Hybrid durability and repair costs? - Page 2

 

One Prius used as a taxi in Canada went to 200,000 miles a year or two
ago, at which time Toyota bought it back to tear it down.  

But don't rely on anecdotes here.  Consumer Reports, for one, reports
that Prius has a much better than average reliability record.  This is
intuitively reasonable as much of the complexity is in electronics,
which should not wear out, rather than in mechanics (no clutch, no fluid
transmission valves or bands, no variable diameter pulleys, etc.).

 
The MGs also have multiple embedded thermal sensors, so I'm sure the power
is managed.

Mike

 cr113@hotmail.com wrote:

Looking at the reliability chart for a 1992 Corolla
(http://autos.msn.com/research/vip/Reliability.aspx?year 92&make=Toyota&model=Corolla)
shows engine, heating/AC, starting/charging and accessories problems
are to be expected.  200K miles would be 15,000 miles a year for 13 years.

There are cases where a Prius was used for Taxi and delivery.  In both cases
the reports were that they did fine and needed no repairs.

It does make sense.  The engine is coddled, and is usually running about
1/2 of the time.  The engine is spun up to speed before gasoline is
injected, so the wear is minimized.  The engine is under full electronic
control, so it is managed better, I.E no lugging.


The regenerative braking is as simple as engine braking, and accomplished
in much the same way.  The brakes are used less than in a conventional
car, so the wheel bearings heat up less and should last longer, just
like the brakes lasting longer.

You already know by now that the prius transmission has fewer moving parts than
a conventional tranny.  It also has fewer parts that mesh, so less wear.

In short, you won't get to 300K in a Corolla without some repairs.  There's
no indication that you'll need any repairs in the first 100 to 200K with the
Prius.

This excludes, of course, the normal wear and tear items like tires,
auxilliary 12 volt battery, etc.

 
I think that is a good reason to expect better engine life. The engine is
entirely under computer control: throttle, load (and therefore rpm and rate
of change of the throttle), mixture, ignition timing, valve timing, even
whether or not it runs. The engine gets a carefully controlled warm-up cycle
every time it is needed.

Mike

 Take a look at this statement.

Toyota's manager of alternative fuels and specialized vehicles, Vic
Johnstone, concedes the batteries, like the car itself, are built to last
less than a decade. "The life of the car and the battery are supposed to be
the same... around 8 to 10 years," he said. "We're not expecting to replace
them [the batteries]. In fact we only hold one [replacement] battery in
stock nationally."

This came from here

http://carpoint.ninemsn.com.au/portal/alias__carpointau/tabID__6491/ArticleID__5487/DesktopDefault.aspx