Hybrid vs Petrol question
Discussion
Dave Hedgehog said:
its simple in my mind you either go BEV or you don't, no way i would want to be financial liability for a modern hybrid out of warranty
From experience i'll take the hybrid Toyota over the Tesla out of warranty! A hybrid Toyota will be about as reliable as cars get. Hackney2 said:
Hybrids are best around the city etc..Not so much on long hauls.They excel in city environments,where it is stop start situations.
There is a reason taxi drivers moved from the hackney black cab to Prius / or rather diesel Audi A6’s to Prius. Prius simply don’t go wrong and interior materials are as mmmmm very very hard wearing. Taxi drivers like things that last and last and last and are cheap to service and can avoid pollution charges
Welshbeef said:
There is a reason taxi drivers moved from the hackney black cab to Prius / or rather diesel Audi A6’s to Prius.
Prius simply don’t go wrong and interior materials are as mmmmm very very hard wearing. Taxi drivers like things that last and last and last and are cheap to service and can avoid pollution charges
Indeed - there are any number of Priuses with space shuttle mileages doing service as Ubers all over London. They never, ever, seem to break.Prius simply don’t go wrong and interior materials are as mmmmm very very hard wearing. Taxi drivers like things that last and last and last and are cheap to service and can avoid pollution charges
My mum has a diddy Yaris hybrid which I occasionally drive to give it a proper workout. It actually solves all the problems really - electric while crawling through London, and then you can spank it for 150 miles up the motorway (and back) without any worries about charging. It will do 90 all day, which is enough for me…. Not sure if the hybrid system in an Estima is the same as a Prius/Yaris, but I’d be pretty confident about reliability if it is.
Welshbeef said:
There is a reason taxi drivers moved from the hackney black cab to Prius / or rather diesel Audi A6’s to Prius.
Prius simply don’t go wrong and interior materials are as mmmmm very very hard wearing. Taxi drivers like things that last and last and last and are cheap to service and can avoid pollution charges
That is what our fleet in Australia is primarily made up of,is Hybrids,mainly Toyota Camry hybrid,& a few Prius.There has been a few Skoda diesels(but not that common).You might see the odd LPG Ford Falcon(still a few around Melbourne.)My cousin who now lives in Devon,was a taxi driver.(drove a MB Vito).Prius simply don’t go wrong and interior materials are as mmmmm very very hard wearing. Taxi drivers like things that last and last and last and are cheap to service and can avoid pollution charges
Edited by Hackney2 on Wednesday 15th September 22:57
Welshbeef said:
There is a reason taxi drivers moved from the hackney black cab to Prius / or rather diesel Audi A6’s to Prius.
Prius simply don’t go wrong and interior materials are as mmmmm very very hard wearing. Taxi drivers like things that last and last and last and are cheap to service and can avoid pollution charges
Pedantics unite!!!Prius simply don’t go wrong and interior materials are as mmmmm very very hard wearing. Taxi drivers like things that last and last and last and are cheap to service and can avoid pollution charges
They do go wrong and where I am there are a good selection of broken ones for sale. However, you are correct. SF switched to Priuses for their cabs a while ago and there are thousands of the damn things. Super reliable and rack up a lot of miles. It’s common to see ones with well over 250k miles and still running well. You are right.
And there is a good after market for repairing very high mileage Priuses. From battery replacements to transmission and drivetrain fixes, there are plenty of things that can be done and keep them on the roads for years to come.
Now, do they rattle, shake and become massively uncomfortable? Hell yeah!
If you buy a Toyota hybrid you can look forwards to catalytic theft - it's big business with replacements costing £800 from Toyota and second hand ones on ebay (yours back again 
) for a snip at £350
Then there is the servicing of the ICE. It still needs a service like a regular ICE. So why have two potentially ruinous technologies when you could have one?
) for a snip at £350 Then there is the servicing of the ICE. It still needs a service like a regular ICE. So why have two potentially ruinous technologies when you could have one?
Got rid of my e-Tron earlier in the summer and went to a 530e xdrive to sample a hybrid.
Big mistake - worst of both worlds. Battery too small (30 miles full on charge) and 2l engine which then has to work hard lugging around the battery weight / 4 wheel drive.
Order placed on i4 M50 - can't come soon enough.
