Significant repairs vs. mileage?

i have a 2004 ...with 104000miles on it...significant repairs...um...
NONE...just routine maintenance...oil, tires, fluids...brakes still have 1/2 the pads left at 104,000 miles yet...so to answer your question...NO significant repairs...

 

Mine has been dreadful, I have never had a car that needed so may repairs.



Not true.
Apart from a set of Michelin tyres and regular servicing which I do myself at home I had to spend $25 to repair the display screen which had a common fault for the 2004 to 2005 models. get a 2006 and you can avoid this nasty expense.

Sorry to read you had a Ford.

I've driven Toyotas for the last 25 years, people tell me parts for Toyotas are expensive but I wouldn't know. You see I don't need to buy many parts for Toyotas after all I only have 4 in my household, the newest is a 2004 Prius with 105,000km on the clock and the oldest and lowest mileage is a 1968 Toyota Crown sedan. The current highest mileage is the 77 Corolla (named "The Tank") my son drives while the wife drives the 96 RAV4 auto.

You will soon forget the pain of Ford ownership after you buy a Toyota.

 

I owned a 2002 Ford Taurus and had the transmission rebuilt twice under warranty, so I can relate to your experience.

When buying any used car, and especially a Prius, a thorough inspection is required so that you can determine whether pre-existing mechanical conditions or accident damage exists. I suggest that you pay for an hour of labor and have your prospective purchase inspected by a Prius-trained tech at your local Toyota dealership.

The car is generally highly reliable but it is certainly possible for a particular vehicle over 100K miles to suffer an expensive failure into four-digits. Who knows, a particular used car offered for sale may have a problem that the owner is trying to remedy by selling, instead of fixing it.

The Prius electronics content is far above most other cars in that price range, and that complexity results in more potential failure areas.

Good luck with your decision.

 

I second what Patrick says, definitely have someone who is qualified from the actual Toyota dealership take a look over, they should also be familiar enough to know where the more common problems lie. Also make sure to get a carfax to see the VIN history. I made this mistake when we bought a used VW, on the surface it seemed like the vehicle was in top shape only to have uncovered problem after problem. Point is that all the quality in the world can be built into the car, but it can't compensate for prior owner neglect and it that can make buying a used car (regardless of brand) to be as costly if not more costly as buying a new one.

 

I also had a Ford (1991 Probe) and the 3EAT auto tranny failed. I looked into the history and this transmission often failed at 60 to 75 thousand miles (it was guaranteed for 50k miles), but Ford never corrected the problems. A manufacturer has the responsibility to maintain quality to protect their customers from untoward maintenance costs. Even though Ford has made some good products, I have not rewarded their poor behavior with any more purchases.

I inherited my daughter's VW Jetta which she bought in spite of my warning about maintenance cost. VW also seems to suffer from the same disregard of customer experience as Ford as they have a history of unacknowledged quality problems.

Recalls are not the problem, it is the unwilingness of management to acknowledge and accept responsibility for repetitive problems that occur due to defects (as opposed to normal wear). Toyota usually (but not always) does take responsibility for unexpected defects and is a step above the above discussed companies.

My 2004 Prius at 135k miles has only had one repair which, in spite of the dealer's misdiagnosis (they wanted $500 for an unnecessary full brake job), was fixed by bleeding the brakes for $30. My MFD still works (an example of one instance where Toyota misbehaved)! and due to the great information available on these discussion groups, I can fix it myself if it should fail.

If a used Prius has been well maintained, it should be a good purchase. Just use this and other discussion groups to educate yourself on proper maintenance as many Toyota dealers have (I'll be kind here and not judge motivation) less than sufficiently educated maintence personnel.

JeffD

 

Good advice from from the folks here. Have the Prius checked by a certified Toyota mechanic. Get any service records if available. Get a Carfax report. t will usually show if any major accidents, flood damage, etc.. It's $29 well spent. After purchase make sure that any warranty work (ie recall) gets done. Also if you have some extra cash you can purchase an extended warranty from Toyota or another reputable firm to cover those expensive parts. That should ease the mind a little. Best of luck!

 

I had my first repair last week at 78K miles in our four year old Prius. The 5 watt parking bulb died. The part was $1 at Walmart, plus the couple minutes of labor I billed to myself. Maintenance has been tyres, filters, oils and a recent alignment. I change the filters and oils myself, and have spent about $150 on them. The alignment cost $150 for lifetime checks, and $130 at a different garage to have a rear wheel shim placed.

As for buying a 90k mile Prius. Well, it depends on the price, and what comparable non-hybrid cars are going for. E.g., I refuse to buy sedans, so I compare to a Toyota Matrix. If back seat room is important, compare to a Camry or Accord. If reliability is the only thing important to you, compare to a Civic or a Corolla. If money was tight I would consider the Prius offer competitive if it was within 120% of the price of my comparable car of similar wear.

 

Why are you jaded by your experience with the mechanic? $2500 to $3500 is about right to replace a transaxle in a FWD car. (The range depends on if you are using a used, rebuilt, or new transaxle.) The age of your car has no effect on the amount of labor required. Why would you expect a mechanic to work for less because your car is 10 years old.

If you are a grad student as indicated in your name, I would recommend you avoid a Prius and any other hybrid. They command a premium in the used car market. My recommendation would be a $5000 used car. Civic, Corolla, Prism (same car as the Corolla), Contour, Focus, etc. A good example of any of the cars listed can be found with less than 100K miles for $3000 to $5000.

To answer your question, I've done nothing but routine maintenance on both of my current vehicles. 51K miles on the a 2005 Prius, and 179K on a 2003 VW. I believe the primary reason for the lack of emergency repairs is that I actually do the required maintenance.

 

the key thing is maintenance records and a pre-purchase inspection. if they don't have the service history, the car is worth less to you.

$3k+ is not too unusual for a transmission. my mom sold her taurus at 75k because of transmission problems. she got a camry.

as a fellow grad student living on a meager stipend, i would recommend looking at all your options and not limiting your search to a prius. you're not in grad school forever, and money's tight enough without car payments. you can always buy something cheap, drive for 3 years, sell and buy a prius later.

 

Doing a teardown without your permission is dishonest. I suggest you find an honest, independent mechanics. Car Talk is an excellent place to find recommendations on a mechanic.

KBB value is only important if you plan to sell the car. It would make no sense to pay $3500 to fix the car then sell it for $2400. If the car is in decent shape it would make lots of cents to pay $3500 and drive the car for another 3-5 years. JD Power gives the Taurus an above average rating for long term dependability. A modern car will easily go 250K miles with good maintenance.

It is almost always less expensive to keep driving your existing car than to buy a new one. A $15,000 car will cost $359 per month on a 48 month loan at 7% interest. $3500 is only 10 months of car payments. As long as you aren't trying to repair parts of the unibody the rest is inexpensive compared to a loan or lease payment.