I've always thought that an advantage of the HCH II vs, Prius, when buying, is long term reliability/repairbility.

Why? Well, both companies are basically equal in terms of reliability, so we start off equal. Here is my reasoning...

Because the HCH has a simpler/more convetional drivetrain I think (in my very naive opinion) that the HCH would be cheaper to do a major repair on in the future and that there'd be more dealers/shops in the future that could repair it since it has less parts and more conventional parts than the Prius. On the otherhand, 10 years, about two car generations, away I can see it as very difficult and expensive to do a major repair on a Prius because of all the very unconventional layout and few parts.

I understand that it is very unlikely for either to fail. I am picturing 10 years from now with either car and trying to get a repair for it, if it were to occur.

Is this a valid statement, or am I crazy?

Hi! I just bought my 07 HCH 4 days ago.
The batteries have a 8 year warranty, and I purchased the 7 year 75,000 mile extended warranty. I know that within 7 years I will trade my HCH for an SUV hybrid.

I went down to the service area at my dealer and questioned them lol. They said they have not seen a hybrid come into their shop with a electrical problem. That made me feel better. Atleast thought if something was to happen I can just take it in to get it fixed and I will only be out my deductible.

I hope this helps...

The HCH-II can be more vulnerable than the Prius II in at least a couple ways, which may in the long run make it slightly "less durable" than the Prius, particularly under heavy use.

1- Transmission. The HCH-2 has a vastly improved CVT transmission compared to the HCH-I (2003-2005). However a belt and cone CVT is still more sensitive to improper maintenance and aging than the Power Split device implemented in the Prius II. The PSD system is a much simpler system and less susceptible to the effects of age.
2- Battery pack. The HCH-II battery pack has a greatly improved monitoring and management profile compared to all prior Honda hybrids. However, the Prius has a more thorough design that facilitates a more accurate monitoring & management of the battery pack. This may lead to a Prius II having a slightly longer battery pack service life than most Honda hybrids. This is not to say that the HCH-II will have a short life at all, but to be fair, the technical attributes of the Prius II battery pack and management are hard to ignore.

Of course, I just mentioned the top two items that concern most hybrid owners. There are several areas where the HCH-II may trade even blows with the Prius and maybe even best it, but that is the topic of another thread. In the long run, I expect these two hybrids to continue exhibit better reliability histories than the average "gas only" vehicle.

In the hands of a caring owner either car will certainly have a long service life.

Cheers;

MSantos

I expect either car to be free from MAJOR trouble for 15 years.

http://greenhybrid.com/compare/mileage/car/3686.html

http://greenhybrid.com/compare/mileage/car/4955.html

You could always check in with the Insight forums and folks. They have the oldest hybrids on the roads so they might know a thing or to about honda qualitly good/bad.

"You could always check in with the Insight forums and folks. They have the oldest hybrids on the roads so they might know a thing or to about honda qualitly good/bad."

The Honda Insight, from all I know about it, has been very reliable and is overall a great car. But...Honda seems to have a pretty bad battery system with the Insight so it seems that they need to change batteries for the Insight, on average, about every 5 years. There shouldn't be nearly as much of a problem though with the much more refined IMA system in the HCH II.

I sure hope it's not as much of a problem....