BradRX330

400 vrs 350/330 why go hybird ? what's the upside of non hybird?

ukrkoz

You sleep better, knowing that repairs are less costly. Hybrids are 32% more in repairs. You get worse mpg but, if you really calculate it, it takes years and years to recoup premium paid for a hybrid. Also, with used hybrids, unless you have it scoped through electronics and battery by a pro, you never know what you get. In stop and go or short trips traffic, you have no hybrid benefit also.
I owned two. It's iffy feeling, you know. You know what Damokles sword is? That's owning a hybrid. I could never really get rid of that deep thought that something very expensive will break.

professorm

My mechanic has been attending classes and workshops at SEMA and other automotive classes. I had no intention of looking on Hybrid, until I casually told him that I saw a few Hybrids in my car shopping. He told me that Hybrids are manufactured to a much higher tolerance than the regular vehicles because the manufacturers know that people are afraid of this new scary technology. If you look on the Hybrids, you quickly realize that there are not that many things that goes bad with them. I searched this forum heavily, and hardly anyone had a intverter fail outside of warranty. Almost if its going to fail, it fails under warranty. The battery issue is a non-issue at this point. Just make sure you buy the hybrid cheap enough that you can afford a $1200 replacement. In the grand scheme of things, a transmission rebuild is much more expensive than that, so if the battery is your only worry on the hybrid, you really dont have much to worry about.

Remember, the miles on a hybrid is not true "engine miles" because the electric motors are the ones doing the heavy lifting for acceleation, and the engine is off for a small portion of the time. So a hybrid with 100k miles, could have maybe 70k miles on an equivalent gas engine model in terms of wear (I am just pulling those numbers out my ***). The electric motors in these are pretty solid, and the transmission is pretty solid. Even if you have transmission issues, they are SUPER cheap. I think I see them for like $300 or so. After doing 2 weeks of heavy research, I was shopping for a RX with around 110k miles, but I ended up buying a hybrid with 145k miles, and I have no regrets. I have seen many examples of high mileage hybrids with no battery issues.

jooksing82

I bought a hybrid because I could not swallow the MPG of the 15-18 mpg of the non hybrid RX. (for me it would be on the lower end since I sit in 1-2hr traffic everyday). I would hate my car a little more every time I am at the pump. I Bought an USED 400h because I could not swallow the premium on new car. It was nearly 10k USD difference at the time. I researched the heck out of the 400h before buying and was willing to replace the traction battery myself and only after the inverter recall.

Perks of hybrid besides mpg-
Feels very quiet and smooth - No engine noise when starting and low rolling speeds. "ecvt" makes it drive super smooth. I get nothing but complements when people ride my car.
Brake pad last forever.
Some places have parking for hybrids/HOV lanes
Full Nav/entertainment package - I believe the 400h had only two trims, w and w/o towing. So the Nav/entertainment etc was included


"hybrid is not true engine miles"- yes, also ice does not run 100% of the time and ice mostly run in the ~1000 rpm range.. It also does not use starter to crank up. (some argue the constant

Weighit

I researched and drove the 400 and the 350 and the 400 won. We bought a 2008 certified used with 40,000 miles in 2010 we now have 82000. it has been an awesome vehicle. Gives us a solid 25-26mpg in hilly Arizona with us using the a/c for months at a time. Other than 12 volt batteries replaced twice, new set of tires and regular oil changes it has been a trouble free car. Oh we did have the main battery fail while under warranty in 2011 and it was replaced in a couple of days since they had to order the battery. If they had not made the new ones so ugly to us, we would have upgraded by now.