Quote:
Originally Posted by haroldo
The only thing I can imagine, and this is only a wild guess, is that they designed the car not expecting the constant start up and shut down of the engine. Is it possible that the constant on and off adds more stress (assuming that causes stress) than driving normally (foot on gas) whilst on highways. More wear and tear on the engine, translating into mechanical problems down the road?
Again, this is only a wild guess.
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After buying my TCH, I went back and talked with the certified toyota tech a few questions. If he had experienced any problems with the hybrids. He said there is one old one here in town that has 280,000 miles on the clock. It's still running on the same original traction battery. He did have one new '08 with about 500 miles on it. He had to replace a small 7 cell battery pack in the traction battery. No charge to the customer, being in warranty.
The Atkins cycle engine in the TCH runs at rather low rpm at highway speeds. I don't know where the red line is. Mine seldom goes over 3000 rpm, even when climbing rather steep grades in the mountains. I would think it would run as long as any engine, being designed to start and stop so much.