I am a new owner of a used 2009 Toyota Camry Hybrid. I bought it at 92,000kms.

1)How long do Hybrid cars last?
2)Should I get rust proofing in the undercarriage of the car? I live in Saskatchewan, where 6 months its winter at -30C.
3)Any issues with the batter in -30C temperature
4)I noticed the battery charge stays between 1 bar less from fully topping up(light blue color) and often sometimes goes down to 2 bars (purple color), is this normal?
5)Was buying a TCH, a good choice? I want to keep the car for 25 -30 years atleast. What preventive measures can I take?

 

Anyone care to respond with their experience?

 

1) If you take excellent care of them and do your maintenance, the car should go 250,000 miles or more

2) If you do rustproof the car, make sure you get EVERYTHING off of the bottom of the car. If you don't, you will be sealing salts next to the metal with the usual, expected result (rust thru). Better choice is to keep it washed off as often as you can.

3) A hybrid will not be very effective at -30 C as the car will need to get up to full operating temperatures before they get into full hybrid mode.

4) Yes. it will rarely see the battery fully charged unless you are on a long downhill and charging the battery thru regen.

5) I always think positive but ANY car at -30 C for 25 or 30 years will be a stretch much less a hybrid...... Corrosion will be your biggest enemy.

 

Thank you for your response.

I spoke with several taxi drivers and it seems the car does reach upto 400,000 km / 250,000 miles

Does the battery ever need changing/replacement during the life of the car?

 

As a general rule, 99% or better of these cars should make it to the 250,000 mile mark with the original battery. It will not do so however if you just drive it 5,000 miles a year. Your car will need to be driven and serviced on time to be able to get that kind of mileage. Letting it sit or taking very short trips is VERY hard on a car.

 

I think my driving averages somewhere between 5,000-10,000 miles a year. I do however drive daily. My work place is 4 miles from where I live. So 8 miles round trip, 5 days a week. Is that good enough for the battery to last? Why would short trips be hard on the car?

 

Another question, sometimes but very rarely. The battery does go down to the only last two bars on MFD. The color changes to purple/magenta, is that a cause of concern? This is a used hybrid that I bought.

 

To be completely honest with you, a 4 mile trip will not let the engine get up to the temp it needs to get into the most efficient hybrid operating modes and your mileage will not be much (if any) better than a regular ICE car.

The battery operation is normal as the ECU will balance engine/electric motor use to make the car the most efficient it can. That will sometimes drawdown the battery like you have noted.

As far as short trips being hard on a car, the engine will not get up to operating temp and leave water in the oil that would normally be boiled out by hot oil. You will also have a lot of cold starts although that is mitigated somewhat by the starting procedure for a hybrid.

 

-Is it possible to store the TCH in winter. I heard that someone does that with their Prius, by unplugging the main hybrid battery. Is this possible?

-Is it possible to charge the main battery, while parked, by running the gasoline engine at higher RPM. How do you do that and in which gear. "N" gear. ?

 

nice thread, same question as OP