I am new to this group, but have owned my 2001 Prius since December 2000. I currently have about 42,000 trouble-free miles on the car. I was curious who had a higher mileage car and if they had any problems or degradation in fuel economy when the vehicle had accumulated a lot of miles. John Fort Collins, CO

> I currently have about 42,000 trouble-free miles on the car. I have 43,850 miles on my Prius now. They've all been a delight to drive and without a lick of trouble. A few other owners have more. Eric is at around 68,000 miles now. There's a Prius cab driver in Vancouver that has over 160,000 miles, and the battery-pack is still going strong. JOHN http://john1701a.com

I had 54k last month on my 2001, which I bought in late summer 2000. I didn't drop a cent on routine or defect maintenance -- but only thanks to the generous Toyota routine maintenance policy, and my 75K extended warranty. But, there were problems. The power steering recall, the accelerator pedal TSB, the poor Bridgestone tires -- all were misdiagnosted by the dealer the first visits. The first two were eventually fixed for free. (The accelerator pedal twice. I ate the tires.) Then, I got a bit paranoid. Considering the replacement cost of leading-edge parts, I considered my 54k mileage against my 75k warranty. So first I swapped the Prius to my wife, who has a two- mile commute. She objected to perodically jumping the 12v battery, so I spent a couple hundred dollars on the newer 12v technology battery. Then I missed driving the Prius so much I traded in the 2001 in favor of a 2002. Am I happy? No! Wife loved the color of the 2002! And it was so easy to park. So call me in ten years, I'll -- she'll -- have a 10-year old car with 40k miles who's nav system has never seen the beyond of a two-mile radius... ...On occasion, she lets me drive. The Cruise control works great, which was another reason to upgrade to the 2002. I hope the side air bags work as well as the cruise control when they're called upon.

Thanks for the info John; I bought a 2003 silver Prius on Monday. scot

Thanks for all the helpful information; I went ahead and bought a 2003 Prius on Monday, and so far we love it! Thanks, scot sanders