Hi Kent,
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Originally Posted by kentricho
Can someone please tell me the expected life of the Prius car itself?
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We have some data points including a Dept. of Energy fleet report. They ended their study after 160,000 miles with the Prius still running strong. Use Google to search for "INL/CON-05-00964" for "Hybrid Electric Vehicle Testing".
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Originally Posted by kentricho
I keep reading somewhere that Toyota design the life of the car to be thrown away after a certain amount of years?
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Where?
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Originally Posted by kentricho
Is that statement true?
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The author of that statement is not expected to live forever either. But I had to replace my '91 Camry in '05 due to an accident. It was still getting 32 MPG with about 183,000 miles, about 14 years.
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Originally Posted by kentricho
Will the car only last 8 years or something? I realise the battery needs replacing every x amount of years, but what about the car, will it still be good in 10 years time?
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The battery / transmission has either an 8 year / 80,000 mile warrantee or in some states, a 10 year / +100,000 mile warrantee. Buy your car new in California and keep your annual mileage low enough and you'll have a warrantee for 10 years.
As for replacing either of the two batteries, there is also an engine, wheel bearings, steering linkages and other moving parts. The last replacement price for my NHW11 traction battery was listed as $2,200 but batteries from crashed cars have gone for as low as $500. The 12 VDC battery is somewhat unique but there is a Miata battery that costs about $80-90 including the adapter terminals. Toyota did issue a service order about sealing the battery terminals in corrosive (aka., sea salt) areas.
Bob Wilson