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I'm looking to purchase an 05 FEH w/ 75k miles, and look forward to keeping it for awhile. But on these hybrids, what is the life-expectancy of the gas and hybrid components?

I have a 96 Accord with 220k miles and an 02 diesel Excursion with 210k miles and they are both still SOLID vehicles. They are maintained well as would the FEH be, but being new to hybrid vehicles, I'm just concerned...

If I'm not mistaken, Honda warranties their battery system for 10 yrs. What is Fords warranty? and does anyone have any input on aftermarket hybrid warranties?

thanks

The hybrid components are pretty much zero maintenance. I would be a lot more concerned about the gas engine than I would about the batteries. If the 75k put on the FEH had all the regular maintenance done, then you should be in good shape. If they forgot to change the oil for 20-30k miles, then you may be in trouble. Just treat it like a regular car, if it's been trashed, don't get it, if it's been cared for, then it's probably got lots of life in it.

The Toyota Hybrids and Ford Hybrids have very similar transmissions. The warranty on the Honda's apply for all Hybrids and it's part of CA law. For the Fords, it expires at 80k (I think), just like your Excursion expired at 36k (I think). Your now 175k past warranty, so you seem familiar in driving cars beyond their warranty window.

I have a Ford Hybrid and a Toyota Hybrid. I'm a bit more familiar with the Toyota's. There haven't been enough battery failures for anyone to accurately predict the life of the batteries. It's quite possible that the gas engine will go out before the batteries do though. Keep in mind that not having enough failures to accurately build a statistical model in this case can be considered a GOOD thing. It means the batteries are not failing.

My personal opinion... in a PERFECTLY maintained vehicle 200-300k should be about right before either the engine or batteries go out. Others would say 300-400k, but I'll be conservative.

Mine will never see those marks though. I'll probably get a new car by 2020 so mine will only have about 190k on it. Might pass it off to my kids before then though.

Those are all on the Pro's side. On the Con's side, the Hybrids are not depreciating as quickly as some of the larger cars. This means you don't get as good of a deal on a used hybrid as you would on other larger used cars. I generally found that when gas prices dip below $2.25/gal the cost of the Hybrids drop too. Unfortunately, I wouldn't count on gas prices getting that low any time soon.

If your skittish on Hybrids, any of the other high MPG cars may be a good option. 2005/2006 Jetta TDI's are very efficient and if you already know good diesel mechanics, they may be the right choice for you.

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The taxi cab experience shows very few problems with the FEH and they have a few with 240,000 miles on them. What part of the country do you live? the highest FEH I have seen for sale was 50,000 mi. You have a 8 year 100,000 mi waranty on the hybrid componets (battery and transmission)