Hybrid cars, and which ones are available these days

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#2853806 19-Jan-2022 20:46

My personal preference is lower kms over a newer model. For example there's a Prius 2007 XW20 on TradeMe for under $10k with 43,000km. Low maintenance for a long time. Looks like it has a few options too. Similar comes up from time to time.

XW20 is not that good looking compared to later models and Prius C. Depends how you feel about looks. Also, XW20 requires a coolant pump replacement at 100,000km if I remember correctly. $300 including labour at the dealer if I remember correctly and you do that before it breaks as you should. XW30 has a completely different way of doing things and not needed at all.

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#2853831 19-Jan-2022 22:45

I saw a few newer Prius's out and about tonight, and they don't look too bad. I'll do some digging into the options for them. And yes, my preference is lower kms too.

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#2853847 19-Jan-2022 23:55

quickymart:

The Prius looks okay - but I'm also curious as to whether any other makers do hybrids, apart from Toyota with the Prius line?

I used to visit The Clean Green Car Company from time to time when they still existed, and they had a good range of hybrids apart from Toyota (and - from memory - a few EVs), but they're long gone now.

In terms of other makers as per my below post, the answer is yes.

https://www.geekzone.co.nz/forums.asp?forumid=162&topicid=293225&page_no=2#2845093

Honda would be the most notable. With the fit hybrid perhaps the most notable.

But in the era of car's that your budget allows, Toyota's hybrid synergy drive tech is really the best in the the marketplace. More efficient than Honda's hybrid tech, and highly reliable.

Frankly many other brands hybrid offerings are weak on the economy front (Suzuki, Subaru), or are well out of your budget (Basically every brand offers hybrids now, but as an example a Nissan note e-power due to being released in 2016). So you are realistically stuck with toyota or honda. I would recommend Toyota if other aspects of the vehicle are workable to you..

On the Toyota front, The prius famiy is: Prius C (aqua), Prius, Prius V (alpha). Plenty of other options toyota options beyond those models (but all toyota / lexus share the same tech), but as many of them haven't been on the market as long you would need to increase your budget quite a bit (and perhaps drop hatchback preference:

Corolla Axio Sedan (small economy sedan) $11k for a 2013 with 113,568km.
Corolla fielder hybrid (wagon version of above) $11.5k for 2014
Lexus ct200h (3rd gen prius drivetrain with luxury hatchback body): 2011 for $13k (139,000km)
Toyota Sai / Lexus HS (medium luxary sedan) - Less economical at 6L/.100km, but a lot more powerful than the above at 140kW. $8.5k for a 2010 with 120,000km.
High mileage various more preimum hybrids like camry, and vairous lexus.

But of course, check it out for yourself. Below is a trade me search for hybrid cars below $7500 (sellers estimate of value for search purposes:

https://www.trademe.co.nz/a/motors/cars/search?bof=MbLPnP7M&price_max=7500&fuel_type=hybrid

Only 151 to click through.

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#2853852 20-Jan-2022 00:11

gzt: My personal preference is lower kms over a newer model. For example there's a Prius 2007 XW20 on TradeMe for under $10k with 43,000km. Low maintenance for a long time. Looks like it has a few options too. Similar comes up from time to time.

XW20 is not that good looking compared to later models and Prius C. Depends how you feel about looks. Also, XW20 requires a coolant pump replacement at 100,000km if I remember correctly. $300 including labour at the dealer if I remember correctly and you do that before it breaks as you should. XW30 has a completely different way of doing things and not needed at all.

I'm the opposite. Quite happy to accept higher mileage for a newer / cheaper vehicle. Guess a lot of it is personal taste. Brought two of my last three cars at 170,000 odd km, and the remainder was a Nissan leaf at 77,000km (a lot for 24kWh leaf given you can't really take it very far.

Does mean that those cars are at point in their lives there things wear out and need replacing (i.e. rear brake pad's & disks on my lexus hybrid), so maintenance costs are higher. But for me worth it given I brought a car that sold for $99,000 new for $13k.

The Toyota hybrid's should run without serious issue in private duty to 300,000+km (3 examples on trade-me at 400,000km+), so are far from worn out. Should note that vehicle components also degrade with age, especially if they are parked in the sun.

For the Pruis 2nd gen (XU20) vs 3rd gen (XU30). I have a bit of a grudge against the XU20 as my head hits the roof in teh back of them when they used to be common uber cars. XU30 has enough space for me.

XU20 is regarded as the ultimate in reliablity in high mileage taxi duty, so has that going for it.

XU30 looks a little nicer, but really the visual profile is similar. It is a touch more economical, and a lot more powerful if that matters. As with most car's new generations it is also slightly bigger.

Personally I would accept higher mileage to get into the More modern, more economical & more powerful car.

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#2853853 20-Jan-2022 00:15

As mentioned prior there will be a rebate kicking in at some point for these kinds of cars. Unknown if inflation in used car values between now and then will exceed it's value.

