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Why You Should Not Buy A Toyota Prius

I do not want you to buy a Toyota Prius, and here are my reasons for it.

According to some popular YouTube guys, the Toyota Prius is the worst car you can buy. Well, are they right or not? I will tell you my opinion on why I think you should not buy one.

The Toyota Prius Is Terrible Because It Has Great Fuel Economy
I want people to spend hundreds of dollars at the pump... said no one ever. The Toyota Prius is one of the most popular vehicles because it keeps your hard-earned money in your pocket.

2008 Toyota Prius Fuel Economy

I hate it that my Prius gets 57 miles per gallon; it is so frustrating. Saving all that money makes me just want to get rid of it. The fact that Toyota could even conceive of a car that gets such good gas mileage is beyond me. Please do not buy a Prius so you can save on gas.

The Toyota Prius Is Unreliable
According to Scotty Kilmer, the Prius is a bad car because you cannot change the alternator due to high voltage. How dare Toyota design a vehicle that has fewer moving parts that could fail and have someone stranded. Terrible.

2010 Toyota Prius bad head gasket after repair Prius is so unreliable that owners are reporting hundreds of thousands of miles without any significant issues. Even those crazy hybrid battery packs have become better over time and kept people on the road longer.

Toyota wanted to push customers away so badly that they made it 10 years 150,000 miles with their battery warranty. Tragic.

Conclusion
This article is satire if you did not catch on to that. It is refuting claims that the Prius is not a great car to own and operate. Prius is reliable and very economical. They are beautiful cars, and I can attest to that after owning 14 of them myself.

I hope this sparks a few laughs for my readers out there and helps curb those "Monday Blues." Have a great day, everyone, and I look forward to seeing you in the following article.

Want to know why I like the Tesla 4680 battery? Check it out here.

Check out this wild new battery tech that Tesla has and why it will forever change the auto industry.

Peter Neilson is an automotive consultant specializing in electric cars and hybrid battery technologies. He holds a Bachelor of Science in Automotive Service Technology from Weber State University. Peter can be reached on Linkedin and you can tweet him at The_hybrid_guy on Twitter. Find his page on Facebook at Certified Auto Consulting. Read more of Peter's stories at Toyota news coverage on Torque News. Search Toyota Prius Torque News for more in depth Prius coverage from our reporters.

Automotive News
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Comments

Casey (not verified)    September 13, 2021 - 12:14AM

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Kilmer has long the biggest joke in the actual automotive community for a very long time. You can't change out the alternator in a Prius because it doesn't have one. I've talked to you, Peter, about my first gen on several occasions over on Facebook. I don't own it anymore but that thing had over 300k miles on it and only needed 3 cells replaced to get back on the road. Now I'm back to daily driving my love, my lifted first gen Sportage. There's something wonderful about driving a car built for (and won from 1993-1997) the Baja 1000 on a public road.

Kay (not verified)    October 28, 2021 - 11:57AM

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I have a 2007 Prius. I like it, but at around 100,000 miles, the big battery went bad. Dealer wanted $3,500 to replace it. I found another company that came to my house and replaced it with a rebuilt battery with 5 year warranty, for $1,500.

The 12v battery failed shortly after... replaced it myself for nearly $300. Then the Combination Meter failed. The dealers in the area wanted up to $1,500 to change it. I lucked out and found one who would do it for $750.

All in all, I like the car, but the best mileage it's ever gotten was 42mpg, and at this writing, with 108,000 miles, it's getting 37mpg. 37 miles per gallon is not a deal breaker, but I would never try to pass this off as getting great gas mileage, especially when a standard Corolla can get in the mid 30's, with no fears of hybrid battery or combo meter failures.

Ganja Goddess (not verified)    November 21, 2021 - 2:30PM

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At 14 or 15 years old, 108k miles is pretty low... The odometer on the Prius rolls over at 300k. Are you sure you aren't actually at 408k miles? That would make more sense based on what you've had to replace.

Mikey (not verified)    January 11, 2022 - 11:57PM

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From the research I've done when the mileage drops its because the hybrid battery has lost/is losing "capacity". Your running on the gasoline engine more than you should. You need to have that rebuilt battery tested for capacity. Voltage is one thing amp output is another. Good luck.

