Would You Buy A Used Hybrid Car?

[Cadder]

Hii all,

We want to replace our tiny hatchback with a decent, reliable estate and have seen a 2018 Merc 2.0 C350e g.4 kWh Sport G-Tronic+ (s/S) with 48k miles on the clock. At 3 years old, at the time of writing this, is there anything about it being a hybrid that makes this a worse purchase than a petrol/diesel motor?

Bonus points for any experiences buying used hybrids and how they have been during ownership.

 

[Rilot]

Not really. They are inherently more complex than non-hybrid cars in terms of powertrain but they are unlikely to be any less reliable.

 

[VincentHanna]

If they've done that sort of mileage in 3 years they would have been unlikely to have made much use of the battery anyway.

Only thing is that the C class isn't the biggest estate and doesn't the battery take up a significant portion of the boot space vs an ICE version?

 

[Journey]

Seems cheap it if is this one

Check service history, query warranty on the hybrid drive train, motor and battery. I'd also ask for an extended test drive on electric only, if you actually plan on using it as a PHEV, that way you can maybe see how far you'll be able to go on the battery alone, and if it is enough for your needs, you'll need to knock 1/3+ miles of the range achieved to account for cold winter days, especially if it is wet.

Only person I know with a 350e is a saloon, and that is a 67 plated car with over 60k on it, has had two issues that I am aware of with the car, one was an issue with the 12v battery not staying charged, and the other was the in-car entertainment failing causing the satnav to never load. Not seen the guy in about 6 months though so not sure how it is going these days or even if he still has it.

 

[Cadder]

Seems cheap it if is this one

It is absolutely that one good find.

Thanks for the pointers, will take them on board and arm myself with questions if/when we go for test drive. Those issues, while not ideal, aren't the worst thankfully and doesn't remove it from the running.
Also thank you @Rilot and @VincentHanna for your replies. Good point on internal space, however upgrading from a C3 I can't imagine we'll be upset

 

[jpaul]

seems to be first generation mercedes with a small ~5Kwh battery, maybe more mechanically complex (is motor part of transmission) than subsequent ones with up-sized battery;
with the lower range <30mile does it get same benefits for congestion charge say.

Not sure if passat gte hybrid are much bigger inside, but they have bigger batteries at that age, if you can utilise the hybrid functionality.

 

[ShiWarrior]

i did
but Covid screwed that

https://www.overclockers.co.uk/foru...talytic-converters-seized-in-dublin.18926275/

 

[Clarkey]

Not sure I would bother with a 6.4kWh, mine is a 9.2kWh and to put it politely the e range isn't brilliant. These cars only work if you have a short commute. If you do though then it's brilliant, but speaking from a 530e owners perspective when you start travelling further you will see the mpg quickly dip into sub-40mpg territory.

 

[paradigm]

I’ve just bought a 3 year old, 40,000 mile Volkswagen Passat GTE Advance for the wife to use locally. We’re getting around 25 miles out of the battery which is perfect for her usage, not used the petrol engine yet. I could even take it to work and back at 33 miles round trip as I can charge for free at work. The trip home from picking it up was 35 miles and averaged 62mpg ish running in hybrid mode. The Passat has a 9.9kWh battery, I wouldn’t want anything smaller.

I wouldn’t want to run it without a warranty though, even if the high voltage battery is warranted for 8 years, the rest of the car is still complex!

 

[Somnambulist]

I'd probably trust a Toyota/Lexus since they've been doing the mild hybrid thing forever, would definitely be warier with some of the early PHEVs.

 

[Vita]

I love my hybrid.