Prius: The cost of ownership over 10 years

This is more in line with what I saw on my Gen 2 before I traded. Gen 3 is too soon. I still do not trust that site as the absolute truth to everything in the universe as 42 is that answer. Hyundai did not even make the list and there should be more trucks. So what problems is the Corolla having to not make number one? To me a base Corolla and Tacoma should be very low to upkeep.

 

Had to pay for mine. Most reliable car (for me) ever would have been my 61 Chevy 6 cylinder with no AC. Also the 78 Corolla was bullet proof (no AC and a stick shift).

 

Probably no big ticket items in those figures. Maybe ????? a small dollar amount per year which could be way under actual costs. Seems battery, engine, and tranny failures are sporadic with no set failure rate. Also you have to remove the engine to do the heads. I will trade at 99K as long as I am able to do it as forum members have not determined what is causing the sporadic failures ( some say driving conditions but no one knows for sure). Probably a electric car next that self drives. By my signature block you can see I voted with my wallet. However, one computer R&R would change the whole equation.

 

This is a weird thing to keep repeating in a thread where it has been discussed.

Reading the linked original article shows that they do consider "expensive one-off costs, like a transmission rebuild, that skew the mean higher." That's in the article.

What do they mean by "skew the mean higher"? They mean they are presenting average costs, which means the average of people who have had that expense and people who haven't.

If 100% of owners have a particular expense within ten years, the average includes that expense in full. If half of owners have the expense within ten years, the average includes half the price. If four percent of people have the expense within ten years, the average includes four percent of the price (for the battery replacement example, that's about $120). That's just the average of what was paid in ten years by the four percent of owners who replaced it and the ninety-six percent who didn't.

It wouldn't change how you compute averages at all. It just means there's no guarantee that everybody's expenses will stay below the average ... that could only happen in Lake Wobegon. The computers are a striking example because even though some are expensive, needing to replace them is even more rare than needing to replace the battery. The proper amount in the average for any computer in the car is probably pennies.

Moral: a comparison of average repair costs is not something you can use to predict in advance how much any particular car is going to cost you. That's just not what it's for and not what it can do. But still it can have value as a comparison between models, as long as the authors used the same methodology for all of them.

-Chap

 

Some are attributing to the car, costs which are more owner driven.
As an example lets imagine that Ford Mustangs and Ford Fusions are made in the same plant using the same quality parts. The Mustang is going to cost more over 10 years because Mustang owners are going to stress those parts more, they will be less responsible with maintenance, and their accident rate will be higher. If you somehow swapped owners but not driving style, the Fusion would acquire these same bad marks.

Prius owners tend to drive less aggressively, do more maintenance, and get in fewer accidents. We make the car look good.

real car attributes:
The engine is less stressed because the motors help
The brakes are less stressed because the motors help. (note that brakes are expensive when they do need work)
The transaxle never shifts, so there is less wear and tear. (note that the transaxle is expensive when it does need work)

 

You have 24 oil changes there. The site considers 2 oil changes per year as average. Which I assume to mean you drive significantly more than what yourmechanic.com considers average. If we sum up your maintenance spending at 20 oil changes, the total is surprisingly average $4364.

 

You have a point. Cost at 10 years means nothing without knowing how many miles were driven. What is the average they claim? I will have driven 140,000 miles in a year from now, e.i. 14,000 a year.

 

I think we found the flaw in this article. If yourmechanic.com interprets maintenance cost over 2 oil changes as annual, this unfairly favors vehicles with 5000 miles OCI i.e. Toyota, Scion, & Lexus. That's 100k miles usage. Vehicles with 15k OCI, i.e. Luxury vehicles, BMW, Audi, MB. would have up to 300k miles.

I know around 2010 Toyotas started to use 10k OCI but the mix will still be skewed with the older models. Come to think of it, what is Saturn, Pontiac, and Mercury doing on there? The newest one is 9 years old. They won't have the benefit of more reliable later models years to average down. I'm calling this article BS.

 

In regards of Prius, the question one could ask is which exactly Prius? Gen 3, V and C are only what? 5-6 years on the roads. Is it Gen.2? Or did they include data from later models in their tables? But the cost could very from model to model. As I know they fixed the headlights problem ($1000 for me) in Gen. 3. As well they fixed the rubber trunk handle ($500)..I did not mention the upper glove compartment - another typical problem for Gen.2. $400 quote from a dealer to replace - never replaced, just live with it. Again, probably fixed in later models.

Big uncertainty comes from number of miles driven in 10 years. Except maybe for 12V battery, everything else (oil, tires, etc) would cost much less. For instance if I drove half (70,000 rather then 140,000) in 10 years, I would not have done many other things such as all liquids + spark plugs, which I did at 90,000.

 

I assume, especially given fuel efficiency that early life, and I consider 1st 5 years, early life, The Prius is very economical to own.
Fuel savings alone is going to put it at or near the top of the list.

However The Prius does have some hybrid complications with HV battery and separate additional Hybrid components that I think can increase the cost of maintenance as years pass, "if" they fail.
Which is true of all vehicles to some extent, but with a Hybrid maybe a little more.

I'm not too worried unless, until I start to reach the expiration of my HV battery warranty.
The Machiavellian part of me would really like to see a fully covered by warranty failure, about 6-8 months before the warranty expires. BUT....that would be just "luck".

Otherwise, keep a Prius long enough, and you are going to be faced with at least a decision and expense in regards to HV battery "continuation".

 

I am doing 2 oil changes per year, DIY. Here's my cost, purely for oil changes, over 10 years:

 

Considering that I'm driving over 20K miles a year, and live in hot and muggy Dallas, I'm hoping my batteries die off before the 8yr warranty runs out If not, I'm going to get my monies worth until it does...

[EDIT] Wait, nvm, it's 8 yrs OR 100,000 Miles...forgot about that detail. I better start saving up for a battery replacement....

 

The maintenance costs of my 2004, for 142,000 miles, have been $4,224.78, and it has almost new tires at the moment (less than 5,000 miles).