Electric/Hybrid car drivers - Post your experience/buying advice

turbotalon1g · 11-25-2015

I had a friend ask me about these and I'm pretty clueless on them, I've had a few car people say that they surprisingly love them and they are cheap to own.

A local BMW guy picked up a used 2007/08 prius for under $4k, it needed $600 of battery work and it's as good as new, he says he loves it for commuting the instant torque is awesome he says.

He has a hi hp bmw, used to have an S4, silverado SS before the prius as a DD.

**Kracka** · 11-25-2015

Andrew (PlanoEvo) put over 400k miles on his Prius before it finally gave up the ghost. The battery and entire hybrid system was still fine, it was everything else that wore out. He was still averaging ~60 MPG on his last day driving it. His only maintenance was a oil changes, a water pump belt, and a set of rear drum shoes. That. Is. It.

So far so good with the Volt. Had to get the wall charger replace under warranty, and a coolant leak fixed under warranty. Otherwise, it went from May - Oct without needing a tank of gas and has been great. Quiet, comfortable, and incredibly efficient and cheap to own. for Maintenance, it needs an oil change every-other year and coolant every 5 years. There are reports of guys going over 250k miles with no noticeable battery degradation.

From my research and talking with owners, avoid the Hyundai/Kia hybrids; they seem far less durable. The Nissan Leaf battery seems to lose battery capacity rather quickly so I'd probably avoid one of those too.

One other good thing about most EV/hybrid vehicles are their longer warranties on the battery/hybrid systems (typically 8 years/100k miles).

tehehodi · 11-25-2015

If my opinion matters, I would love to drive a Prius with how far and how much I drive to work.

turbotalon1g · 11-25-2015

why wouldn't it?

what year was planoevo's prius?

**Kracka** · 11-25-2015

turbotalon1g · 11-26-2015

Thanks, a local picked up an 06 and had the battery replaced for $700, he has owned it for 9 months/12k miles and loves it, says he averages 48mpg driving the shit out of it.
I might put up my civic for sale and get one, that cargo room in the back plus giant opening with the lift gate is very appealing.

**Goat Blower** · 11-26-2015

On the upper end of the scale, I've driven the Tesla Model S and the Roadster. I used to laugh, but honestly, I'd own one. The S is especially nice.

I've had the Prius as a rental, it wasn't bad, actually better than I would've thought.

tehehodi · 11-26-2015

Does the Prius go full electric like the volt or does it just kick the motor on while accelerating and then intermittent on and off or whatever it does.

b00sted_spyder · 11-26-2015

I have dismantled a Prius and you must be certified because the battery can kill you if you dont know what you are doing. Prius batteries sells as soon as we pull them out.

**Kracka** · 11-26-2015

Quote:

Originally Posted by tehehodi

Does the Prius go full electric like the volt or does it just kick the motor on while accelerating and then intermittent on and off or whatever it does.

The smaller Prius C can go full-electric since its a plug- in hybrid like the Volt, but only for about 10 miles due to small battery size.

enasnitsi · 11-26-2015

The Prius C is not a plug-in like the Volt. You'd have to find a plug-in model Prius which would be gen 3 and aren't sold here. You can find an older one and convert it to plug-in.
I have a 07 and drive 100 miles a day with it. Average 46-48mpg. Most of that is at 70mph.

**Kracka** · 11-27-2015

My mistake on misrepresenting the Prius C; Toyota does have a plug-in Prius in the US though: http://www.toyota.com/prius-plug-in-hybrid

http://www.cheatsheet.com/automobile...tml/?a=viewall

It has been available since 2012: http://www.greencarreports.com/news/...readers-choice

x-pride · 11-27-2015

I have a 2014 Camry hybrid and love it. I get from 450 to 625 miles per tank (depends on summer and winter mix). During the winter the MPG goes down to 38 MPG since the battery system will not kick on until the car warms up. The car does warm up quick and handles great in all weather. I use the car for all my long distance trips and it saves me money. I did a two week trip to Cal and only spend 350 dollars on gas. Torque on the Camry is great. It did not skip a beat going up and down the hills of Cal. If any of you ever travel in Cal you will understand what I mean by the hills.

Warning about the Prius for the winter state of MN. I would only buy a 2010 Prius and newer for the fact that you can turn off traction control. They are lower to the ground than most cars and will get stuck on heavy snow days. You will learn to hate traction control when the car's tires will not spin because of traction control.

enasnitsi · 11-27-2015

You can disable the traction control pretty easily on the old ones by going through a couple steps when first starting. Just can't turn it back on without shutting the car off and back on. I usually do that on mine if it's icy out.

**asshanson** · 11-27-2015

I was surprised how much I liked the Volt. It's great for around-town driving (lot of low speed tq) or if you drive less than 40-50 miles a day, because you'll rarely have to use any gas. Plus there are free charging stations at my work, at the grocery store, etc. In fact, I like the electric so much I even looked into converting the Noble to a Tesla S powertrain (found out it was too much money).

However, if you plan on doing road trips, a Prius is a much better option. In gas mode the Volt will get high 30's mpg max, so the Prius wins there.

rose0529 · 11-28-2015

My parents have a 07 Prius. I think they have over 180k on it. Only thing they have done is oil changes and a water pump. It definitly isn't "fun" to drive like a performance car, but it can be fun to try and see how high of mpg you can get while driving it. It gets great mpg everywhere no matter what, and has been uber reliable for them.

turbotalon1g · 11-28-2015

After looking into it, I kinda want to get one, being a 4dr and having a ton of cargo space it's a lot more practical than a 2dr civic especially with 2 kids.

dogwhistle · 12-01-2015

Quote:

Originally Posted by turbotalon1g

After looking into it, I kinda want to get one, being a 4dr and having a ton of cargo space it's a lot more practical than a 2dr civic especially with 2 kids.

Honda Accord Hybrid?

Honestly I want to try the CR-Z in the manual format. Sounds like fun.

**Halon** · 12-01-2015

I'm kinda getting into the whole EV thing. I think it'd be cool if you got one. If I had time to do anything now a days, I'd really enjoy an EV project car.

turbotalon1g · 12-01-2015

Thanks for the help guys I appreciate it.