Has anyone purchased a hybrid/electric vehicle and has any advice/suggestions/reviews that would be helpful in making a decision.
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There are a few sites with ‘advice’, among them
and from Topgear
Hopefully some members can add their own first-hand experiences.
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What sort of driving do you do? Hybrid/electric are more suited to predominately urban driving. If one does mostly long distance highway driving, tyeir potential advantages disappear.
Also look at cost comparison between hybrid/electric and a similar sized conventional vehicle. Using your past annual average mileage, you can work out, if ever, there will be a payback period for the higher initial outlay cost. Generally EVs don’t have a financial advantage if one looks at all costs of owning a vehicle. Hybrids may stack up if one does a lot of stop start urban driving.
The websites @PhilT has provided will assist you in making a decision. This one looks at EVs and hybrids…
It is also worth looking at
https://www.greenvehicleguide.gov.au/
as well.
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If you have not found it this existing topic may be of some interest.
Re basic Hybrid vehicles. (Petrol plus electric assist)
Toyota’s Prius and Camry have a long history in Taxi use in some parts of Australia. Brisbane and Cairns from experience in the passenger seat. Taxi drivers know their fuel costs, real world use better than most of us. I’ve heard nothing but positive feedback on both models. This includes surprisingly their relative economy on longer trips at highway speeds, and notably the hybrid Camry. Toyota has a number of other hybrid options, as do Mitsubishi, Hyundai, and others. There is an increasing choice of pure BEVs, EG Tesla, Hyundai Kona, Nissan Leaf, etc if budget is not a significant concern.
Green vehicle options are also starting to appear in hire car company fleets (eg Hertz, Avis etc) at selected locations. It may suit if convenient to hire one for a day or two if not certain about the decision. I’ve been unsuccessful in getting a Camry hybrid for previous hires, unfortunately.
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Most of the taxis in Cairns are Toyota hybrids.
When the first model Prius was released, the taxi owners were saying that they had paid for them in a mere 16 months with their savings on fuel.
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Yes. My old camry hybrid gets from Melbourne to Adelaide on 43litres of fuel. Less than one tank.
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I got a Corolla sedan hybrid in April 2020…absolutely love it! So much so, my neighbour then bought the identical model, even the same colour, the neighbour opposite bought one, my son got the Corolla Hybrid hatch and my daughter has just picked up her Rav4 Hybrid…and no, I don’t work for Toyota!!
I’m not a huge “car” person, but I love this car. I’m averaging 3.7l/100kms, as is my son. He does a lot of driving in northern Brisbane hilly areas and in stop start traffic. Best of all…as you don’t fill up very often, you can take advantage of when fuel is cheap. I get over 1000kms to a tank and I’ve never spent more than $40 filling it up.
My daughter has never had insurance so cheap before. She is in Perth and said they get an additional 25% discount, as they have a hybrid.
I would stick with Toyota as they have been doing it a long time, and in my work (retail) I meet a lot of mechanics and they all say…stick with Toyota. The warranties are amazing…plus I only pay $180 for my yearly service for 5 years…and there are NO hidden extras. If I continue to get it serviced with Toyota, they will increase warranty to 7 years and 10 years on the battery…I was sold!
I’ve been contemplating driving from the Gold Coast across the Nullarbor to Perth and I have no qualms about taking it…I did check with the Toyota service manager first and he said no problems.
There are some Hybrid Facebook groups, so you could also join one and ask questions…there are specific Australian based ones too.
The Corolla hatch has a tiny boot, the sedan has a really roomy one. Ask about the spare tyres…if they have one, or if it is speed limited.
A friend of mine has had Camry hybrids for years and loves them too.
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I own a Toyota Prius 2008 and it has the same fuel tank as our previous Ford Fiesta 2008 and is a larger car. But gets twice the range out of one tank plus less pollution. Newer Hybrids like the Nissan Note (not in Australia yet) have the engine only running to recharge the battery. Making for even better economy and less pollution with the engine getting les wear and tear.Toyota had Hybrids since 1996 in Japan had they expanded their model range (eventually they did) and others joined in like Holden which had made their full size Hybrid but only for the Olympics it would have made a huge difference to how much oil we would have consumed and how much pollution we produced. Hybrids are not really a solution. Electric is and what isn’t emphasised enough is not only the low running but the longevity of the running gear even the battery which can be recycled and reused as a home battery. Even the Cars like the Leaf can be connected to the grid and provide power during peak times and get recharged in off peak times.In other words Back-up. They were even used after the Tsunami in Japan to provide power to Community Halls. Clean Air in Cities is Priceless. I have been looking at buying an Electric Car but in Australia it is clearly discouraged with a limited range of models, no incentives and the Luddites N Polluters Party telling lies about their Performance. When buying New or Used the Battery range and itsSOH = State of Health are what to look for. Most Electrics do 200 klms or more on a charge that means over 90% of Urban driving is easily done as its less than 50 klms a day. And you go straight home to charge and not worry if the price will go up that day.
