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What is the cost of maintaing and repairing a hybrid vs a conventional car? :Banane40:

Not a whole lot. I have 70k on mine and I've spent maybe a grand on maintenance. That's every last dime including M1 oil changes, a set of tires and a new Optima 12V battery. My wife is about to turn over 100k in hers and it has been just as reliable...not a single failure. (Knock on wood!)

What Brick said plus with the third generation Prius your looking at 10K mile oil changes, 5K mile tire rotations, at 30K miles change the cabin and engine air filters. At 100K miles you do a radiator and inverter coolant change. At 110K miles you change the spark plugs.

There are no rubber belts on the motor that ever need changed. The car has an electric water pump, electric steering, and electric AC. There isn't an alternator since the main motor/generator does the same thing.

Because of the regenative braking the pads and rotors usually get chaged out around 75-80K miles. Not because they are worn but because of rust from the lack of use.

With the Honda Civic Hybrid, if the Hybrid battery fails out-of-warranty, you're looking at at least $3000, by most reports. And if you're within warranty, you're going to have resistance from Honda, ie: they are not likely to jump in immediately replacing your battery. More likely they will attempt (bandage?) solutions of upgrading the car's software. The net result of these software updates, and their intents, is being debated by a lot of consumers.

Personally, we've not incurred any extra, hybrid related expenses (apart from increased purchase price) to date. We've had a few non-hybrid items fail though, the wiper motor for one.

With the Honda Civic Hybrid, if the Hybrid battery fails out-of-warranty, you're looking at at least $3000, by most reports. I know I'm the new guy here, but I can't let that one slide. A quick google search will turn up rebuilt hybrid battery packs for $800-1200, and you should be able to convince your mechanic to drop it in for you for $200.

Or if you're DIY, you can do it yourself with $150 in equipment and maybe $50-100 in replacement cells.

As to whether the car is cheaper to maintain because it's a hybrid... probably. I go through fewer brake pads, and I'll never have to replace an alternator or starter. The fuel pump should last longer since it's not working as hard. This, plus the fuel savings, gives me more money to spend on LRR tires and mpg-improving instrumentation.

Aside from the battery replacement issue on some older HCHs, most of the popular hybrids out there (Prius, FEH, TCH and even the HCH) score as THE most reliable vehicles on Consumer Reports' survey.

The average hybrid actually scores far HIGHER in reliability than the average non-hybrid.

Mostly this is because the automakers (Toyota, Honda, Ford) that have brought us most of the hybrids so far are either tops for reliability in the first place, or have made a dedicated effort to put quality first on their hybrids.

As more automakers introduce hybrids, it's likely that not all of them will be tops in reliability. Then your question will be like asking "what is the cost of maintaining and repairing a red car compared to a silver car?" or "what is the cost of maintaining a car with four wheel disc brakes compared to one with front discs and rear drums?" And the answer will be "that doesn't have a damn thing to do with reliability".

It ALWAYS comes down to this: some cars are more reliable than others. Some have few problems and some have many. You can't make generalizations based on body type, technology or necessarily even the manufacturer. ALWAYS do your research on the INDIVIDUAL model you're interested in.

In terms of maintenance, my personal experience has been relatively trouble free and also free of concerns... especially if we do everything right in the maintenance department. In fact its been so good that my driveway will never see anything less than hybrid vehicles ever again. ;)

However, it is also possible that repairing a hybrid vehicle as a result of an accident will turn out to be a more expensive undertaking... at least in some cases. This is something our local insurance company already confirmed, but curiously they still attribute a lower insurance premium to a hybrid model when compared to a non-hybrid equivalent.

Like I said, no concerns and no complaints. :D

Cheers;

MSantos

However, it is also possible that repairing a hybrid vehicle as a result of an accident will turn out to be a more expensive undertaking... at least in some cases. This is something our local insurance company already confirmed, but curiously they still attribute a lower insurance premium to a hybrid model when compared to a non-hybrid equivalent.

In an accident adustment the threshold for write-off is higher than a regular Civic.

Hi folks, I haven't been around for a while but wanted to chime in on this thread.

I've owned my CVT since new in 2004.
I replaced my 1st set of tires @ 80,000 miles, 2nd set at 140,000.
My main CVT clutch went out at 130,000 miles. I don't recall the bill but Honda Corp paid half.
My CVT slips while moderately accelerating. I've been treating in the past by flushing the fluid which would solve the issue for about 10,000 miles. I'm now going on 180,000 miles and the flush hasn't made any difference for the last 30,000 or so miles. Honda says they'll pay half of the $3,000 bill to replace the belt and valve body. I've declined the repair due to the high mileage. I monitor the RPM guage and "seat of the pants" for when it slips and adjust the foot feed either way to stop it from slipping/generating heat. It's been working so far.

The dealer says my brakes "Have a lot left" even at 180,000 miles. I've been maximizing regenerative braking/slowing since I've owned it.

I'll probably get a lot of flack for this, but I've been pretty hard on my little car for the past few years. Honestly, I achieved my 75MPG and 1004 mile tank and considered it the pinacle of my effort. I began to back off hypermiling.
These days I drive around 80MPH in the left lanes, getting around 40MPG.

I thought I'd come by here and "see" some of my old friends whom I still recognize from way back when (Does anybody remember the Madisson Hybrid Fest 2006?) and yup, some are still here. Funny, I logged in and got a "new" PM message from Wayne (xcel) dated 2008!

Anyway Hello everyone and please take care! :)

Just met one of my wife's colleagues who has an '04 HCH. Pack is going. She's been to the dealer and had the usual band-aids applied, but it's on its way out. I am starting to wonder just how common this is.

Also have learned a LOT more about Priuses in the last couple of weeks as I've been shopping. Definitely one of the most reliable vehicles overall -- even the dreaded eCVT and battery pack failures are very rare -- but the '04s and some of the '05s had a high rate of MFD failure. Might not seem like a big deal ... until you learn that the replacement cost is 3 to 5 thousand. Not hundred. Other than that, not much to worry about though.