The Honda Civic Hybrid was a highly recommended hybrid vehicle for many years until the tax incentives for it ran out in Malaysia. Today, the previous 2 generations of Civic hybrids have started appearing in the used car lots and they are showing marginally higher depreciation over their petrol powered versions. This is strange at first as these hybrid Honda’s a well built, well engineered and well designed. Then after some visits to local used car dealers we found the reasons why. Lack of hybrid battery understanding. Nearly all used car dealers assume that as the hybrid car gets older, the battery gets weaker and so the value of the car drops marginally since battery replacement costs are assumed to be very high.
Then there are Honda hybrid owners who for some reason fail to drive to an authorized Honda dealer to find out the true cost of battery replacement and its lifespan.
Typically, a hybrid battery in a Civic will last between 6 and 8 years, and the batteries come with an 8-year warranty.
Today you can get a 2013 Honda Civic 1.5L Hybrid for just under RM59k (after negotiating). It will probably have about 38,000 to 44,000 kilometers run in and a valid Honda warranty. The earlier 2009 Honda Civic 1.3L Hybrid sells for just RM35k or below (the 1.8L petrol version will sell for RM45,000 and above) as the stigma of a failing hybrid battery comes with it. Here is where the used car dealer and the previous owner are at lost without proper hybrid battery costs and replacement education.
Firstly, even if the battery is completely dead, the car can still be driven, but without the prescribed fuel savings. Secondly, the cost of the replacement battery is under RM9,000 with installation.
So now that you know this, take a closer look at a used Honda hybrid as we think most used car dealers do not read any of our articles and you can benefit from this information.
Haha i like the no used car dealers read this. True, and agree is a good buy that I’m looking at….
Had you just bought your used civic hybrid?
How its feel?
do the battery working nice and save fuel consumption?
Daniel, its 2019 now, and I am an expat looking for a Hybrid Civic 2011, which is pretty much at the same price you mentioned, i.e. RM 35K approx. With a stated battery life of 8-10 years, the car that I would get would probably have a battery reaching or reached EOL. Would you still recommend buying such a car, where I would have to invest another RM9K to get the batteries changed? Or would you recommend I go for a 1.8S 2011 Civic instead?