Cost of running a Prius

[Matt82]

whenever i see a prius, almost 9 times out of 10 its being flogged hard sat at 90mph on the motorway a foot from the bumper in front

 

[Dolph]

So, servicing costs are relatively cheaper than other cars then.

No, they are the same as other cars with small engines at a mid-range main dealer.

According to Toyota, the battery will last the life of the car.

Warrantied until 100k or for 8 years iirc, after that...

There is a case of a taxi driver in Canada who did > 200,000 miles in a little over two years driving four years ago in a Prius without having to change the battery (http://www.hybridcars.com/high-road/how-long-do-hybrid-batteries-last.html).

In 2005, according to him the cost in the unlikely event of your having to replace ALL 228 cells of the battery would have been 5,000 Canadian Dollars.

And there are cases of cars going on for >500,000 miles without major work... That doesn't mean that all cars of the same model will do so.

Edit: Actually, it's 5 years for the battery in the UK according to the Toyota site.

 

[stockhausen]

...
Warrantied until 100k or for 8 years iirc, after that...
...
Actually, it's 5 years for the battery in the UK according to the Toyota site.

It appears to be 150,000 miles or 10 years in California and some other US states, so the British figure may well be on the conservative side.

whenever i see a prius, almost 9 times out of 10 its being flogged hard sat at 90mph on the motorway a foot from the bumper in front

I must admit, I have NEVER noticed that; in fact, I don't think I have EVER seen any vehicle "sat at 90mph on the motorway a foot from the bumper in front". As to "flogged hard", if you aren't in the Prius, you wouldn't actually know, would you?

I do see plenty of smaller cars tailgating at speed on the motorway, often Clios or 205s, also the predictable silver or black BMW or Audi and vast numbers of dirty white Ford vans but never yet a Prius - so it goes . . .

I usually seem to see the Toyota Prius in a supermarket car park; perhaps they are popular with women who don't have such a preoccupation with the size of their genitalia


On a side note, since Toyota are probably the world leaders in power recovery systems in cars, I wonder why they have never implemented KERS in F1


edit: not that it in any way answers my question, there is quite an interesting explanation of the Toyota Hybrid Power System at http://www2.toyota.co.jp/en/tech/environment/ths2/ - ENJOY!

 

[gurusan]

2010 prius is not so bad

70something combined MPG, relatively torquey 1.8liter...combined 134hp

Not to mention a Cd of .25 which is pretty damned impressive.

 

[FirebarUK]

As far as I'm aware the environmental cost of manufacturing the battery is pretty high, comparatively. Some go as far to say that this offsets it's green credentials entirely.