Prius Servicing Costs

A2fan

I will have to change car soon and am considering one of the early Prius' from 1998/99 as an alternative - not the nicest looking car in fairness but mileage looks fairly low and I'm assuming that fuel economy would be good....considering the price of diesel now and the projected demand for diesel exceeding that for petrol in the next few years......

Maybe at this age (98/99/2000) there could b major repairs due to Prius electric engine?

Does anybody have an idea of what it typically costs to service a Prius or any faults that are likely to appear at this age of Prius?

Any info appreciated
Thanks

Scottie99

What would concern me is the life of the battery.......expensive (VERY) to replace.
Stay clear!

JHMEG

Servicing is the same as any other car. There is no maintenance reqd for the hybrid stuff.

A 99 or so Prius can be had very cheap, and there are lots of them about (they started in 97 in Japan) and afaik Toyota hasn't had any batteries back yet. They don't breakdown suddenly anyway.

There is Dublin taxi driver that keeps a blog, and recently bought a late 90s Prius. I can't find the URL, but google for it.

gniie

I own a Prius and as part of the regular service the Hybrid system requires no servicing.
I also had to replace (at my own cost) my hybrid battery( looks like the first in the world by the published statistics......) and it is very expensive indeed.
I had just purchased a servicing manual for my Prius and I reckon I should be able to do the servicing myself when it is due again.
Note to possible buyers for pre 2000 Prius- you might not be able to get a diagnostick if something goes wrong because that model( NHW10) was intended only for the Jap. market. If you wanna know more reply....

Tipsy Mac

I'd avoid it and get the UK/Irish model from 2003/4, if something goes wrong with the earlier model it will be a nightmare to get fixed as Toyota never officially sold them in Europe.

biggus

Toyota did bring in the old model officially to Ireland and uk.
Older model is not a patch on the newer one from late 2003 on. Gen 1 as they call it in the states can give huge transmission problems which will make any prius worthless.
Checkout priuschat.com loads of relevent info here even though its USA based.
If you can't stretch to the later model Prius forget about it, unless you can pick one up an old one for about 5K(not worth more than this no matter what people are looking for them).
Other wise go for something simpler and diesel or another ecomomical petrol car(Civic corolla or avensis). Remember the biggest cost of running ANY car is depreciation so if you are spending a grand extra on fuel per year thats 4000miles at 20mpg at 1.30 per litre....or 8000 miles at 40mpg.
so what, if its a few quid in the tank every week, you won't trade up to another car for a grand every year.

LolaDub

Apparently a prius only averages 35 miles to the gallon so not so economical as you would be believe!

Plus its nasty

unkel

A2fan wrote: »

I'm assuming that fuel economy would be good.

I'd research that further if I were you. Many owners are very disappointed. Do a google for it. Direct injection diesels of similar size are generally more economical with fuel than a Prius

gniie wrote: »

I also had to replace (at my own cost) my hybrid battery( looks like the first in the world by the published statistics......) and it is very expensive indeed.

Could you please elaborate? I'm sure many people would be interested. Did you bring it to a Toyota dealer or did you do the job yourself? How much did it cost?

Guy:Incognito

ARe the batteries just a load of standard car batteries or something entirewly different?

biggus

Later Model 2004 on will do 45mpg everyday around Dublin (wife driving) and 53 on runs without trying. Best was 73mpg Dublin to wexford (80miles )during roadworks. Previous model is very low tech now and yes nasty. Current model is a lot quicker than you'd think 10 sec 0 to 60 mph when run in.

biggus

Here is a link to a stripped prius battery.


http://www.99mpg.com/resources/articlesandblogs/batterypacksexpose/

JHMEG

unkel wrote: »

I'd research that further if I were you. Many owners are very disappointed. Do a google for it. Direct injection diesels of similar size are generally more economical with fuel than a Prius

Not generally true. Check priuschat forum mentioned above. Many people are getting better than they expected, and the vast majority of owners seem to be happy.

unkel wrote: »

Could you please elaborate? I'm sure many people would be interested. Did you bring it to a Toyota dealer or did you do the job yourself? How much did it cost?

I too would like to know, considering the Toyota site says 8 years hybrid/100,000 kms Bumper to Bumper warranty.

biggus wrote:

Here is a link to a stripped prius battery.

Wow. Nice find. Battery maintenance and repair!

DublinDilbert

Stekelly wrote: »

ARe the batteries just a load of standard car batteries or something entirewly different?

You can never really have lots of "wet" lead acid batteries in a vehicle in case of an accident. In many ev conversions they use glass mat batteries, so encase of an accident you don't have acid flying every where....

Also standard car batteries are not "deep" cycle batteries, hence they are not designed to have current drawn off them for a long period of time...

JHMEG

Standard lead acid batteries also have a poor power to weight ratio.

unkel

JHMEG wrote: »

Not generally true.

Which bit?

Maybe some owners are happy, but fact is that similar sized modern diesels are more frugal.

JHMEG

unkel wrote: »

Which bit?

This bit:

unkel wrote: »

Direct injection diesels of similar size are generally more economical with fuel than a Prius

unkel wrote: »

Maybe some owners are happy, but fact is that similar sized modern diesels are more frugal.

