumped it