VW/Audi
This is going to hurt the bottom line a bit! So wonder how the fix will affect their fuel mileage and used car prices? LINK The Environmental Protection Agency and California issued a notice of v...
Forum Discussion
Bedlam wrote:
We have a 2003 TDI and are not looking at selling it in the near future. My concern with the plug-ins and hybrids is battery life and the cost of replacement
The fears of short battery life and high replacement cost have turned out to be little more than urban legend in the 15+ years that hybrids have been on the market. There are thousands of Priuses that have over 200K on the original battery pack. My son drives a 2006 Escape Hybrid with over 150K and it gets the same mpg as it did with 60K. There have been Escape Hybrids in taxi service with 300K+. Yes, a brand new battery from Ford is $9K, but rebuilds are available for a fraction of that. I've seen used batteries for as little as $500, probably due to the low demand. I would admit that the extra upfront cost of a hybrid takes a very long time to payback in better mpg (much like a diesel car), but the battery pack will essentially last the life of the car in most cases.
