Well..you haven't asked me or my other two friends with Lexus hybrids that had failures...so I have my reasons and don't regret selling mine...no warranty. .no hybrid. It's that simple for me

 

Well I did. What issues did you have?

 

I am also very cuirious, what failures you had with the hybrid system?

 

Op, check this one out http://www.autotrader.com/cars-for-s...21085122&Log=0

 

My 600 Hybrid battery failed under 90k miles. A buddy of mine with a 600 also had a battery failure at 130k and a GS owner I know required battery and inverter replacement just over 100k. I recall two other 600 owners having battery issues and another just recently posted here about a $5700 part tied to the exhaust system for the hybrid iirc. I'm sure there are others but they may not be on the forum

 

Interesting... Were you under 8 years? If not, did Lexus share cost with you?

 

Ouch. Look they aren't indestructible; but branding the 600 with a scarlet h seems a bit much.

Over 100k miles I'm sure climate, driving style etc. are all factors in how long the hybrid components last; I agree 90k miles seems a bit low for a battery failure. My friend with the Prius is waiting for the battery to die so she can buy a Tesla. She's been waiting for 3 years and the car has about 160k miles on it; probably more as she drives about 20k miles a year. But this is LA with dry summers and mild temperatures so YMMV.

Over 100k miles yes the battery is a bit of a crapshoot. I agree at that point I'll probably be thinking about if I want to sign up for a new battery in the not so distant future or just sell and move on; but hopefully when I hit that marker cheaper options will be available. You have to do what you're comfortable with; and what works for you.

At the end of the day these are $100k+ cars that you can now buy for a fraction of that. It's going to want maintenance and parts costs comparable to a $100k car. Over at the benzworld forums they have a saying… "there's no car as expensive as a cheap Mercedes" because people buying a 20 year old S class for $5k are surprised when it needs another $3k of work.

Given the choice between an LS600h and a BMW 760 or S600 of similar age I'd take the hybrid hands down. You haven't seen expensive until you see a service rep casually hand you an estimate for $22k of work on a 10 year old car (happened to an S600 owner in one of the forums). Or if you just 'know' that your car will need a $5k coil job at a certain mileage (all V8 W220 cars). To say nothing of the expensive and fussy Mercedes air suspension. Or BMW transmissions that just seem to grenade around 100k miles. Or my good friend who happily paid his dealer $6k for a new set of brakes and rotors on his 3 year old S4 'because it needed it'.

But like you said; the only way to have absolute piece of mind is to have a comprehensive warranty. I have one but some people are ok without it. It might be a cool survey topic to ask how many 450h / 600h owners have had battery issues and what mileage those issues generally occur (the power of community forums).

 

I too have seen inverter failures, battery pack failures, etc on Toyota hybrids. My 04 Prius had an inverter coolant pump failure and an inverter replacement under the hybrid system warranty.

No way would I keep a 600hL without a warranty. Not a chance. Even if its unlikely the potential for repair bills is huge.

 

It failed literally the day of the 8 year expiration believe it or not. I had to argue my case with Lexus as they didn't want to cover it even though it happened on a Sunday and I couldn't get the car in until the next day. After two weeks of having the case reviewed with corporate, they agreed on covering the majority of the cost but I still had to pay a good bit of money of a $5500 repair.

Honestly was disappointed on how everything went down. Just my luck it failed on the exact 8 year date, but after that experience, I just lost confidence in the other hybrid components lasting and sold the car. It was a year earlier than I planned to sell it because I still had the other Lexus VSA coverage for the rest of the car until 2017. So I got refunded the prorated portion that I didn't use which was great to help offset the cost of the repair.

But I didn't expect Lexus to hesitate to stand fully behind their flagship hybrid sedan..especially with less than 90k miles on it. I realize they could of not covered anything based on fine print, but due to the uncanny timing of everything and as loyal as I was to the brand and having my car serviced by Lexus, I was expecting a full warranty repair. Lesson learned. Also make sure you know your original vehicle in service date so you can plan accordingly. But then again, who expects their most critical part to literally fail the exact day the warranty expires?

I still love the LS, but you can believe that I won't buy another hybrid. I loved mine, but it was a bucket list item. I say for anyone who buys one, just have some type of warranty coverage for the normally excluded hybrid parts once you get past the 8/100 warranty. Otherwise, you are rolling the dice. Maybe others will have better luck if they run into a warranty dispute situation.

 

The hybrid battery pack is made up of many cells. An individual cell can fail, or it can be as simple as the metal bus bars connecting the cells getting corroded.

If you have the know how or a shop that specializes in hybrids, it is an easy fix.

I purchased an extra cell off ebay for my GS450h for $40 just in case.

The Techstream software is able to list the voltages on the individual cells, so it is easy to know which one(s) to replace.

Granted, if I had purchased one of these new or nearly new, I'd be very upset if Lexus didn't foot the bill for the repair.

 

I think anybody would be rightfully upset if they tried to refuse coverage in a technicality like that.

 

For me, the risk is too high. I'd definitely opt for a newer 460 starting around 2011 and up.

 

I hear you...I would definitely be upset if they don't cover it, especially if the car is still CPO... I am sure that your experience, in many threads now, will make people think hard about 600 ownership... I hope that Lexus is monitoring this forum and see the inflected damage

Just to make sure from your most recent experience, all hybrid components are covered by CPO except the hybrid battery, correct??

 

There are some hybrid components that are not covered past 8/100 whether CPO or not. The two most expensive I believe which are the hybrid battery and inverter. I have my old paperwork and can post what the Lexus extended warranty does cover besides those two items.

I asked around locally for the cheaper single cell fix and nobody was willing to touch it..they said it's different etc. But the battery is one issue, the inverter is more costly which also is not covered after hybrid warranty

Edit: Inverter is covered with Lexus Platinum Extended Warranty, see post 31

 

I spoke with my service guy at Lexus today on this topic (had to call to schedule an oil change and had just read about CJITTY's problems with his Batteries). He told me that the batteries themselves weren't covered under the CPO (or Extended CPO) warranty, but that the other hybrid components were. Not sure if he really knew what he was talking about, though, so I am curious what others say regarding CPO coverage for hybrid components (inverter, etc.). My service guy did say in all his years at Lexus, he's only seen one actual hybrid battery failure (on a 2006). He said it looked like water had gotten into the battery compartment, causing corrosion which resulted in the failure.

My battery warranty on my 2008 LS600hL expires this April. Based on CJITTY's experience, I'll be watching to see if it fails at 8 years, 1 day old Hope not! I only have 72K miles on the car now, but it spent most of its life the cold winters of Chicago...