I was just thinking about our depleting oil supply… rather randomnly… and I came up with the realisation that Hybrid cars are a really dumb idea. All they do is slow down the rate of our fuel consumption, they don’t solve the problem. Their emmisions are yes brilliant, but only slightly more brilliant than a Volkswagen Golf diesel, which is soooo much better than a Toyota Prius or Honda Civic Hybrid. And even if we take into account their emmisions, they still pollute something awful. They still use tyres, oil in their engines and one day will turn into a rusting pile of crap. Their batteries run out after ten years, so they have to be disposed of before the car. Which really makes little sense, as literally thousands of them will end up in NZ after about eight years from Japan, leaving us with the problem of getting rid of them.
We are going to have rotting Toyota Prius’s littering our country. The poor unsuspectin NZ buyer will (in lets say five years) buy a 2003 Toyota Prius with two years of battery life left in it. They wont be able to afford a new battery as they are hidieously expensive. Also fixing the electrics in a car like that is going to cost thousands. If lets say you do buy a 2003 Prius, and some how it lasts till 2015, it WILL break down at some point. Its not perfect, even being a Toyota.
So just a warning to anyone considering buying a late ’90s Prius. DONT. Its a rubbish car anyway.