Posted by cr113 on September 8, 2005, 6:36 pm
Paul Missman wrote:
> I'd bet the Prius lasts longer.
> The gas engine in a Prius runs in a gas engine's best power band. The
> electric motors provide the low end torque, freeing the gas engine to run
> where it performs the best. Also, the startup cycle on the gas engine is
> far easier on the engine than usual, according to Toyota. And, the Anderson
> (sp?) cycle probably is more friendly on the engine than the typical Otto
> cycle. Add to this that the Prius transmission has no gear changing (it is
> a fixed ring, planetary, and sun gear system with optimal ratios for the
> electric and gas engines) and you should get a system that lasts longer than
> your normal gas - manual or automatic - automobile.
> Also, regenerative braking, having no friction generating parts, will cut
> down on brake wear.
> It will be interesting to see, several years down the road, what parts
> actually wore out the fastest.
Yea, that's really what I'm interested in, which car from an
engineering standpoint should last longer. I'm sure the new ones will
have problems but they'll fix that. I've always felt that big gas
engines were inherently difficult to maintain. Like you said, it will
be interesting to see how they hold up, especially now that some of
them have been around a few years.
Posted by Charles Marslett on September 10, 2005, 8:10 pm
On 8 Sep 2005 11:36:46 -0700, cr113@hotmail.com wrote:
>Paul Missman wrote:
>> I'd bet the Prius lasts longer.
>>
>> The gas engine in a Prius runs in a gas engine's best power band. The
>> electric motors provide the low end torque, freeing the gas engine to run
>> where it performs the best. Also, the startup cycle on the gas engine is
>> far easier on the engine than usual, according to Toyota. And, the Anderson
>> (sp?) cycle probably is more friendly on the engine than the typical Otto
>> cycle. Add to this that the Prius transmission has no gear changing (it is
>> a fixed ring, planetary, and sun gear system with optimal ratios for the
>> electric and gas engines) and you should get a system that lasts longer than
>> your normal gas - manual or automatic - automobile.
>>
>> Also, regenerative braking, having no friction generating parts, will cut
>> down on brake wear.
>>
>> It will be interesting to see, several years down the road, what parts
>> actually wore out the fastest.
>Yea, that's really what I'm interested in, which car from an
>engineering standpoint should last longer. I'm sure the new ones will
>have problems but they'll fix that. I've always felt that big gas
>engines were inherently difficult to maintain. Like you said, it will
>be interesting to see how they hold up, especially now that some of
>them have been around a few years.
Very true, my experience has been that almost all my non-standard
maintenance costs have been if four areas: transmissions, starters,
POWER DOORS/WINDOWS, and air conditioning. And almost all of it
occurred from 5 years on. So starting next year I expect to see more
problems with the 2001 Prius (it hits 5 years in service in February).
On the good side, as someone has mentioned, it has no starter or
transmission to speak of, so those problems won't happen. It does
have two motor/generators that should be a lot more durable than most
of the rest of the car, but we'll see (as someone else mentioned, the
car seems to have no trouble running 200,000 miles, but 10 years is a
slightly different question).
And of course the electric accessorires and A/C are pretty much the
same as in any other similar price range car and should fail at about
the same rate, alas. The 2004+ Prius does have an electric A/C rather
than a typical car A/C unit, so it should also, based on a mechanical
analysis, last as much as twice as long as the A/C in the older Prius
and in most (all?) other cars.
--Charles
Posted by cr113 on September 19, 2005, 5:04 pm
Charles Marslett wrote:
> On the good side, as someone has mentioned, it has no starter or
> transmission to speak of, so those problems won't happen. It does
> have two motor/generators that should be a lot more durable than most
> of the rest of the car, but we'll see (as someone else mentioned, the
> car seems to have no trouble running 200,000 miles, but 10 years is a
> slightly different question).
Hopefully they'll come out with a small pickup. I'd kill for a pickup
that got 35 mpg.
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Posted by Michael Pardee on September 19, 2005, 10:26 pm
> Hopefully they'll come out with a small pickup. I'd kill for a pickup
> that got 35 mpg.
It would make sense - I'm sure you aren't the only potential buyer who needs
a cargo hauler that can use gas intelligently.
Mike
Posted by B. Peg on September 9, 2005, 12:19 pm
> I'm curious about the durability and repair costs of owning a hybrid.
> Do they break down more often than a gas car? The regenerative braking
> and other features sound kind of complicated. How long will they last?
> Since the technology is new I'm sure there will be great improvement in
> reliability as time goes on, but I wonder which type of car has greater
> "inherent" reliability in the long run. A Corolla will go 300k, what
> about a Prius?
Interesting "real world" information on the Prius durability:
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/8839690/
Basically, a Canadian cab driver that drove his more than 200,000 miles and
figured his savings to be around $00 a month by doing so.
B~
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> The gas engine in a Prius runs in a gas engine's best power band. The
> electric motors provide the low end torque, freeing the gas engine to run
> where it performs the best. Also, the startup cycle on the gas engine is
> far easier on the engine than usual, according to Toyota. And, the Anderson
> (sp?) cycle probably is more friendly on the engine than the typical Otto
> cycle. Add to this that the Prius transmission has no gear changing (it is
> a fixed ring, planetary, and sun gear system with optimal ratios for the
> electric and gas engines) and you should get a system that lasts longer than
> your normal gas - manual or automatic - automobile.
> Also, regenerative braking, having no friction generating parts, will cut
> down on brake wear.
> It will be interesting to see, several years down the road, what parts
> actually wore out the fastest.