Thread: Hybrid vs petrol - surprising outcome

Originally Posted by Simon

I have a company Toyota Rav4 Hybrid.
Great to drive etc and good on gas however the higher purchase cost does not stack up when comparing against small / midsized petrol cars running costs over a few years.
Good idea, but does not really make cents / sense.

Well, the debate has been nullified by Toyota, if you’re looking at new cars, because you can’t buy a petrol only Rav4 any more. They’re all hybrids.

Same for Corolla, Camry, Yaris, Highlander, C-HR….

You have to buy a very expensive 4WD to get a straight ICE now.

That’s all good, no skin off my nose. The tech makes sense. Its just the affordability that’s been problematic, and will remain so for a good while. It will be interesting to see what happens in the secondhand car market in years to come. How will hybrids perform pricewise as they approach the end of the 10 year battery warranty? How many instances of successful warranty claims will there be? What about attempting warranty claims on cars that have had multiple owners? How much will a replacement battery cost in 10 years time? Will batteries for today’s models be readily available in 10 years time? What will a new vehicle look like in 10 years time? Hydrogen?

There’s still a lot of questions to be asked and answered by the market.

In the meantime, assuming petrol doesn’t cost $50 a litre in 10 years time, I’m confident a good quality ICE will still be running ok assuming it’s looked after. I wouldn’t mind betting the 3.5L V6 Highlander we have will be 20 years old by the time it’s retired. Maybe more! It’s 15 years old already and still absolutely fine.

One thing for sure. When we go and do a quarterly shop at Pak n Save, at least we can get it all into the Highlander. If you drive any of these current hatchback hybrids you’d have to take a fucking trailer! Their utility is absolute rubbish, no capacity in them whatsoever.