Big mistake - worst of both worlds. Battery too small (30 miles full on charge) and 2l engine which then has to work hard lugging around the battery weight / 4 wheel drive.
Order placed on i4 M50 - can't come soon enough.
Thanks for all the comments, clearly a very decisive subject! 
Definitely not getting a Tesla. Would love one but it’s out of my price range and as much as my 20 year old self would be disgusted with me, an MPV is what we currently need. If it was a UK car I’d be getting the hybrid as more access to its history but, having chatted to a few trustworthy JDM car dealers, I’m going to opt for the non hybrid model.
It’s going to be a £2k premium over exactly the same car without the hybrid (2.4 rather than 3.5). Based on back of a fag packet maths (and assuming the hybrid will be 20% more efficient) it’ll take roughly 8 years to make this saving back and it’s unlikely I’ll still have it after 3 or 4 years. With the potential of a £2k bill to fix it as well it’s just not worth the risk.
Definitely not getting a Tesla. Would love one but it’s out of my price range and as much as my 20 year old self would be disgusted with me, an MPV is what we currently need. If it was a UK car I’d be getting the hybrid as more access to its history but, having chatted to a few trustworthy JDM car dealers, I’m going to opt for the non hybrid model. It’s going to be a £2k premium over exactly the same car without the hybrid (2.4 rather than 3.5). Based on back of a fag packet maths (and assuming the hybrid will be 20% more efficient) it’ll take roughly 8 years to make this saving back and it’s unlikely I’ll still have it after 3 or 4 years. With the potential of a £2k bill to fix it as well it’s just not worth the risk.
Edited by Ungarsee on Monday 20th September 08:55
Ungarsee said:
Thanks for all the comments, clearly a very decisive subject!??. Definitely not getting a Tesla. Would love one but it’s out of my price range and as much as my 20 year old self would be disgusted with me, an MPV is what we currently need. If it was a UK car I’d be getting the hybrid as more access to its history but, having chatted to a few trustworthy JDM car dealers, I’m going to opt for the non hybrid model.
It’s going to be a £2k premium over exactly the same car without the hybrid (2.4 rather than 3.5). Based on back of a fag packet maths (and assuming the hybrid will be 20% more efficient) it’ll take roughly 8 years to make this saving back and it’s unlikely I’ll still have it after 3 or 4 years. With the potential of a £2k bill to fix it as well it’s just not worth the risk.
Not disputing your maths, do they include that you'll be able to sell a hybrid for more when you're done with it? I wouldn't discount the hybrid purely on costs anyway, at least have a drive of one to fully rule it out - The driving experience will be quite different, in good/bad ways. It’s going to be a £2k premium over exactly the same car without the hybrid (2.4 rather than 3.5). Based on back of a fag packet maths (and assuming the hybrid will be 20% more efficient) it’ll take roughly 8 years to make this saving back and it’s unlikely I’ll still have it after 3 or 4 years. With the potential of a £2k bill to fix it as well it’s just not worth the risk.
Going back to the OPs original question. The hybrid is a rare vehicle in the UK, I had a look at them back in 2007 and, most were Japanese imports not UK vehicles. It uses a different system to the Prius so you are going to be on your own if anything breaks. The only time I have seen one mentioned on an EV forum was someone who bough a dead one (battery was screwed) and as far as I know was never able to fix it.
GT6k said:
Going back to the OPs original question. The hybrid is a rare vehicle in the UK, I had a look at them back in 2007 and, most were Japanese imports not UK vehicles. It uses a different system to the Prius so you are going to be on your own if anything breaks. The only time I have seen one mentioned on an EV forum was someone who bough a dead one (battery was screwed) and as far as I know was never able to fix it.
There’s plenty of hybrids around if you’re in a city centre but having loitered on some Estima Facebook groups for a few weeks it seems they aren’t as reliable as the Toyota badge would suggest. This has been backed up by a few trustworthy dealers I’ve spoken to as well. There’s a guy in Wigan who seems to be an expert in all things Toyota hybrids and will replace all the batteries for just under £2k. GT6k said:
Going back to the OPs original question. The hybrid is a rare vehicle in the UK, I had a look at them back in 2007 and, most were Japanese imports not UK vehicles. It uses a different system to the Prius so you are going to be on your own if anything breaks. The only time I have seen one mentioned on an EV forum was someone who bough a dead one (battery was screwed) and as far as I know was never able to fix it.
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