"Hybrid" used vehicle warning BEWARE, FOLKS!!!

[wmyers4u]

Manufacturers have stepped up the game on small vehicle efficiency thanks to past president's forcing them to improve MPG standards.

This has lead some vehicles to be semi-comparable to hybrid mpg performance.......so both sides have valid opinions.

Regardless of what you choose to drive or ride, you have to be prepared for maintenance costs and a new battery can be similar in cost to replacing an engine or transmission in a gas only vehicle.

 

[DonnyHacker]

Manufacturers have stepped up the game on small vehicle efficiency thanks to past president's forcing them to improve MPG standards.

This has lead some vehicles to be semi-comparable to hybrid mpg performance.......so both sides have valid opinions.

Regardless of what you choose to drive or ride, you have to be prepared for maintenance costs and a new battery can be similar in cost to replacing an engine or transmission in a gas only vehicle.

I have actively been researching EVs for the last several years (even have a few Facebook pages that I run and help run) and have almost bought one on a few separate occasions.  The main reason why I did not was because my insurance was going to go up enough that it negated any fuel savings I gained.  Also, I already drive a small economical car (Fiat 500) and I easily get 36-38mpg in the city and that goes into the 40s when I'm on the highway.  I actually get almost the same mileage that my wife gets in her Honda Civic hybrid.  

Now as to the original post - yes, battery packs can be expensive, but so can repairs/replacements on gasoline engines.  You can readily buy refurbished Prius packs for around $2500 or less if you look around.  The pack in my wife's Honda went out two days after we bought it (used) and luckily Honda covered it under warranty.  If not, it would have been around $1500.  Now the larger packs in cars like the Leaf, Bolt, Volt, Tesla, etc. will cost significantly more than that due to their size and capacity.  I know Nissan is implementing a plan overseas to sell refurbished Leaf packs for around $2500 because of the problems they were having (currently sell for around $5000 here in the U.S.) and hopefully that program carries over to the U.S.  You can check the state of health (SOH) on many of these cars' battery packs though if you know what you are doing prior to purchase or have a dealer hook it up to check the battery's condition before purchase.  But yes, they are reasonably expensive, but the ones in the Prius are actually reasonable when compared to the other manufacturers out there.  The Toyota packs have also been holding up pretty well and if you can get buy an older Prius for cheap (which many are), adding in a new/refurbished pack really wouldn't be a huge deal.  I see plenty of first gen Prius models for sale for under three grand, so they are cheap and readily available (since this is a popular model people seem to camp/live out of).  

For people living this kind of lifestyle, an EV would be almost ideal if it wasn't for having to worry about keeping the car charged.  Current solar set ups don't generate enough juice.  If you were going from site to site with electric hookups, it's an ideal solution if you don't mind living out of a car

 

[AntiGroundhogDay]

Toyota Prius is the cheapest to maintain to 150k according to this website:

https://www.yourmechanic.com/articl...nce-costs-increase-by-mileage-by-maddy-martin

 

[DonnyHacker]

Toyota Prius is the cheapest to maintain to 150k according to this website:

https://www.yourmechanic.com/articl...nce-costs-increase-by-mileage-by-maddy-martin

Yes, they have held up extremely well

 

[DKNZ]

Best travel with a 90s car instead of a Hybrid, easier and cheaper to fix if something goes wrong on the road.