Don't put them out to pasture quite yet; aging hybrids doing well
We know that the all-electric Toyota RAV4 EV is one of the cars that has gone up in value over the years. Mark Phelan, a Detroit Free Press columnist, noted this week that early hybrid vehicles, especially the Honda Insight, are also still doing well among their happy owners and are selling well enough in the aftermarket. Consumer Reports magazine raves about the Insight and the early Priuses, even though some of these first-generation hybrids have had battery problems. The automakers are, for the most part, taking good care of the early adopters who bought the first hybrids. And J.D. Power and Associates says that their three-year durability survey found hybrids have about 10 percent fewer problems than purely gasoline-engine cars. More long-term studies of aging hybrids will be coming later this year, Phelan writes, but the overall picture is that hybrids are doing well, both on the road and out of the garages.
[Source: Detroit Free Press]
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
michael e. v. knight 3:09PM (10/09/2007)
Speaking of the Toyota RAV4 EV why doesn't Toyota just start making them again?
Seems everyone that drove these cars loved them.
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Kelly OBrien 11:13AM (10/10/2007)
I still drive a RAV4 EV and I still love it! It put about 65 miles a day on it and in my opinion, it was the most practical EV ever made.
A down to the doorknobs charge still takes about 4-5 hours and I get a 100 mile range (tho a bit white knuckled if not used to seeing the the needle go deep red and the blinking light scream at you!).
My only complain is that I'm still leasing it after 6 years. Toyota won't sell it to me.
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