I'm 17. This will be my first car. My budget is around $7000. I have done TONS of research and am aware of the hazards of buying a hybrid in this price range as their mileages are often in the 100ks and this means the IMA battery life is basically a crap shoot.

I see a 2003 Civic Hybrid with a "reconditioned" battery with 143k miles on it. I called the guy up and he said the battery had been "revolted". I assume he means he sent it to the company ReVolt...? He said he paid around $800 for the service which is consistent with their pricing.

Anyway, is this a good purchase? My goal is epic mileage and low fuel costs, not spending tons of money in repairs. Should I suck it up and skip a hybrid and just go with a normal car?

EDIT: The reconditioned battery is also still under warranty for another 4-5 months.

 

If I were 17 without children and wanted epic mileage I'd go with a manual 5 speed 1st gen Insight. Any particular reason you're drawn towards a sedan vs a coupe?

 

I don't really have a preference, im just looking for a hybrid. My main concern is whether or not a hybrid with 120k+ miles (in this case 143k) is a good purchase because of the potential for battery failure. (Although this one caught my eye because of its reconditioned battery)

 

Only consider buying it if it is a manual - the CVT transmissions are incredibly failure prone and very expensive to repair. That car is probably due for a belt change. (Accessory belt, the engine uses a timing chain so that won't need to be replaced.)

I have kids about your age and my advice to them, if they asked, would be to buy a small conventional car like a Civic, Corolla or Mazda 3. That is, something reliable that is unlikely to break a $3000 part. The HCH can get good mileage but that is offset by its high maintenance costs. It uses $10/quart oil, the CVT fluid needs to be changed frequently and that too is expensive, the battery will fail every 100K miles or so, and CVT transmissions tend to fail even more frequently than that. It's just the wrong car for a young person (unless they happen to be independently wealthy). Typically all of the cars mentioned above will run for 200K miles with just oil and filter changes, plus tires and belts as needed.

 

I know my reply is a little late, but...

I would NEVER spend $7,000 on an old, used high mileage automobile with a known "reconditioned" problem.

Hybrid or not.

Exceptions may be Porche, Lamborghini etc

 

We manufacture replacement hybrid car battery for Honda Civic/Insight, let us know if you are interested in getting more details. CINA AUTO PARTS email:cinaparts at gmail.com

 

At 17 it isn't worth the investment to you as $3,000 is a helluva lotta money at that age. Only $3k car part you should be worrying about at your age is the car's engine. Why double the risk of expensive $3k failure if you don't need to?