Originally Posted By: edwardh1
Originally Posted By: CKN
Your right. Toyota isn't stupid by any stretch. However-Toyota has
60 BILLION IN CASH RESERVES. Perhaps this buys them privileges for taking chances.
And your right-the Prius is one reliable automobile. There is no argument there-even from the Toyota haters.
I have not seen much on actual costs to replace the hybrid battery in a Prius. Owning a car that may require a $3000 or whatever battery would kill the deal for me.
Toyota feels the battery will last the life of the car-
Toyota told us that the engineers consider the NiMH batteries in Prius and other Toyota hybrids to be a life-of-the-car component. It could be several owners and hundreds of thousands of miles down the line before the pack requires replacement, at which point the car itself may well be past its prime.
That's backed up by stories like the 300,000-mile Ford Escape hybrid taxis, and Consumer Reports recently tested a 215,000-mile 2003 Prius and found its performance had barely diminished. In the latter, the only component that had needed replacement was a fan belt, at 127,000 miles.
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