Our 2001 6 cylinder Accord has 270,000 miles on it and increasingly expensive repairs that leave me with anxiety about when it will die completely and how much the next repair bill will be. Our mechanics heavily favor Honda, Toyota and Subaru for reliability. They are skeptical about Hyundai because of delays in getting recalls handled. They don’t care much for hybrids in general - replacement betteries are expensive, two kinds of motors mean that there are twice as many things that can go wrong.
Happydad is interested in hybrids. I can’t help thinking that gas prices will go back up, and in a couple of years we might be really happy to be getting 50 mpg with a Prius. I’m concerned that he won’t think a Prius has enough “oomph”. For that matter, the current crop of Accords seem to only have 4 cylinders, and possibly not enough oomph either.
In any case, even the cheapest Honda/Toyota/Subaru will have a lot more safety and energy efficient features than our current vehicle, so whatever we end up with will be a step up.
What should we look for? What should we think about?
The Toyota Prius has a long record of excellent reliability. The same cannot be said of the older Honda IMA hybrids, though newer Honda hybrids use a different design.
Engines are both more powerful and more fuel efficient than they were in 2001.
A 2001 Honda Accord V6 had 200hp and EPA fuel economy of 18/26. A 2018 Honda Accord 1.5L 4 has 192hp and EPA fuel economy of 29/35 or 30/38. The more powerful 2.0L 4 has 252hp and EPA fuel economy of 23/34.
We have a 2008 Camry hybrid that I love. We bought it used, with only 18,000 miles, so we knew the hybrid battery was OK.
We were car shopping only a month after the big 2011 earthquake hit Japan and you can imagine that there were no new hybrids around, and waiting lists for any kind of Prius. A used Camry hybrid was off the radar and we wanted something a little bigger and more comfortable anyway.
Another thing to think about - the electronics in new cars can drive you nuts! H has a newer Corolla. I think 2013, and it synchs to your phone whether you like it or not. Great if someone calls you since you can answer by hitting an icon on the display. Not great for anything else.
For example, as H approaches the car it will start randomly playing music, or one of his podcasts. I’ve been in his car, behind him at a light, and I can hear his podcast even though he is in the car in front of me. We can’t turn off this “autoplay” feature. We could unsynch his phone, but he needs it for other things.
Also, if you’re using Waze, it will talk to you through the car’s speakers. Fine. But every time it stops speaking, it will start playing that podcast again. You can stop the podcast. But the next time Waze gives you a direction, the podcast will start again. Drives us crazy!
By contrast, the 2008 Camry hybrid has a bluetooth connection to your phone, and only your phone’s calls. You can hook up something between the headphone jack on your phone and a port in the car to play music through the speakers, but no music or podcasts are just picked up by the car.
“The Toyota Prius has a long record of excellent reliability.”
Before we bought a Prius I asked around, and found a couple of friends who have had a Prius for years and were onto their second. I kept hearing about their excellent reliability. We therefore bought one. As of today we are well past 100,000 miles and it has been very good so far. We have not noticed any problems with the battery or much else. There was a recall on some part of the electronics but they fixed this for free. In general a hybrid is a rather complex thing so we would prefer to buy a hybrid with a long record of reliability.
We got a Prius V largely to have the extra back seat room for the kids, for example for doing college visits (of which our Prius has done many). It is a larger and heavier car than the regular Prius, but with the same engines. As such the acceleration is limited. However, up in northern Maine where the speed limit is 75 and many drive at 85, it goes from 0 to 85 just fine, and cruises along at 85 (or I would expect 90, had we ever tried it) very comfortably. One issue that we found in the mountains of Vermont or New Hampshire is that due to its aerodynamics it is quiet at high speed, so on the long downhills it is possible for the speed to creep up higher than might be strictly speaking legal without the driver noticing. Thus you do have to watch your speed on the downhills. A nice feature is that if you break lightly on the long downhills it uses the electric motor as a generator and therefore recharges the big battery rather than actually using the brakes.
No, but there is not much point to getting a plug in hybrid (versus a non plug in hybrid) if you never plug it in. Plug in hybrids typically have less cargo room due to the larger batteries.
@happymomof1 if you don’t plan to or are unable to plug a car in…do not buy one that has that capability. Waste of money.
We also ditched a Honda Accord with 250,000 Miles plus on it…that needed a new catalytic converters. DH bought a used VW Golf diesel…from the estate of a friend. He loves that car… but let’s just say…replacing with a new diesel VW isn’t going to be happening!
DH has looked at hybrid and regular engine cars. At this point, hybrid prices are down because gas prices are down. We have driving the hybrids of just about every make. Honestly, the Prius has THE most uncomfortable seats of all of them unless you get the top of the line model. They are hard, and uncomfortable…and no one in our family liked them…the mileage would not have swayed us.
For our next car, we will likely get an Impreza hatchback…we think. Gas engines are so much more fuel efficient than in 2000. You will find even the gas powered cars are more fuel efficient than your Accord from 2000.
@oldfort we liked the fusion also. Comfortable for sure. And very quiet. Friends have a fusion hybrid…and love it.
