Any Prius owners? Have you considered one?

[MetroMPG]

Someone asked me in a private message about the Toyota Prius, because they remembered me saying I owned one, and they're considering getting a used one in the future.

I owned a 2004 model (first year of the 2nd generation) in 2015-2016:



I bought the above beauty with about 270k kilometers / 168k miles on the clock. Despite the age & high kms I was confident with the purchase because (A) it drove fine and (B) the previous owner provided a STACK of receipts for oil changes/repairs/maintenance over ~10 years of ownership. The car was not neglected.

To pass Ontario's mandatory mechanical inspection on transfer of ownership, it needed one control arm (worn bushings). In the year I had it, I replaced brake pads/rotors, 12v battery, and welded a couple of patches on a leaky exhaust pipe - normal older car stuff.

More info: here's the EcoModder thread about my 2004 Prius and the fuel economy modifications I did to it.

CVT worries?

Nope.

The CVT in a Toyota hybrid is a planetary gearset design, not a belt & pulley arrangement like the JATCO CVT's. They're even more bulletproof than a conventional automatic or manual transmission.


Hybrid battery worries?

Battery failures in older, high km/mile Priuses are rare (2nd gen and newer), but not unheard of. (Battery failures in older Honda hybrids are much more common - I also owned a Honda Insight, which I knowingly bought with a near-dead battery.)

But I was concerned enough to pay very close attention to the battery performance during the test drive. There are ways to test drive the battery where you cause the car to intentionally run the charge low and then recharge it again to get a rough sense of its capacity. At 270k kms, mine performed as good as new. (You can also have them tested with a special diagnostic tool. )

Toyota designed a very conservative battery management system and chose a robust, tried and true "old-school" battery chemistry (nickel metal hydride) which is known to last a long time.

Worst case scenario, used known-good batteries are relatively cheap and plentiful.


MPG?

A 2nd gen Prius will slightly outperform a Mirage 5MT head-to-head. And I didn't even mind that it was an automatic - I really enjoy driving the Toyota hybrid system. In fact, the Prius was the only automatic car I've owned since I was 16.

Toyota improved MPG in every generation of the Prius. I think we're at the 4th or 5th generation now.


Would I recommend one?

Yup! It's one of Toyota's most reliable cars. I actually have recommended it, and several friends have bought them.

One my favourite cars to drive in the past couple of years is one friend's 2018 plug-in Prius Prime (40-60 km of 100% electric driving, then it switches to normal gasoline/hybrid operation). Favourite why? Because I'm a nerd.



Fun MPG anecdote: modded 2000 Chevy Metro 1.0 5MT vs. 2018 Prius.

I had a chance to drive both cars over the same route: Similar ambient temperatures, but weather conditions were actually worse for the Prius (drizzle, wet/damp roads, breezy).

On gas, the Prius reported 3.0 L/100 km = 78 mpg US over ~95 km.

That's most of the time on cruise control, on back roads/scenic route, with cruise set at 75 km/h (47 mph) most of the time.

In the Metro, I only managed 3.3 L/100 km = 70.5 mpg on the same route at similar speeds.

The Metro's ScanGauge is calibrated pretty accurately. I don't know how accurate the Prius' factory gauge is, but even if it's off by 10%, that would still make it even with the Metro, but in worse conditions.

Amazing, considering the Metro has lots of mechanical & aero mods on it, and the only mod I did to the Prius was pump up the tires.

More info: EcoModder thread with details, driving impressions & efficiency testing of my friends' Prius.


Is the higher MPG worth the cost compared to a Mirage?

Nope. Not if saving money is your goal.

But my friends who bought Priuses didn't buy them just to save money on gas, and would never have considered a Mirage anyway.