Originally Posted By: JOD
What parts in particular are difficult to find for it? I know that rebuilt transmissions are readily available for around 1K, and used or reman batteries seem about the same as the Prius. Besides the transmission, battery and a few peripheral parts, most of the rest of the vehicle is shared with the regular Escape.
I don't mean to be argumentative, I'm truly curious. When I was looking at these, I simply didn't run across these issues of higher cost or limited availability for parts? Obviously as the vehicle ages it'll be a bigger issue--as you said, these aren't super common. But these days with the internet, you can always find parts from someone who decided to run his car into a tree... Are there any particular parts that would be a real concern?
Not particularly, but I'll admit that I really did not research the Ford Hybrids much after talking with bdcardinal and him giving me a ballpark idea of the prices of the battery packs-- $9k for the Escape Hybrid and $4-5k for the Fusion Hybrid. The Prius battery pack is about $2500 in comparison.
Yes, you can always get junkyard parts for a car, but that isn't how I prefer to repair my cars so I rarely look in that area. Although this may change, the number of Ford Hybrids on the road is far less than Toyota hybrids, which means that inherently independent shops will see fewer (and be less familiar with) of these vehicles. Also, I would also guess that a Ford dealer will have fewer Hybrid techs available than a Toyota dealer, since they sell fewer of those vehicles. All of these things can potentially (but not necessarily) result in hassle for servicing.