A plug-in hybrid might cost $4k more than a comparable traditional hybrid. Traditional hybrids are already very fuel efficient, 54mpg city. Then, you may need to buy a charging station, pay an electrician to install, and pay the electricity cost of recharging the vehicle. That’s all to say it’s unlikely a plugin will save you money, before tax incentives. Given that, there’s two main reasons to get a plugin vehicle at this point.
The federal tax credit can offset the costs above. I would check to make sure the new tax law didn’t reduce this.
We had a 2010 Prius which was totalled at 94,000 miles (someone rear-ended me doing 45 mph). I can tell you from personal experience that the crumple zones work; the back end of the car was crushed right up to the back seat. The frame bent at the rear passenger door, but the inside passenger compartment was intact.
We bought another Prius (2017). We have never had expenses beyond the normal maintenance and headlight/tire replacement (still under warranty with the 2017, but no problems). No problems with the battery AT ALL on either car. I am averaging 60 mpg on my current car. The 2017 model has EV, eco and power mode. For some uphill stuff (like driving through Shenandoah NP), the power mode was useful. 99% of the time, I don’t feel the need for power mode.
I am not a fan of the sight lines on the Prius – either model. The seats are low, so if you a hard time getting in and out of seats, that can be an issue.
Our other car is a 2011 Subaru Outback, 90k miles. Again, no problems other than routine maintenance. Seats are higher than the Prius. It has more of a “car” ride feel that the Forester, which is what we originally thought we were going to buy. The back storage configuration is slightly different, as well. It is the effective replacement for our Odyssey, and we have a Thule topper for hauling stuff for college, camping, etc.
We had an Accord, Odyssey and a CR-V before the current cars. Accord kept me virtually uninjured after bring t-boned at 45 mph. I LOVED our Odyssey. Still miss it. We had an old model CR-V, which was boxy and noisy. Did not love it, but my brother has the newer, larger version and the difference is night and day. We looked at Civic hybrids in 2010, and the battery arrangement seriously reduced the storage area and we could not fold down the rear seat. Deal-breaker for us. I assume they have restyled since.
I thought hard about it but I’ve noticed that the Prius’ especially speed up and slow down on the highway and I noticed they are really slow off stop lights. My husband thinks it’s the drivers, but it’s every Prius I’ve ever seen. I’ll set cruise control and inevitable I’ll go around a Prius and then they are going around me over and over during a 45 minute commute. I drive on a 2 lane 55 mile per hour highway with stop lights and if you don’t get on it on dry roads when the light changes you can leave drivers 6 cars back sitting through two lights which is so rude. But I will keep watching as newer models from other manufacturers come out as I think it’s an excellent idea to own such a vehicle.
We have researched the hybrid Prius and Camry (and Lexus) as H’s Lexus is getting up there in miles and years- will wait for next gen perhaps (due in a year or so). Newer generation batteries are supposed to be even better I heard.
You will need to sit in them and test drive them. Several years ago we test drove a hybrid Camry but were not ready for the driving style (ie being fuel efficient). Since you plan to own the car “forever” be sure you like the driving/ride et al. Many good choices- go with the one you like. Do not be too “penny wise and pond foolish”- you plan to live with your choice for a decade or more. Even the less expensive cars now have so many standard features that were only on luxury models just a few years ago. Check on annoying features as well as desired ones- think of the daily /thousands of times you deal with them.
Have fun car shopping- not something done very often for any of us (back in my childhood many people traded in cars every two years and ours was 12) so it is a truly major choice.
On #2, people who are concerned about external effects may be concerned about other ones besides the environmental ones. For example, there is the trade deficit which oil imports contribute to. There are also national security implications of dependence on imported oil.
Checked out the 2018 Accord and the 2018 Honda Clarity, but Happydad didn’t like the driver’s side legroom. Test-drove the 2018 Prius, 2017 Prius V, and 2018 Camry hybrid. Surprised to dislike the Camry. Too much like our Accord I guess. Verdict on the Prius was that while the driver had legroom, the backseat passengers didn’t.
Our wonderful Credit Union car-buying service located a new 2017 Prius V 3 for pretty much the going price of a 2018 Prius 2 in our area, and we picked it up on Saturday. I’m delighted with the backseat space. Happydad is fascinated by the MPG indicator. Happykid is working on programming all the radio stations and telephones into it. Win Win all around.
I have a 2005 Prius with close to 130k miles on it, and I love it. It’s been trouble free, just wipers and oil changes, for more than 12 years. Only now do we have our first age-related item, a control module that makes the dash light up.
I don’t know where you are located @happymomof1 but if you get snow, I would strongly recommend that you get snow tires. I would not believed it but the snow tires make such a difference
@deb922 - Thanks for reminding me about snow tires. I’ll run it by my mechanic. We are in the MD suburbs of DC, and our winters tend to be mild by my IA childhood standards. Most things flat-out shut down when there is snow, and I just stay off the roads for that day or two because of the inexperienced-with-snow drivers who decide that they do need to be somewhere :). A college friend who is in St Paul MN swears by her snow tires (Nokia maybe? In any case, a Scandinavian brand I’d never heard of) She reports that they “glue” her Prius to the road.