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Thankyou to all community responders to my ev/hybrid enquiry!!! In particular thankyou @Suzique … Corolla hybrids never came up in my searches so your well written post alerted me to the possibility… and so I started researching … and guess what … we have joined you, your family & neigbours as Corolla hybrid owners (soon to be). Our very honest long time mechanic stated that they are his fave car of all time to recommend because of low maintenance, excellent fuel economy etc. If you or any other of the choice community ever have time to post further about the fixed price car servicing by a dealership (who we don’t know how they perform) c/w using our own long time trusted mechanic for log book servicing I would appreciate that very much. Thankyou again to all!!
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You are welcome to post your initial impressions on collection of your new vehicle as well as post every so often to let us know how your new Corolla is travelling.
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My old Falcon did that too. 7.6L/100km on the highway, but more like 11.5L/100km around town. I have not compared my Mitsubishi Plug-in Hybrid on the highway as I have not bothered to top up… I use it for short trips. I fill it once every 3 months with about 20L.
Great to see some more feedback from a PHEV owner.
A magnificent 2.4l straight 6, worthy of 67kW in theory, and a light weight by today’s standard 1100kg at the kerbside. (XL 144 nominal specs)
Available with front quarter and wind up windows standard for ventilation. The days of vinyl and 2 speed automatics. Assume the manuals had the better fuel economy. The premium for auto a valued addition to avoid the lack of synchromesh on 1st in the manual, or was that just a Holden trait?
Today’s equivalents just seem to keep on getting heavier, which needs more power. It has eroded many of the improvements in engine efficiency. We just need to ignore the added safety, comfort and air conditioning now standard.
From what I have gleaned from the USA EPA sites the outlander PHEV has a highway fuel use of between 9.6-12L/100. The purpose of this thread was to try to make folks aware that MMA are seeminly purposefully hiding this fuel use and our ADRs are insufficient to address this market.
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I purchased a Toyota Corolla Hybrid Sedan last year. I had not owned. Car for about 20 years. When I needed a car I would use Go Get (car share) for overnight rentals or for longer periods Bayswater Car Rentals. Bayswater has Corolla Hybrids (hatchbacks) available to rent. The price was only $/day more than a petrol model. It was worth it for me to pay the extra and save in petrol costs. So when it came time to purchase a car, I was familiar with the hybrid and as I was moving to a regional area and therefore driving greater distances, I knew the petrol savings would be worth the extra cost. To drive from Sydney to my major western NSW town would take a full tank in a petrol car. I did this same journey yesterday, taking a longer route… and it used about 1/3 tank. With the current price of petrol… I’m laughing. I would recommend renting the hybrid car you are interested in purchasing and trying it out to see if it suits you.
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I would love to go full electric but the infrastructure is still not there yet for my pattern of driving so I have ordered a hybrid. (Toyota Yaris Cross). Looking at the manufacturers figures which seem ok when comparing vehicles, although not real life driving, I will not only use half the petrol but also importantly for me (as seems overlooked by most at this stage); half the CO2 emissions. The main limitation for the Toyota hybrids is the reduction in towing ability. Talking to friends who own Prius cars they are good for distance or rural driving too.
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Have owned a Rav4 hybrid now for over a year. Fantastic. Had a V6 Calais wagon which I loved, however, the 70 litre tank in that would average 600 km, while I get 700 km from a 50 litre tank in the Hybrid. Great performance and comfort, the electric motors make taking off at the lights very speedy when you put your foot down.
The only problem I have had is the electrics when the cranking battery went flat, and the car was hard to jump start, and i had to crawl through the car to pop the electric hatch from inside the car.
Would buy another
Re your towing comment, the Rav4 is ok for towing, funnily enough the owners manual says you are only meant to tow with Australia or NZ models. It is fine for a small trailer for a camping trip or a load of firewood, but don’t go trying to tow a car trailer, i don’t think the hybrid system would like it…
Welcome @paddy.
Toyota has the most extensive range of hybrids. One auto reviewer reported slightly better fuel economy of 5.8l/100km on test for the latest model, Feb 2021.
For comparison the same tester reported 8.8l/100km for a non hybrid 2.0l GLX 2WD, 2020 model.
