Thread: Hybrid cars what to look for.

Looking at a replacement vehicle for the wife after the insurance wrote her 20 year old Suzuki off.

Thing about a hybrid in something like a Corolla or similar sized car.

Don't want a pure EV as not convinced on them as we need something second had and probably no newer than 2015 due to cost (we are not rich)

What are the pitfalls and things to look for in a hybrid as at the moment I know nothing about them but will be starting to do some research in the next day or so.

Cheers

1st make sure it's a Toyota
2nd make sure it's diesel ;p

M8 all I know is wvery uber driver got a Toyota hybrid , 10million uber drivers can't be wrong, quite a few 2nd hand around , it's the most common hybrid atm 2nd hand in AU , I think in nz as well, parts easily obtainable , body panels, brake pads etc from std model , not special order.
I'd stay clear from the small distributors
I'm told by m8s who's into e cars , it pays to have the battery checked professionally for dead/ bad cells

I'm keen on the idea of a plug in hybrid for my wifes next vehicle. The idea of having a 60ish km range on battery alone for plodding about doing day to day stuff is great but then not having the range anxiety and being able to just jump in it and drive to Auckland if we need to.

100% recommend having the battery fully checked over by a professional on anything used!

I'm probably going to go with either a Toyota or Suzuki in the next 6 months I'd say.

My wife had a 2007 lexus rx400h, was a great car, never had any issues. Sold it at 400,000km. She now has a 2012 lexus rx450h, which is at 330,000km, again, super reliable, no issues. They are quite hard on tyres though, as they’re a bit heavier, and the torque from the drive motors is tough on the rubber. Her current one is running at 8.5L/100km, which for a 3.5L V6 suv with 270hp, is pretty good I reckon.


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A year ago people were up on their hind legs saying that utes must be diesel and EV/hybrid will never work.
In the next year or so Im happy to put money (only a small amount) on people clamouring to get a hybrid ute. Technology is changing so fast.

The latest ev cars are something else. I use them as rentals.

Originally Posted by Tahr

In the next year or so Im happy to put money (only a small amount) on people clamouring to get a hybrid ute. Technology is changing so fast .

A hybrid ute for taking the kids to school in or taking your mates hunting up the Rangitata ??

We got a Toyota aqua. Which turned out to become one of the hottest vehicles around for young criminals in training. However, it's been great so far and even on long trips on the open road still averages 20-22km/l.
If I was buying again today I'd look at the Toyota hybrid station wagon.
We bought of a Toyota lot and it was signature class which gives 5 years on the battery above the usual warranty. Never had to test that so no idea what reality is if there were any issues.

If you want to save as much money as possible then buy a good ICE vehicle. Corollas are damn near bullet proof, cheap to run, and still saleable when you want to change. Used EV's will be like old washing machines, no one wants them, even in working order. Whatever you spend on an EV will be money down the drain.

Batteries fail on EVs over time. And cost more to replace than the vehicle is worth

Good cars but do your research on toyotas theres certain years to avoid from memory. Mate found that out after buying a pirus. Certian years had an oil burning problem.

Originally Posted by Tahr

A year ago people were up on their hind legs saying that utes must be diesel and EV/hybrid will never work.
In the next year or so Im happy to put money (only a small amount) on people clamouring to get a hybrid ute. Technology is changing so fast.

The latest ev cars are something else. I use them as rentals.

Hybrid ute will be good for some roles. Nothing involving farming, water crossings, heavy loading cycles or towing though - the extra weight of a viable-capacity battery pack buggers the average ute for load carrying and towing.

My Safaris are hybrid. They burn diesel, and oil!

(I'm kidding, they don't burn oil, but they will run on coal, come the revolution)
Old mate had a mitsubishi E-something SUV and really rated it, got great mileage, don't think it had batteries, which would be my biggest concern for all the reasons above, plus they're an environmental nightmare. Just had a little ICE driving electric motors.
PHEV? maybe. it was a few years ago.

Originally Posted by No.3

Hybrid ute will be good for some roles. Nothing involving farming, water crossings, heavy loading cycles or towing though - the extra weight of a viable-capacity battery pack buggers the average ute for load carrying and towing.

You gotta think in the terms of tomorrow, not today. The change in technology is swift and amazing.

Originally Posted by XR500

A hybrid ute for taking the kids to school in or taking your mates hunting up the Rangitata ??

Anywhere. As Ive said, the changes in technology are amazing and Im certain that in a year or so we will be amazed. Necessity is the mother of invention.

On the subject of used hybrids - most (if not all) of the people I know with hybrids with the plug-in feature started out with a hiss and a roar plugging the things in religiously. Soon gave that up as too much hassle for zero gain as we are semi-rural and everyone around here found the long drag at open road speeds basically meant there was no point plugging in as the requirement to do open road speeds meant they needed to be on dual-power (ICE+battery) anyway and the things just self charged.

They are as much as 50% heavier than the equivalent ICE-only version, so wear things like suspension, joints, tyres, and depending on the driver style brakes much faster than the equivalent ICE version with the same human-fitted load (i.e. if you put the same sh1te in your hybrid that you carried in your ICE version, it will be up to 50% heavier).

It's worth checking as well, if you get the claimed advantages off the hybrid system over pure ICE. Driving an ICE and minimising the load and lead foot on it, will give you say 7.0L/100Km - if you take the same vehicle's hybrid option and return 5.5L/100Km but it costs you a extra $10K to buy it even at todays prices $10K buys you several years of fuel and it gets you most of the way if not all the way to the break-even point where the hybrid starts saving you $$$.

Mandatory check on a used EV or Hybrid is battery health, and thats a real world check by someone that doesn't fall for the tricks like fully resetting the onboard ECU from scratch so that it thinks the battery is newer than it is so gives you a 90% health check on a battery that's actually only 60% of the capacity of a brand new battery (i.e. the ECU check assumes that the battery hasn't done near as much work as it actually has and it rates the battery closer to 100% health that it actually is). Note most of the external checks now should not fall for that, it's some of the system's on-board battery health that this can happen to.

Toyota tend to have less higher-performance hybrid batteries, but they are easier to work on and there is an ability if you have access to the gear to split battery packs out of the entire module and test/replace individual packs or simply replace the entire battery module on a core/exchange basis. A few of the other brands and even models in brands have no such support in NZ, and it's not cost effective to import or ship batteries as they are Dangerous Goods and the shipping line tax is brutal.