Oh damn. Good thing I managed to get the factory extended warranty then!

It's a 2017 with 88k on it. I'm surprised it's having issues this soon. It's a CPO, previously owned by an old guy who had purchased and done all of his servicing at the Toyota dealership I got it at.

They actually downsized to the RAV4's 4-cyl 2.5L for the 4th gen Highlander Hybrid. Seems underpowered for the application, but it does get way improved fuel economy.

The Highlander with the 2.5 is slow. I was following one up Alex Fraser on the Delta side with the X3. Alex Fraser is quite steep and it's steep for a long time. The Highlander cut all the way to the left side, but just couldn't muster any power to climb the bridge and he was on it.

Rat, hopefully whatever they find its covered by warranty.

But just in case it isn't, go talk to any of your local taxi drivers they will point you towards a shop that will rebuild these hybrid batteries instead of paying for OEM battery pack that'll set you back probably 10k.

In Vancouver I spoke to a lot of these taxi guys and they told me to go see Discount Auto Repair in Surrey, that dude will take out individual cells and replace them. They said like 1-2k for the repair instead of 10k for just the part. I was curious because my dads RX400h is now almost 17 years old (and 200,000kms on it) but that hybrid battery pack is still original. Im sure his battery is degraded, but its still okay for now and gets him decent mileage.

I was watching some reviews that you can sort of fix the battery by doing longer trips. Cuz the battery doesn't really get fully charged as you keep discharging it during city driving. Doing long trips will give more opportunities to recharge, also let it coast to a stop more to let it Regen. The boomer before was probably doing all short city trips.

ive noticed in my dads 400h the battery is constantly topped off (it shows green in the indicator) so its probably not as effective in saving him gas as it could be. Thus the ICE is constantly being used to charge the battery. Even the hybrid motors do engage it seems to run out of EV power quite quickly. Therefore I think his battery pack is degrading.

Check your battery indicator in the car. Is it showing constantly full? or is it always depleted? if its depleted that's normal I think because the ICE will top it up and therefore you're getting max usage out of the EV aspect.

Yeah that's a good call - the battery is constantly at 75% - 100% full.

Right so there is something wrong with the EV engagement for sure. Take it back to the dealer and see what they say. Hopefully it’s not too serious.

Also check for TSBs and recalls. There’s a few on the inverter and hybrid components … at least there was on the 400H

If it’s a local east coast car, all those low temps might have damaged the battery. I believe hybrid components are 8 years and 120,000km so you should be okay.

Stupid GTA weather!

If it's CPO, just take it back and let them deal with it.

Anyone driven the Vinfasts yet? I’m curious to see how the VF9 drives, lease prices are pretty solid considering its 100k price tag. Seems like they’re kinda getting their shit together but then again who the hell really knows

Overall reviews seem to be not great. I actually rode in one with Uber. The driver said he's had it for 3 months and he's had it towed 3 times and it was frustrating cause it was livelihood.

With the whole scandal coming out that their front suspension is inadequate in handling the load and will fail, I'd wait for the next gen at the earliest.

EDIT it was the VF8, but I would group their VF9 in the same space of inadequately engineered.

I test-drove the VF8 during the Electrify expo back in September and it is the only car I've ever driven where my foot got stuck between the pedals and the plastic trim above the foot well.

Turns out at least a few others experienced the same problem:
https://community.vinfastauto.us/for...erience-order/

Read the reddit article here, dbone gives a good summary, but the reddit AMA has so much more detail of it's fuckery

https://www.revscene.net/forums/7064...ml#post9158633

something is wrong, it should never be 100% full, mine stays at 1 bar below the top bar, if you have the heater on, it will keep the ICE engine on also but if you set the temp to around 25, i found that to be the middle ground, when you can still drive in EV and the ICE will turn on when it needs to

it should still be good, the issues with the 2nd gen prius was their cooling for the pack, it only had 1 air intake and 1 exhaust, the highlander has 3 vents on the bottom of the back seat to let more air in to keep the pack at a consistant temp, i have about 190k on my 2008 highlander and the pack is still in tip top shape, you can also use dr hybrid for android to check your battery pack voltages

Drove the VF8 at the auto show. It's fine, not great. Didn't have any problems with it and it's got good pickup. I wouldn't own one but if there was a good deal on a lease that I could write off as a business expense? I wouldn't say no.

Pros: It's not Chinese
Cons: Uncertain future, build quality isn't proven, ride is just OK

The one EV that knocked my socks off was the Mitsubishi Outlander PHEV. I just couldn't believe that I was driving a Mitsubishi. The fit and finish, ride quality was Toyota-like. Also a plus that it's built in Japan and has a 3rd row for your kids' friends

lol

I told y'all outlander phev is good, but made in Japan is too shitty for you RS ballers and y'all rather have made in Mexico or murica

The irony about that is that it's basically a Nissan, but "Toyota-like" is shocking for a Nissan as well.

I can't wrap my head around a Mitsu/Nissan product actually being good especially one with a lot of complex electronics. I should probably at least give it a test drive.

I think it's more Mitsubishi than Nissan, that plug in tech was all developed by Mitsubishi from the earlier Gen phev. Nissan wouldn't be where it is now if it had a phev SUV.

They updated the phev this year, now it has 61 km ev range with bigger battery and more power 332 hp:ahwow:

61 kms EV range is very practical.

But it's lacking a bit on the design, those lower set of lights look hideous.

https://www.carscoops.com/wp-content...-1536x864.webp

It's taking the BMW iX route of being in your face.

You just need mo ralliart

https://autoextragti.com/wp-content/...25SCOOP_33.jpg

https://www.mitsubishi-motors.com/en...40807_1_03.jpg

Delica mini is awesome, I would buy to whip around town. Phev delica :sweetjesus: