Hello everyone,

I started a new job in August. My commute is 105 mile per day, my current ride is a 16 F150 ecoboost. While I think 21 mpg is great for a truck I don't want to put 26000 miles per year on it. So I have been looking for a relatively inexpensive commuter that gets fantastic mileage. One of the candidates is a 2004 HCH with 140000 miles, having the IMA battery replaced at 100000 miles. Its a 5 speed, looks the be in good condition, priced at a dealer in the upper end of the kbb fair market value. It has some of the tell tail Midwest rust but nothing that isn't repairable.

Is there anything else I need to be concerned about? I have read how to service the IMA battery when it inevitably fails, and I am ok with that. I the car looks like I may make an offer and bring it home.

Thoughts?

So far I had actually drove a 17 Mitsubishi Mirage, and a 2012 Cruze Eco. I made an offer on the Cruze but the dealer rejected it. Also considering a Fiesta SFE.

 

Pass. Money better spent on a cheap civic, corolla, sentra, etc.

Hybrids have 2X major systems to fail. Battery reliability is poor.

 

The car in question isn't any more expensive than any of the civics, fits, corolla's, matrixs, vibes, yaris or whatever other japanese vehicle I have come across of similar milage and year, most of them are in worse condition and get far fewer highway mpgs. If I don't go this route it will likely be a fiesta ecoboost, or a cruze eco. better overall value, better mpgs, even taking into account the overall higher maintenance cost, the higher mpg's make the cost benefit analysis work out.

I don't twisting wrenches and I am pretty good at letting the smoke out.

 

How do the numbers come out when you need to drop $2,000-3,000+ in a few weeks on a new battery? If you're okay with that, cool.

If you live in an area where you don't need to pass emissions, you can bypass the battery and get the same highway mpg. If you're okay with that, cool.

If not, pass.

Honda hybrids have the absolute worst battery reliability of all hybrids. 03-05 HCH has the 3rd worst battery ever made.

Lithium based, G2 Insight and CR-Z hybrids are the only exceptions for Honda. Civics are total ****. I've personally owned 2X 06, and I've touched on the order of 20 IMA batteries at the stick level. Junk.

 

Since this would a secondary vehicle for me, I would DIY the battery refurbishment so the cost should be a fraction of the 2 to 3K. But what makes you think the battery only have a few weeks left? The car in question was a single owner, recent trade, with battery that has 39000 miles on it. All maintenance and repair services were performed by a local dealer including the battery swap at 100K miles.

Jut trying to feel things out. Manual Honda Civics in this good of condition at this price point are pretty rare in my area. I have more or less given up on them. I am not going to spend $4K on a car that 200K miles. Conversely I don' want to barrow money to buy a second car either, but I am also not above that for the right deal. My desire is to get something with a manual transmission and gets 40+ mpg on the highway.

 

I've given you my advice based on a LOT of experience with Honda Hybrids. You keep dismissing it. This tells me you're just asking for the answers you want to hear - affirmation of your own position and aren't interested in actual advice.

You haven't done your research on Honda battery reliability. It's horrible. Replacements made after about 2009 are worse than the originals. The battery installed at 100K miles was likely refurbished by Honda and not new.

You've drunk the kool-aid on the accounts of refurbishment. It's a short term solution at best.

You might be able to get away with a $500 grid charging system if the battery fails, but that has varying degrees of success, and it may not work at all.

I'll say it a different way... Based on my experience with over 100 hybrid vehicles, if you are looking for inexpensive, reliable and economical transportation, a used high-mileage hybrid is a poor choice. A used HCH1 is the 3rd worst choice possible following 06-08 HCH2 and 09-11 HCH2 as the absolute worst.

Take it or leave it. You asked, and I gave you my honest experienced-based opinion.

Good luck,

Steve

 

I agree with S. Keith, the HCH 1 is more trouble than it is worth. I still drive mine but the next big thing that fails it goes to the junk yard. You don't seem to appreciate that while a working HCH 1 can indeed get about 40 mpg it is not an inexpensive car to own because it is prone to sudden and very expensive failures. Those more than offset the gas savings. If your commute is all highway and the traffic isn't stop and go there is just no reason to prefer a hybrid over an efficient conventional car.

I suggest that you look for a 10-12 year old Corolla. Be really careful that it isn't from Houston or Florida, many of the owners of those flooded cars will be right now trying to dump them on the unsuspecting.

One other point, the lack of a fold down rear seat in this small car is its other big drawback. You have a truck, so if you're home and have the choice that isn't an issue for you, but if you happen to be out, and find something you want to transport which is long, well, let's hope you can strap it to the roof.

 

Thank you for chiming in p_c. Hopefully, he'll listen to an owner...