RUKI: If you wait till 2 April you might get a bargain - NZ new Prius C 2012, low mileage, high spec, immobilizer, new wheels, mag wheel, NZ maps...

Any aqua / Prius C for OP's $8k budget is a bargain. Especially a NZ new one (which won't have the security issues of the poverty pack JDM ones)

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#2855064 23-Jan-2022 10:36

Right, having looked at both a Prius and an Aqua, my inclination is probably towards a Prius. They seem to have bigger boot space, which is a consideration for me.

Most of the ones I've seen come in grey; do they have any other colours? Blue? Red?

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#2855230 23-Jan-2022 17:15

quickymart:

Right, having looked at both a Prius and an Aqua, my inclination is probably towards a Prius. They seem to have bigger boot space, which is a consideration for me.

Most of the ones I've seen come in grey; do they have any other colours? Blue? Red?

Yes, boot space is substantially different. 260L on the aqua vs 446 Liters in the 3rd gen prius (generally they only count space up to the seat back height).

Silver is by far the most common color. White and a pale bluish silver are also fairly common. 3rd gen:

Red exists too but less common, I couldn't spot any in you budget, below example is asking $9240

Black:

2nd generation had a dark blue and a grey (or dark silver):

The Aqua has more interesting colors: [edit] but OP's budget means the number of aqua's accessible will be very small (they are younger cars than the Prius), and other desirable attributes, like push button start (to avoid the easily stolen turn key start) may mean that colour has to take a back seat.

Really, as a used car buyer, a lot of your color choice will just come down to what is available in the market at the time.

And to add complexity, a lot of used imports from japan have both light and dark interior color option's, with light being most common.

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#2855334 24-Jan-2022 09:51

I like the blue of that Prius :) thanks for that, I'll have a look around.

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#2855956 25-Jan-2022 09:35

I currently have an AWD CX-5 and, given the increasing cost of fuel, I was wondering if there is something equivalent available as a hybrid. As I understand it, these are the only options available from mainstream manufacturers:

RAV4 : Ugly, with cheap looking interior.
Outlander/Eclipse Cross : Only available as a plug-in hybrid. Probably only suitable for people who can charge at home as the heavy battery creates a lot of dead weight if you use it only as a standard hybrid.

Are there any others that I'm missing?

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#2856026 25-Jan-2022 11:03

alasta:

I currently have an AWD CX-5 and, given the increasing cost of fuel, I was wondering if there is something equivalent available as a hybrid. As I understand it, these are the only options available from mainstream manufacturers:

RAV4 : Ugly, with cheap looking interior.
Outlander/Eclipse Cross : Only available as a plug-in hybrid. Probably only suitable for people who can charge at home as the heavy battery creates a lot of dead weight if you use it only as a standard hybrid.
Are there any others that I'm missing?

There looks to be a new Hyundai Tucson coming out later this year, which will be available as a hybrid. Interestingly, there isn’t a hybrid available in the new Sportage range (the equivalent model to the Tucson).

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#2856030 25-Jan-2022 11:08

Thanks, that is worth keeping an eye on.

It will be interesting to see how it is priced, as the existing Tucson range seems extremely expensive compared to its Sportage siblings. I'm guessing that Hyundai still discount heavily for fleet buyers, and hence they're probably easy to haggle with.

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#2856086 25-Jan-2022 13:36

Kia Sorento has both hybrid and plugin hybrid options, bigger (and more expensive) compared to CX5.

Don't do it just to save money, takes a lot of petrol, even at $3/l, and a lot of kilometers, to recover the cost up upgrading a car. Modern petrol's at highways speeds are nearly as efficient as a similar sized hybrid, so the only win is urban motoring kilometers.

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#2856123 25-Jan-2022 14:57

Thanks, that is an option I wasn't aware of. I just compared the Sorento hybrid AWD EX against a CX-9 GSX which appears to be similar size/performance/specification.

The price difference is only $5k, so based on a 4% cost of capital you'd only need to save $200 a year on fuel. Based on $3 per litre and 10,000km per year your fuel consumption would only need to improve by 0.67l/100km which seems very achievable even though I only do highway driving.

Still, I agree with you that there's not much in it.

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#2856126 25-Jan-2022 14:59

Highway driving is about the worst for hybrids I think, a constant energy use situation isnt really helped by any of the hybrid stuff.

jonathan18

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#2856130 25-Jan-2022 15:04

The Sorrento is a large vehicle, and noting you mentioned CX5 I don’t think it’s in the same category, which is why I didn’t mention it!

I looked at it when I was thinking of a hybrid or PHEV, but honestly it was a larger car than I needed - and that’s for a family of four and all our cr@p when we go on holiday; I’ve also since been converted to the idea of a BEV, which I understand isn’t an option for you due to charging requirements.

I assume you’re thinking of switching to a hybrid when you would have otherwise been purchasing a new vehicle, as opposed to switching for the purpose of saving fuel/money?

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