ChrisB wrote:Had enough , nah
mmm I did wonder if now we are about 7 yrs down the line the early ones where begining to get into the DIY'ers garage.
ChrisB
Just to set the record straight...
A few original ('Classic') Prius owners (who meet in the Yahoo Groups Prius-UK chat group [http://autos.groups.yahoo.com/group/Prius-UK/ - membership required]) have done their own servicing, and even got a letter from Toyota confirming it would not invalidate their warranty (especially as the Classic came with a very comprehensive 5 year/60,000 mile warranty), as long as they used Toyota parts, kept records and did everything on the service schedule at the correct time or mileage. (It does seem to prevent them from taking out an extended warranty at the end of the original warranty, though).
Servicing is dead simple, only needing a Toyota dealer if the engine ever throws any warning lights, in which case a special hand held computer is plugged into the car to read any diagnostic codes and reset the warning lights if necessary. With no gearbox, clutch or torque converter to worry about, and an electric motor and extra battery that need virtually no attention (apart for changing the high voltage battery coolant fluid every few years), it's astonishing what some dealers charge for servicing. I use a dealer in Norwich, and 'only' pay about £80-90 for 10,30,50k services and £140-£160 for 20,40,60k services.
And as the electric motor handles a lot of the braking effort, brake maintenance is minimal. My Classic's pads and disc were changed recently at 85,000 miles, for the first time since new. Had I not taken a job for a year where I was driving a current model Prius 5 days a week, and leaving my car at home, they would probably have lasted to around 150,000 miles, but standing idle caused the discs to rust, which in turn wore the pads on the 1 or 2 days a week I drove it, causing early their demise (at 70k, there was no apparent wear). One owner on the Yahoo Group Toyota-Prius has posted photos of his front discs/pads at 8,000 and 100,000 miles, and they look identical.
They changed my spark plugs at 60,000 miles (even though they looked like new), as the manual said that was the limit, and they (rightly) didn't want to risk problems by omitting the change.
Regards
PeteB - Luton UK
- 02 Silver 'Classic' - 87k miles
Life mpg 51.03 ~ 42.49 ~ 5.54 ~ 18.06 [184 fills]
(UK ~ US gal ~ I/100Km ~ Km/I)