Prius less economical as experience and miles pile on

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(cbs4 @ Nov 5 2006, 11:23 AM) [snapback]344113[/snapback]</div>

 

It has been true for decades that the sum of the cost of parts far exceeds the purchase price of the car when new. This is not unique to the Prius.

 

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(cbs4 @ Nov 5 2006, 01:17 PM) [snapback]344137[/snapback]</div>

You still haven't answered the question. Replace What and Why?

 

I can understand how Cbs4 feels. At 46,000 miles my ABS system quit. How much will the repair cost? I don't know, I'm afraid to ask, I've continued driving the car as is. At close to 50,000 miles the MFD started working intermitently. Again, I've continued to drive the car as is. It certainly looks like in the long run all the savings in gas will not come close to the additional repair costs.

As to the extended warranty, if one must purchase one of these because one's afraid of repair costs, the car's not reliable and not worth it.

 

Prius is not an economy car. Did you really buy yours thinking that it was?

 

First off, it's unfair to compare the cost of do it yourself replacements to what a dealer charges for anything.

If you took most any car to the dealer to replace a battery to it would cost way more than the $48.00 you qoute for a Wally World special. I'd guess most dealers would charge well over $200 for parts and labor to put a battery in. Just like former car (a Miata), the Prius uses a sealed battery. I found that the Mazda battery was about $150 plus labor. I could get a better battery from Westco that was totally interchangeble with the Miata battery for about 80.00 I'm sure there are non-Toyota sources for Prius batteries too. (http://www.westcobattery.com/miata.html)

With the headlight, what failed? The bulbs can be bought from other sources. $2000 seems absurd. The bulbs are usually under $200 and are supposed to last the life of the car, the ignitors shouldn't be much more than that. I'd expect the entire headlight system could be bought for under $2000!

With the MFD, yeah that's pretty expensive. But as others have said Toyota will sell a refurbished unit for about $400.

So, what you have proved is that if you cherry pick 3 really expensive repairs on a new car with state of the art technology and find seriously overpriced quotes on their repairs without providing any details on what the actual repairs are, it will cost hundreds of times more than if you do your own replacements on an old car. Well, you win that one.

 

Hi All,

Well, I think it can also be said that "Any Car" is less economical as the miles pile on. I was asked at work this week during the lunch hour by a guy with a Vibe wtih 30 K if he needed brakes. From what he said, I responded "probably". His travels are mostly in city and suburban driving, and no week day highway driving.

If you bought a BMW or other luxury car with HID lights, it would be similarily expensive to have them repaired. HID lights are not commonly found on your typical economy car, and with the Prius, you have choice to buy an economy car, or buy the luxury, high cost features, as CBS4 did (package 8).


The battery issue is just a matter of time until there is enough of a market for replacement hybrid car deep cycle auxiliary 12 v batteries. Then one will be able walk on in at Pep Boys or Sears and get one for $60 installed. Right now, the volumes are probably not there.


I think the only valid issue with the Prius discussed above over other cars (for the moment) is the MFD. As all that functionality is built into it , it needs to be allot more reliable. Toyota apparently did not realise and execute the needed reliability. With the old style controls, a broken knob only effected one function, was much less an issue and cheap to fix. The MFD needs reliability as reliable as a typical manual control times however many manual controls it replaces, to give similar service as a manual system.

Watching car shows I see the savings of initial vehilce cost that the MFD permits is too seductive and many non-hybrid cars are converting to the MFD concept.

Electronics are sensative to heat, and the MFD does run hot. Starting the car up after a hot soak is probably very stressful to the MFD. Its probably a good idea to avoid turning the car on at those times, or prvent the car from being hot-soaked.

 

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(cbs4 @ Nov 5 2006, 10:34 AM) [snapback]344142[/snapback]</div>

If this is a problem that is covered by the original factory warranty, it is most likely also covered by the extended warranty. It does not sound as if this was just a defective bulb, but something considerably more involved, such as what you have listed in your laundry list of lighting components that are covered by the extended warranty.

The $20 you spent on replacing a headlamp on one of your previous car was most likely just for the bulb, not the complete headlight assembly and controls.

Aren't you the one who just a few days ago wrote:

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(cbs4 @ Oct 31 2006, 05:02 PM) [snapback]341643[/snapback]</div>

It may be time for you to reconsider, if it is not already too late. Processing a claim under Toyota's extended warranty should be no different than having a repair cost covered by the original Toyota new car warranty. And by the way, it is not thousands of dollars, Troy offers the 6 years / 100,000 miles genuine Toyota extended warranty for under $900 through PriusChat (the $990 quote is for the seven years policy).

 

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(cbs4 @ Nov 5 2006, 12:52 PM) [snapback]344153[/snapback]</div>

You cannot with such a tiny data sampling. A generalization simply isn't possible.

Of course, none of it is related to the hybrid system anyway. So just passing on the extras/upgrades is the only realistic suggestion for those that don't like the odds.

 

It's regrettable, but sh!t does happen. Perhaps you just got a bad one. Or perhaps your inexperienced dealer is misdiagnosing the problem and replacing stuff shotgun until it works, or breaks one thing while he fixes another? You might try asking for recommendations and getting it fixed at another dealer.

To minimize car expenses, buy a clean one- or two-years-old compact. A new car is always more expensive.

 

Instead of exchanging opinions, why not have a poll where everybody can say how much they've spent repairing their Prius in the first two years? Only for Prii older thant 2 years, so we have more accurate results...

 

Repair parts on cars these days are obscenely expensive. And if you happen to get a lemon, you are justified in getting mad.

But Toyotas are among the most reliable of cars. Your chances of having to have repairs done with a Prius are a small fraction of your chances with any American-made car, or most other foreign cars.

This logic does not help if you are the unlucky one in a thousand who beats the odds the wrong way around. But the Prius is still one of the most reliable cars on the road, and taking the fleet as a whole, much less expensive than other new cars. (Used cars being much cheaper over the life of the car because of the enormously-cheaper purchase price.)

Insurance is a way to spread the risk. You help pay for other folks' costs, and your own are limited. The extended warranty allows you to do that for repair costs. Adding a thousand bucks to the cost of a $30,000 car (I gather you bought the top-end options package) does not transform an economy car to an expensive one.

It's also worth noting that the folks posting here are the enthusiasts, and people who have a problem (whether looking for a solution, or just getting a gripe off their chest). So you're going to read more about problems, than about the great majority of cars that have had no problems.