Hey all,

New to the forum and don't currently own a hybrid. Which I guess is the point of this thread.

My current daily driver/beater is a rusty 1988 Honda Prelude that I picked up for $600 3 years ago. Great car and a great deal, but the rust is really getting bad. I'm thinking of replacing it with a slightly newer used beater. Specifically, a 2004 HCH MT with 238,000 miles on it. It has a ton of miles but the car looks to be in decent shape and the price is low ($3,500.00). I've heard that the IMA system really reduces wear on the combustion engine, and this being a Honda I'm guessing the gas engine still has life left in it. It also seems that there isn't much to wear on the electric bits (with the obvious exception of the battery). If the battery does fail I think I can still drive it with just the gas engine right? Also a rebuilt battery is like $1,000 so I could go that route too and still have the car for $4,500.00.

Anyone think this is worth throwing the dice on?

Thanks.

 

Personally with milage like that I would only buy it if 1. I were a mechanic or 2. I had members of the family who were.

But wth take it for a test drive and see how it goes it might be OK if it was maintained very very well.

 

I'd learn if it is a one owner car. If it is not I'd steer clear of it. If it is then I'd enquire where it was regularly serviced. If it wasn't regularly serviced I wouldn't buy it. If it was regularly serviced I'd go to the service center (dealer) and pull a service history.

If it's a CVT I'd check to see if the clutch has been replaced. If it was then fine. I'd also check for a ton of CVT fluid changes. If there is it may indicate CVT belt slippage and I'd walk away.

IMA assist may not necessarily reduce engine wear in all cases. I read about people complaining about getting very low milage. If their car is functioning properly it's their driving habits causing low mileage.

I constantly floor it to pass etc in the left lanes then I get low 40's upper 30's MPG .... I haven't done that very much but if an HCH had a lifetime of an abusive person then like any car will wear out faster. Battery, engine, transmission. Everything.

I did hypermile mine for the first 4 or so years (See my signature) then drove kinda hard and now back to conservative. I replaced the main CVT clutch at about 130k miles and although it's very drivable, it needs a CVT belt because the existing one slips and grabs.

Battery use is necessary under normal use of the car, but when cruising I purposely avoided battery use for fuel conservation sake. I have almost 190k miles and yet to have a single battery IMA recalibration.

Me personally?
If everything checks out I wouldn't pay more than 2 grand. Three at the most.

 

Steve,
What are your thoughts on this: My 92 Toyota Paseo is fast approaching 300,000 but I can't turn up the radio any louder to mask the engine knocking! I am looking at hybrids and am concerned like others about the battery life. I drove a 2004 HCH MT with 155,000 miles on it today. It is very clean and has been well maintained. One owner with lots of regular servicing and no major issues. They are asking $6,800 which seems like a lot? As you see with the Paseo I believe in keeping a vehicle for a long time, taking care of it and getting my moneys worth. Seems like a gamble with the battery? What kind of mileage / how many years could one expect to get out of this vehicle?

 

db1961,
I went to Edmunds used car pricing guide http://www.edmunds.com/used-cars/ and input these parameters for you:

2004 Honda Civic Hybrid
CVT Transmission (I'm guessing it's not a manual)
155,000 Miles
Gray exterior color
Condition as "Clean".

It showed these results:
$4,744 Trade in value
$6,206 Private party sale
$7,503 Dealer retail

I'd be a fool to suggest that a person should go buy any particular vehicle, hybrid or non-hybrid.
I personally would not put special emphasis on worrying about how long the hybrid components would hypothetically last but the entire vehicle in general. Would you buy a non-hybrid CVT based Civic with the same mileage? I'm not sure if you would or would not.

If it were my situation I'd try to haggle at least $600 off the price.

 

Did you end up purchasing the car?!

 

Thanks, this is great information.

I have a 2004 HCH as well and me being paranoid about a possible CVT failure, I get the fluid changed every 15k. So far no issues, (130k) although I do notice a slight slip/hesitation now and then when the fluid gets near the 15k interval. Is it possible the start clutch or belt needs replacing? Just curious, any idea how much that costs?

The slight slip aside I havent had any other problems and routinely get 45 mpg on average in mixed conditions.

OH, also, does the HCH 1 have a fuel filter?? I cant seem to find any information on where its located or the part#. Thanks!

 

I used to change my CVT fluid every 20k when it showed signs of slippage but that eventually became ineffective. I had a CVT flush at 170k miles but it didn't help.

The slippage isn't any real issue for me however I don't like to take my family of five people on the freeway much because of it- long trips or steep mountainous roads in a full car is out of the question.

I back off the gas a bit when it begins to slip and so far it's been manageable.

The start clutch is the main driving engagement clutch. It will definitely let you know if it needs replacing. When you begin from a stop it will shutter and grab with associated noise. It will grow worse the more you drive until you can't put it off any longer or fear real damage.

I believe the start clutch kit with labor was around $1300 at the dealer. Most of that was labor and it is apparently necessary to remove the transmission.

I've also had the CVT belt & drive assembly estimated around $2000. I declined the repair. It's too much for my high mileage car. I'll continue to drive it as is. Who knows if I play my cards right maybe it will last another 100k.