haagen

I'm almost ready to buy or lease a GS 450h. I know that the battery is warrantied for 8 years/100,000 miles. And, I have been told that the approximate cost with labor to replace the batteries (after 8 years or 100,00 miles) is $6,000. I'm not getting a straight answer on the estimated life cycle of the batteries. If I were to keep the car 7 years or so and then try to resell it, I feel that the resale value could suffer if the estimated life is within a couple years of the 8 year warranty.

Stormforge

i would recommend you check the prius forum and see what the battery life they have. the prius hybrid has been out for over 10 years i think? that should give you a pretty good indication on how the 450h battery will hold up.

rominl

iTrader: (4)

if you talk about battery life itself, it should last a pretty darn long time. the prius is a good example, i don't hear significant number of battery "issues" after warranty. in fact all these batteries on hybrid toyota/lexus they are very under utilized in order to maintain quality and reliability over the years (that's why on prius there are mods to increase capacity to achieve 100mpg or more power)

now other electronic systems related to the hybrid system, that i can't really say much about

lucasb7

I have done some pretty extensive research on traction battery life and environmental effect.

Beyond the warranty, 1st gen Prii have been in test fleets for quite a long time now and have gathered several thousand miles each. There are records of the batteries lasting well beyond 200k. One of the largest problems on the gen1 prius was not actually the battery but the transaxle. This makes the battery a pretty dependable item. In terms of cost, I've gotten vague quotes from my Lexus dealer saying that it would be approximately $3000 to replace one of these "traction" batteries. To my knowledge the 3.5L in the 450h does not have a timing chain, so think of the battery as that item. Except that it is expected to last well beyond 100,000 miles and will not cause catastrophic failure when it does go bad.

In terms of environmental effect, these batteries have essentially a $200 outstanding warrant on them from Toyota. So basically, integrated in the cost of the vehicle is this $200 (or some amount) voucher that will be paid to whoever turns in a battery. This pretty much guarantees the fact that the battery will be returned to toyota for recycling. The most damaging process is the mining of Nickel. Yet Sierra Club still says that the implementation of hybrids is a step in the right direction.

That said, I absolutely love this car. Even if the battery were more expensive than it is, it would still be worth it for me! You will absolutely love this car. (Unless you expect it to shift gears...haha)

Stormforge

i asked a service advisor at my dealer awhile back whether the 450h has a timing belt or timing chain; he said timing chain.

edit: i've gone into lexus.ca, click on tab for owners at the top, then click on maintenance, then click on full schedule. if you look at required maintenance schedule, there is no mention of timing belt. anything and everything that needs to be replaced is listed, all the way up to 512,000 KM. you can confirm this on your own, or call your lexus dealer for confirmation.

LexFather

I don't think we have any GS 450hs past 100k miles yet. I haven't seen anyone on the market either with that many miles.

Toyota/Lexus has been good as well in providing assistance in paying for the batteries, helping absorb some of the cost.

I would think once you use the car often, it actually helps, instead of just having the car sitting.

nomobmw

Well, considering by the time you have an 8-year old car, you'd probably not want to put brand new parts in it (when they might cost more than the book value of the car) there will probably be a healthy secondary market for used batteries and potentially even aftermarket options.

For instance, these salvage people are selling Camry Hybrid batteries for $599:

http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/07-To...Q5fAccessories

SLegacy99

Priui battery replacements are extremely rare. Something like 300 premature failures as of 2007.

NiMh batteries found in most hybrids today maintain a 60-80% charge, enabling the battery pack to last for years and years, unlike the old NiMh cell phones that we used to have.

samsonn25

My 2007 gs450h has 154k miles on it now. Battery seems 90% but I do hear a tum from the rear transaxle.

703

Gs450h batteries do fail more compared to Prius and Rxs. This is due the drain placed on them to get the acceleration. Our dealer have replaced many.

Sania56

All the GS450h(Gen.3) except the 2011model, have a known issue of HV battery overheating, even a official Service Bulletin(since October of 2010) exist with a ECU software update which is prevents the overheating.

lexusisgs

samsonn25

My 2007 model has 176k miles ans still has 7/8 bars of green on the batery meter.

Conserv858

My 2007 gs450h has 80K miles and recently experienced a code P0A7F, supposedly related to a service bulletin that may be fixed via flashing the ECU. But no one knows with electronics.

Dealer originally quoted over $7K to replace the hybrid battery, but allegedly contacted Lexus HQ for assistance with success. With Lexus, the cost was smashsl almost in half. 4.5 yrs of labor plus $2.9K for new factory OEM battery. Hope this lasts another 80K miles or 10 yrs. The warranty is only 1 year unlimited miles.

samsonn25

Update 221k on original traction battery, but the light comes on every 100 miles now, deterioration in battery pack but i reset it with a hand held scanner.

I was tempted to have it rehauled and change out 6-8 of the cells, but

Im gonna see if I can take it to 250k