CARS (No not the movie)

[mukapahnpy]

So does anyone know what happens when Hybrid vechicles exceed their warranty? A close friend of mine, a DSM err... Evo fanatic/mechanic, brought up a good point. Do buyers know what they are getting when they buy a Hybrid, when the car has mechanical/electrical failures, they are the worst things to fix. It's a whole new ball game. Imagine the local yards with Hybrids sitting there. Hrm...

[Kracka]

People are going to be in a world of hurt when their hybrids need new $5k batteries within only a few years after the warranty expires.

[slowbubblecar]

So does anyone know what happens when Hybrid vechicles exceed their warranty? A close friend of mine, a DSM err... Evo fanatic/mechanic, brought up a good point. Do buyers know what they are getting when they buy a Hybrid, when the car has mechanical/electrical failures, they are the worst things to fix. It's a whole new ball game. Imagine the local yards with Hybrids sitting there. Hrm...

I haven't head of many hybrid owners having problems (Insights anyways). My brother has a 2000 Honda Insight and considers it one of his best purchases he has ever made. He bought it 3-4 years ago when gas prices were around $2.00 a gallon. He drives 100 miles or so a day and figured the car would save him $3,500 per year conservitively (at $2.00 a gallon) compared to the 2g dsm he was driving at the time. He got the car with 80k on it for around $8,500 and it now has 180k on it. The only repair he has done to the car is replace the front brake pads which he did a few months ago. No issues with the batteries or the electric motor at all. The batterys are still in good shape and have no charging issues. The car has more than paid for itself the last few years alone not even considering he got $3,500 for hail damage last summer. He could still probably get over $5,000 for it as it sits right now with the hail damage.

[slowbubblecar]

People are going to be in a world of hurt when their hybrids need new $5k batteries within only a few years after the warranty expires.

Unlikely, look at my other post. I don't think batteries cost 5k anyhow.

[slowbubblecar]

I also forgot to mention that even with 180k on the clock and no maintenance being done, my brothers Honda Insight still gets around 58mpg.

[1QUICK4]

Meh, my old Geo Metro got a combined city/hwy 52mpg on only two out of three cylinders :lol:

[niterydr]

People are going to be in a world of hurt when their hybrids need new $5k batteries within only a few years after the warranty expires.

Dont break the lcd display on a Prius, that is a very expensive part (if I remember correctly over $3000-7000 from a toyota dealer where one of our fleet driver's kids hit it with a hot wheel toy car).

[FattyBoomBatty]

get an old crx or some econobox from the 80's if you are looking for king kong gas milage. Lighter and usually more efficient anyway than newer cars.

[john]

^^^ typically the older (what you call "more efficient") cars are more unreilable and therefor not a great canidate for someone who has to travel a distance. If you don't travel far, why get a hi mpg car then??? I am sure we have made plenty of better efficiency changes since the 80s (carb vs fuel injected).

Last time i looked for batteries on car-part.com, they were $300. My insight (described by slowbubblecar) has definitly been my best purchase ever. My concern initially was like all of yours, the batteries. I am over 180k on a 2000 model and no issues. Not to mention that was the first model year and the first hybrid in the US (toyota beat them to non-US market by 1 year I believe).

I bought an import, I cant say that I would trust the domestic hybrids. Honda and Toyota know what is going on as they have done this for a while.

[john]

Oh and I am looking at trading in one of my trucks for this (88 F150) but last I heard it has not been finalized. May buy a new insight ;)