Richard (not verified)    March 14, 2022 - 7:11AM

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I have a 2010 prius with with 103000 miles . I bought the car used in 2015 drive about 5 6000 miles a year and have no issues at all with this vehicle.. Other than oil change and 12 o'battery this car caused me nothing to own. Ask to guess mileage for for a number of years I got 3738 miles per gallon versus the 50 promised.. When I learned how to drive this car I went from 37 to 455 period red lots of articles learned my vehicle.. Still wish I got the 50 miles promised especially with gas prices today.. I love My car very much just wish Toyota spent more at more time better insulating the car from road noise and did something more with the steering traction traction issue. Otherwise very satisfied longtime Toyota

Richard (not verified)    March 14, 2022 - 7:11AM

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I have a 2010 prius with with 103000 miles . I bought the car used in 2015 drive about 5 6000 miles a year and have no issues at all with this vehicle.. Other than oil change and 12 o'battery this car caused me nothing to own. Ask to guess mileage for for a number of years I got 3738 miles per gallon versus the 50 promised.. When I learned how to drive this car I went from 37 to 455 period red lots of articles learned my vehicle.. Still wish I got the 50 miles promised especially with gas prices today.. I love My car very much just wish Toyota spent more at more time better insulating the car from road noise and did something more with the steering traction traction issue. Otherwise very satisfied longtime Toyota

Bobby (not verified)    March 15, 2022 - 11:53AM

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I can’t understand why you are not getting better mileage. My 2011 Prius with 204000 miles is still getting 52 mpg. It’s all original even 12v battery, Maybe you need more training on hyper-miling ;)

Michele D. Scales (not verified)    March 14, 2022 - 1:05PM

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I have a 2006. Bought it used two years ago. I once got 52 mpg. It dropped drastically (32 mpg) why I needed a new 12v battery and when I didn't drive it as much in winter. Immediately after I got a new 12v it shot up to 43 mpg. Everything is connected in this car. If there is a weakness it effects the gas mileage.

Michael K Handy (not verified)    February 5, 2022 - 2:16AM

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I just bought a 2011 Prius4 with about 185,000 on it. The car was serviced frequently and has very few age spots. I've had a 2007 Honda Civic hybrid since it was new and am satified that this 2011 is a strong performer for its age and miles.

J Voj (not verified)    February 10, 2022 - 1:38PM

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I have a 2010 Prius bought it in 2009. Maintained regularly at dealership. No issues whatsoever. I am close to 100K miles and I love my car! I will keep it until I’m done driving, if possible. I am retired, so as long as DMV lets me keep my license I don’t see the need to buy another car.

Young Mcwhirter (not verified)    March 13, 2022 - 12:40PM

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I have a 2009 Prius it has 170,000 miles on it and I just had to replace the clock spring in the steering column because I got a charger cable Tangled Up in it and pulled it out breaking the box spring. That $500 repair is the biggest thing I've had to do to it and that hundred and seventy thousand miles.

David DeLorme (not verified)    March 15, 2022 - 9:35AM

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So I’m your typical Truck owning Texan, I have a Chevy 2500 4x4, when I saw a “dead” 2005 Prius on Facebook for $400(paid $200.00), I knew it would scrap for more than that.I was intrigued with this hybrid technology and began investigating. I would up doing a two week deep dive into the in’s and outs of EVs. All it needed was a traction pack, so I bought a wreaked Prius ($500) with a viable traction pack and swapped (3hrs, easy job, very straight forward). That was 2 years ago, the Prius is now my daily driver and the big truck stays parked. LOVE my Prius, especially now that Gas prices are astronomical again. The plus side is now all my buddies who ridiculed are now paying $130.00 to fill up their trucks and are asking about my Prius and “does it really get 43/mpg?”.

Tim Schutte (not verified)    March 15, 2022 - 5:37PM

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I would agree. I have only owned two, the Prius and the V. Both were excellent and I am still driving the Prius and approaching 100,000 with nothing but oil changes and Filters.
No problems at all.
Plan to keep until it dies. I expect Round 300,000.

Alane Vorbeck (not verified)    March 15, 2022 - 7:50PM

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Just sold my 2010 Prius with 166000 miles on it have not had any major problems with it. Very happy with it, my son-in-law has it now and he is happy with it especially with the mileage it replaced a Mercury

Ed Tostes (not verified)    March 15, 2022 - 10:13PM

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I have 2011 Prius with over 220000 and I never, I mean never had any issues. Honestly, I had just replaced the front brake pads. It is the best car I ever had.

Tim G (not verified)    March 16, 2022 - 1:29PM

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Really STUPID article. Prius vehicles are beloved by their owners — they never fail! I’ve owned 2. 475,000 miles. No engine issues. Marvelous machines. They haul tremendous amounts of internal cargo. Likewise, I routinely tow 1,000# of cargo on a 300# trailer and get 35mpg in East Tennessee. Prius haters, go away.

Cindy Leg (not verified)    March 18, 2022 - 5:00PM

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I love my 2021 Prius Prime. I wanted a car that I could go where ever I want to go and not pay out for a whole lot of gas. Well I have that. One of the best decisions I have every made. That you Capital Toyota. Where its your way on the park way.

Andy (not verified)    March 20, 2022 - 6:56PM

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I had Prius from 2011 and I may said that was one from the best cars in my life.
It was equipped with latter' seats and milage was 420 on full 10 gal tank.So I don't know what you guys tolking about in this article.I Reed other guys opinions and for example one guy did 33000 miles on oryginal battery and was stil going.
It must be paid article by other brand....