^ Says he who has no experience of hybrids. Not really true.

gniie

unkel wrote: »

I'd research that further if I were you. Many owners are very disappointed. Do a google for it. Direct injection diesels of similar size are generally more economical with fuel than a Prius


Could you please elaborate? I'm sure many people would be interested. Did you bring it to a Toyota dealer or did you do the job yourself? How much did it cost?

JHMEG wrote: »

Not generally true. Check priuschat forum mentioned above. Many people are getting better than they expected, and the vast majority of owners seem to be happy.


I too would like to know, considering the Toyota site says 8 years hybrid/100,000 kms Bumper to Bumper warranty.

Prius is better in general(mpg wise) in city driving. Mine is doing 54mpg average per tank in Dublin and suroundings. And normaly I have less than 1hour trips. The longer you drive it he more efficient becomes!! For a smooth and quiet AUTO it is hard to beat by diesel in town. If you are doing mainly national roads os motorway driving than a diesel is better.


The HV replacing is a specialised job and is dangerous= voltage in the system can kill if you are chancing your arm. In Ireland the only people trained to do it are from TOYOTA Ireland( to my knowledge). They have assisted the dealer in changing my battery. The cost of the battery is @ 4K but there are other associated cost involved.
Toyota warranty only applies to cars sold by their network(N/A to imports). Do not buy a Prius that needs a new HV battery unless it is coverd by Toyota warranty.

Seth Brundle

4k is a lot cheaper that the price quoted to me over a year ago:

Our Ref: 276460
Re: Prius battery enquiry
07/Mar/2007

Dear KBannon,

Thank you for your enquiry into the Toyota Prius.

The Dry cells batteries in the rear of the Prius provide the power to the electric motor, which in turn drives the road wheels. There is also a conventional wet cell battery in the front of the vehicle that runs the electrics of the car and the petrol engine. The two types of battery differ greatly. Dry cell batteries have a much larger life span than wet cell batteries.

With regards to the life span of the dry cell batteries, the Prius has been present in the Irish market since 1998 and in that time no Prius has had to have their dry cell batteries replaced.

Toyota Ireland disposes of all their used batteries to a recycling company called Return Bat.

The cost of replacing the dry cell batteries in a current generation Prius is ?6210 and requires around 2 hrs labour.

Assuring you of our best attention at all times.

We remain
Yours very truly
TOYOTA IRELAND

JHMEG

Very low failure rates for out-of-warranty cars:

http://www.hybridcars.com/components-batteries/first-numbers-hybrid-battery-failure.html

Cost is $3000 (€1900) for a Prius battery in the US.

gniie

JHMEG wrote: »

Very low failure rates for out-of-warranty cars:

http://www.hybridcars.com/components-batteries/first-numbers-hybrid-battery-failure.html

Cost is $3000 (€1900) for a Prius battery in the US.

I would have expected that the HV batteries would be cheaper to replace in US( this car is much more popular there) than in Ireland. But in top of your delivery cost, they need a charge before installing and a specialist to do it- no independent specialist in Ireland- so it is not a valid option.


"4k is a lot cheaper that the price quoted to me over a year ago:"

Maybe your quote, kbannon, is for the new generation=NHW20 model. That battery is a bit smaller and a bit more powerfull than in my model(NHW11). It could explain the higher price. I also had to pay for the investigation/diagnostic of the fault and that increased the cost even more- at main dealer rates. So overall it is not practical.

JHMEG

Your model is the '01-'03 model which still has the hybrid stuff under warranty? What mileage is on your one?

Nam_Man

Not very promising reading ... Was thinking of getting a Prius myself for the enviro & my pocket!!

I'll be staying with my Ford Mondeo Zetec 2.0L TD ... For another while!!

€590 Road Tax is a killer but its more or less bullet proof ....

colm_mcm

First generation Prius is too much of a compromise IMO. better off with a Golf TDI or something.

gniie

JHMEG wrote: »

Your model is the '01-'03 model which still has the hybrid stuff under warranty? What mileage is on your one?

The mileage or the manufacturing year are not relevant because the warranty is not applying to imports. I've contacted Toyota Japan( manufacturing site) and eventually it ended with Toyota Ireland who denied any warranty cover " because this car was not intended for european market....". I find it hard to understand how that makes a difference but at the same time it is logical that they will not encourage grey imports.

"First generation Prius is too much of a compromise IMO. better off with a Golf TDI or something. "
I wouldn't actually agree. I heard some horror stories about Golf and that applies to other cars as well. My experience with Toyota cars over time is a very good one, and, bar from having to replace this HV battery, this car does everything by the book. I would say that if you get one in good nick it should run for many years trouble free and with low maintenance cost. I have read lots of references from US where this car was sold in hundreds of thousands( or there about....) and it would fare well in the company of other Toyota's.
They are not perfect by any means, but with the petrol prices going up I guess more Irish people will start to look at it. It is different and people are suspicious but the pockets will suffer from fuel cost and it will become more popular.

colm_mcm

I have a huge amount of faith in the current model Prius, just find the old one too small, ugly and plasticky to be able to live with. most available are JDM models too.