I'm trying to help my mom find a car and I was thinking about some of the hybrids out there. It's looking like it'd be a 06 or 07 model. does anyone have any idea about the long-term reliability of the hybrid system? Is she going to be slammed by a huge bill for replacing the battery pack? Have they worked out the bugs (the hybrid bugs) yet? Heck, were there every really any bugs to work out?
From what I've seen (friends with Pruiseseses), they are reliable. Not many (any?) bugs with the hybrid drive system.
I think the battery packs are warrantied to 80k or 100k miles. Check with the manufacturers for details. Once the warranty is up, I would expect a very large repair bill to replace them.
That said, none of my friends have gone over the warranty period and none have had failures.
I know the packs are made of many many cells and over extended periods of time some people are having problems with individual cells. If you are of the GRM mentality you just test the pack and either balance the low cells or replace them with cells from a junkyard pack.
A quick check of www.car-parts.com shows a '06 Prius battery to go for $1500 to $750.
The somewhat older Honda Insight battery can be had for as low as $550
CrackMonkey has it right, the battery is an emissions component, and as such carries a longer warranty than your bumper/bumper warranty.
If you do decide to replace the batteries, they can be found pretty cheap on the used market. Nashco has more than one tucked into his fiero on a $2009 budget if that gives you any clues.
jrw1621 wrote: A quick check of www.car-parts.com shows a '06 Prius battery to go for $1500 to $750. The somewhat older Honda Insight battery can be had for as low as $550
That's not so horrible, actually. The alarmists were always saying "ZOMG--if the batteries go it'll cost you $4000!!!!1!"
Honda is coming out w/ a hybrid Fit, but my main concern with it is if we buy one for my wife, we'll want to take it to 200k miles (like her CR-V). That would involve a battery replacement mid-life.
Datsun1500 wrote: A 2006 Corolla is rated at 37 MPG and a 2006 Prius is rated at 45 MPG according to the gov't website. If you drive 18,000 miles per year and gas is $3 a gallon to make the math easy it will cost you $1459 in the Corolla and $1200 in the Prius for a savings of $259 a year. If the battery in the used Prius is $750 it would need to last for 3 years just to break even, doesn't it make sense to just buy the Corolla? I would pay $21 a month to not drive a Prius....
I don't drive a Prius.....my PayPal is tracy.pospeshil@yahoo.com
You can start sending my $21 a month tomorrow, thank you.
Datsun1500 wrote: A 2006 Corolla is rated at 37 MPG and a 2006 Prius is rated at 45 MPG according to the gov't website. If you drive 18,000 miles per year and gas is $3 a gallon to make the math easy it will cost you $1459 in the Corolla and $1200 in the Prius for a savings of $259 a year. If the battery in the used Prius is $750 it would need to last for 3 years just to break even, doesn't it make sense to just buy the Corolla? I would pay $21 a month to not drive a Prius....
You know whats a much easier way to save money? Buy a cheaper vehicle to begin with. If you buy a slightly used vehicle that has depreciated by $5k in its first year (and has under 50,000kms on it), you've essentially bought a new vehicle that still has warranty and has paid for its gas for 4 years.
Datsun1500 wrote: I would pay $21 a month to not drive a Prius....
Quote for truth.
Second that.
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