[jyl]

Actually, I own a gen 2 Prius and we've put 74K miles on it. Troublefree except the HID headlights. The inverter coolant level is a routine check item, every 15K miles or so. The inverter coolant is not scheduled to be replaced until 150,000 miles. If you got suckered into paying for it to be changed before then, that is too bad. As for the batteries, I guess you got a pair of lemons, battery problems are very unusual. As the batteries are warranteed to 100,000 miles, I hope you did not get suckered into paying for repairs.

Check reliability data at Consumer Reports. The Prius is one of the least troublesome cars on the road.

"Initial engine coolant replacement at 100,000 miles/120 months. Replace every 50,000 miles/60 months thereafter.
Initial inverter coolant replacement at 150,000 miles/180 months. Replace every 50,000 miles/60 months thereafter.
Refer to “Engine/Inverter Coolant” in the “Explanation of Maintenance Items” section in the back of this guide for more information."

Quote de jyl

You have some misconceptions about hybrids.

- There is a large battery pack, warranteed for 100K miles, in the real world they (talking Prius here, don't know about others) routinely go 150K+ on the original battery. Because the system is designed to keep the battery in roughly the middle third of its charge range, it is never fully discharged or fully charged, and thus has a very long service life. Most people won't replace the battery for the life of the car.

- There is one internal combustion engine, thus one coolant system, one oil system. It is maintained like any other gas motor - change the oil every several thousand miles, flush the coolant more or less never. The gas engine only runs part of the time, it shuts off when you have lifted off throttle (coasting, stoplights) so it is pretty unstressed.

Jyl, you haven't owned or operated a Prius, it seems. I drove two, as company cars, for nearly a year. The first one was a 2009 and had less than 89k on the odometer (primary vehicle). I had to take it to Huntington Beach Toyota 3 times in one year, batteries were replaced each time (one battery starts to go, it takes the rest with it). The second one was a first gen, not sure of the year. It had to batteries replaced once for the same reason as the second-gen car.



I had taken each car once for the 'major' service. There are 2 coolant systems, 2 oil systems. One for the ICE, one for the Electric motor. A/C service was necessary as well. I saw the bill for just one of the cars, it made me glad to own a Carrera, that's for damn sure!