Hello, I'm new to the sight and have been reading up on first hybrid purchase. I will be getting into a used 2004 HCH soon and I have a few questions for the experts here. This will be my first hybrid as my other 2 vehicles are v8's and I just don't want to visit the gas station twice a week anymore. Anyways, the 2004 HCH has 75k miles on it and I will be the third owner. Car looks in pretty good shape with minor wear and tear. Car also drives pretty solid with no rattling or wierd noises but I did not drive it extensively. Regular maintenance records were provided. However, the IMA battery was replaced at about 65k miles and the regular battery was also recently replaced. Carfax is clean.

My question is if the IMA battery was replaced what is the warranty on the new battery? and is it transferrable? Also, should I be concerned and/or cautious about anything regarding this particular model year? Thanks in advance for any help.

 

Once the original hybrid componenet warranty is up, it is up. It is transferrable.

 

You didn't mention whether it's a manual or an automatic. If it's an automatic, take another test drive and pay attention to how it feels when you accelerate from a stop. If it has a rumble (called judder) or if you feel slippage, there might be trouble with the start clutch. It's a problem with the early model's CVT that some people have had, and others have not. If you want to read more about it, do a search here on "start clutch" and something should show up.
If it accelerates smoothly from a stop, especially on an uphill, that's a good sign.

 

So there is no warranty for the new replacement IMA battery?

It is the CVT model. The prior owner had that problem fixed as they were aware of it already. Thanks for the notice though.