Toyota RAV4 Forums banner

Hybrid or not

6K views 27 replies 11 participants last post by  jrohland 
#1 ·
I'm mostly asking for everyones opinions here. I have an 09' Prius that just recently got hit. Not horrible, but needs new fender, bumper and headlight. Plus i believe my tires are unbalanced or something. I'm getting a lot of road noise. The Prius has 62k on it.
I use it for everything. I've hauled everything from a sectional sofa to mulch in it. And was thinking of getting a hitch with a wire basket for it.

But i've been looking at the new Rav4's and it seems more logical to buy that because of the hauling i do, plus the people i carry around. (plus i like suv's and miss my sunroof)

I don't drive as much as i use too. Now that i'm on disability from work, i only drive about 10-15miles a day. 10-200 miles on the weekend. So i was worried with the low amount of milage it wouldn't be good on the hybrid. But the dealer said as long as you drive it every day it would be fine.

I test drove a 16' XLE Hybrid yesterday and loved it. Didn't drive the regular one, but assume drives about the same. I'd rather have the Hybrid because on the test drive i was almost at 40mpg. But again i don't drive a whole lot...so what model would be better?
 
See less See more
#5 ·
It test-drove the gas-only RAV4 before I got my hybrid RAV4. The gas-only version seemed to have a very sensitive gas pedal, to the point that I would over-accelerate from every stop. It also has little jolts when it changes gears, which is totally absent in the hybrid version. I also converted from a Prius.
 
#6 ·
I noticed a big difference between the gas and hybrid versions. Gas was louder, transmission was not smooth and didn't have the low range torque. I wouldn't buy the gas version, not impressed. They hybrid version however seemed like a completely different vehicle, an absolute bargain for a $700 upgrade.
 
#11 ·
I don't drive as much as i use too. Now that i'm on disability from work, i only drive about 10-15miles a day. 10-200 miles on the weekend. So i was worried with the low amount of milage it wouldn't be good on the hybrid. But the dealer said as long as you drive it every day it would be fine.

But again i don't drive a whole lot...so what model would be better?
Help me to understand why the "lower range" (?) of driving mileage is a deterrent versus a higher mileage user... Is it because of a perceived "not taking full advantage of the Hybrid" thing? If your daily "out-and-backs" are done satisfactorily with all-electric, seems to me that might be the way to go. My wife does her daily 32 mile commute @ 33 MPG (actual), but we need our RAV4 Limited Hybrid for our road trips as well. - COLOR ME HAPPY.
 
#14 ·
The only way I've ever heard of the hybrid battery being damaged by a driver's usage patterns is from a driver who routinely traveled to and from Florida (by plane) for the winter and left his Prius in a carport in Florida over the summer months while he was enjoying the New England weather. Both his 12 volt battery and his NiMh traction battery eventually were damaged beyond recovery by his actions.

Toyota hybrids cannot stand being unused for over a month or the 12 volt battery may not be able to complete the startup procedure and boot all the computers before it dies. One of the intermediate steps in the boot sequence is to close the contactor that connects the traction battery to the inverter system and thus provides 260 volts to the battery charger/accessory power supply.

Left long enough, the NiMh traction battery can discharge below the safe 60% level Toyota has programmed into the battery management system. Depending on how much charge was in it when parked (it'll be somewhere between 60-80%) it can take a couple of months to several months to get below the threshold where the computer won't operate the vehicle till the battery is recharged by the dealer with special equipment (which most don't have).

It's safe to say that leaving it for a couple weeks between drives of 1/2 hour or more will probably cause no damage to either batteries or engine components. Short drives of less than 10 minutes may eventually lead to acids building up in the oil but it shouldn't hurt the batteries. Just give it 20 miles with some city and freeway driving every once in a while and it'll be just fine.

People with little or no experience with Toyota's hybrids often worry needlessly about battery damage. It's pretty much a non-issue with generation 2 and newer hybrids (2004 and newer). I've owned and driven frequently 6 different Toyota hybrids including a Gen-2 2004 Prius, 2007 Prius, 2010 Prius, 2011 Prius, 2012 Prius V, 2015 Avalon hybrid and now the 2016 Rav4 hybrid. The 2004 had 226,000 miles on it and still had the original 12 volt and hybrid battery. All the others have had plenty of time/miles on them up to the recent ones which aren't old enough and none of them ever had any battery problems.

From my experience the Toyota hybrids are the lowest maintenance vehicles I've ever had experience with. No battery problems, no alternators to fail, no transmissions to rebuild, no clutches to wear. Brakes last forever (over 100 - 200 thousand miles on the several Prius's), exhaust systems still going strong on 10+ year old Prius when it was killed by a deer jumping out in front of it. They're virtually an "appliance" that just keeps on ticking. If only my front-loading washer was so reliable...

I wouldn't worry in the least about a Rav4 hybrid for an occasional short-distance local vehicle. In warmer climes, afer a brief engine warmun your mileage will be over 30 MPG and it'll probably outlast your desire to own it as some other hybrid will call you from the TV ads and pages of a magazine eventually; long before you wear it out.
 
#21 ·
From what people have said in the prius forums, its best to have a hybrid if you're doing a lot of driving and that short small trips can weaken the battery over time because its not getting a full charge and discharge cycles. Similar to if you leave a cordless phone on the hook all the time, eventually the battery dies and you can't leave it sit around like you would if you waited until the battery is low then charge it ect. (although i'm not sure most newer batteries are still this way)

People in the Prius forums are usually telling people to go with the higher milage cars then the low milage cars because of this. I haven't had any issues with my hybrid and have a few friends that have Prius and never had an issue, but spending $30k on a new one, i want it to last as long as possible and do the care that is needed.
 
#15 ·
I'm mostly asking for everyones opinions here. I have an 09' Prius that just recently got hit. Not horrible, but needs new fender, bumper and headlight. Plus i believe my tires are unbalanced or something. I'm getting a lot of road noise. The Prius has 62k on it.
I use it for everything. I've hauled everything from a sectional sofa to mulch in it. And was thinking of getting a hitch with a wire basket for it.

But i've been looking at the new Rav4's and it seems more logical to buy that because of the hauling i do, plus the people i carry around. (plus i like suv's and miss my sunroof)
The Hybrid has a higher towing capacity than the gas RAV4 models.

I test drove a 16' XLE Hybrid yesterday and loved it.
That's one mighty long RAV4.
 
#26 ·
In Canada, the Hybrid Limited is missing a whole bunch of features. You have to get the Technology Package to get them back.

Option packages are different in the US though.
 
#27 · (Edited)
>I don't want to kill the hybrid battery by not using it enough or shortening its life by not using it enough.

Just picked up my RAV4 Hybrid Friday, so can't comment on that. But with 150K on one Camry Hybrid and 100K on another, we have seen ZERO problems with the traction battery or the Hybrid system. The only parts of the cars that have had problems are the "old-fashioned" parts . :) Don't worry, drive it like a regular vehicle and forget about it.
 
#28 ·
Had my 2005 Prius for almost 11 years. I had several summers where it sat unused for up to 5 weeks. The traction battery worked fine when I traded it in on the RAV4 Hybrid. As others have said, just drive it. Toyota knows what it's doing.
 
This is an older thread, you may not receive a response, and could be reviving an old thread. Please consider creating a new thread.
Top