Thank you for your answers in advance, I really appreciate the help. I'm looking at buying a Honda Clarity plug-in hybrid (2018-2019 if I can get a good deal). If I bought the car I'd be using it mainly to commute to work (30 mi roundtrip, claritys get 47 elec. mi range), driving around the city, and the occasional roadtrip. I can charge for free at work too. Essentially I'd be driving the car 90% of the time on electric-only power.
However after watching some of Scotty's videos, I know he doesn't really like Honda's 1.5L 4 cylinder engine (oil dilution problems), which is the gas engine that the clarity has. Is this a problem if I'm driving the car 90% of the time on electric-only power? I'm not too familiar with hybrids so I don't know how the gas and electric systems work with each other.
I'm also wondering how economical hybrid/phev cars really are. I know the clarity's battery is under warranty for 8 years or 100k miles, and would be $4.8k to replace. I don't know if that and other repairs make buying a hybrid worth it. But I do get to charge it for free for a while. On top of that, I like the clarity's interior (better than any other Honda or Toyota that I've looked at), but I don't love it's exterior. It also doesn't have some other smaller things that I'd like. Is buying one worth it?
Clarification: How many years and miles do you need it to last you?
Nothing in particular. It would probably make sense to keep it for as long as possible before buying another one. Maybe 7-8 years + 100k miles?
Well if you could get a really good price on one go ahead but realize the Toyota Prius is are much better hybrid vehicles if you want to hybrid vehicle
I wouldn't worry about the 1.5L, the one in the Clarity is normally aspirated engine. It's the 1.5L turbo charged engine that is the one that has the oil dilution issue in the other models in the Honda lineup.
