About time to replace the 2011 Accord.
Looking at a CRV, wife is leaning towards the new hybrid model. I think we do too much hiway driving to see big gains from a hybrid.
Main concern I have is that she tends to keep a car for a while, would the hybrid have higher costs towards the end of ownership?
The Accord for instance isn’t worth much per book value but it’s been well maintained and will go for a long time. If it were a hybrid I’d be afraid the battery might need replaced thus being more than the car is worth.
Any first hand experience to share?
I have no experience with the CRV Hybrid . But I took an online quiz one time and it showed that for us a hybrid would not be an advantage over a straight gas model . The Honda web site shows very little difference between the gas and hybrid for highway MPG. Also the starting prices for the gas version is lower . I do suggest that she test drive both versions and let her decide which one she wants . Life is too short to worry about things that far in the future that might not even be a big problem.
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Not worry? Might as well tell me not to breathe!
I had to get a root canal once, dentist set it up for the next day. Told my wife it was too soon, I’d need at least a solid week to worry about it.
Good point tho, we will both be retired (I hope) by the time the next car wears out
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We have owned a Toyota Camry Hybrid. It was very reliable and the Fuel economy was substantially better than the similarly powered gas car of the Nissan Maxima flavor. The hybrid fuel economy ranged from about 30 mpg to about 45 mpg-where it falls is very dependent upon how it is driven and even weather conditions. In very cold weather the economy suffers and in hot weather it suffers too because of the load of the A/C. It was my wife’s favorite car of all of the ones we owned. I did have to sell it to buy a mobility van when she became disabled. Their biggest advantage is the engine stops burning fuel at red lights in traffic, and commonly when on cruise control in the 25-35 mph speed range.
In 2017 had a choice of hybrid or not, decided not as gas price is not a deal killer but in the back of my mind the cost of possible battery replacement to the tune of 2 to 3 k after the 10 year warranty was up, and yes we keep our cars 15 to 20 years.
I wouldn’t get a Honda hybrid, they’ve had problems over the years with their hybrid models. How about a Rav4 hybrid?
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Coincidentally the rav4 was the non hybrid model we bought, not saying it is right for everyone.
My dad might have considered the CRV Hybrid had it not been confirmed for the US 6mo after he bought his 2019 CRV Touring. The rated highway/combined mileage is much better than his previous 2007 CRV, however at 32mpg in mixed driving with the '19 Dad doesn’t feel so bad about missing out on the Hybrid. If they introduce a plug in version then maybe.
I wouldn’t worry much about the reliability. This is more a financial decision.
Go to fueleconomy.gov; compare the hybrid and non-hybrid CRV next to each other.
Make sure you personalize it to your wife’s driving and local gas prices and see how many years it will take to re-coup the extra cost of the hybrid.
One thing to bear in mind, is usually the hybrid versions are a bit more loaded than the base model. But then again, you might not care about the extra stuff.
Also, not that you asked, but if the 2011 Accord is just fine, why not keep driving it?
There ate on;y two things I don’t worry about.
Things I can change, because I change them,
Things that I can’t change because worrying does no good.
Not that it’s a good reason, but she just wants an SUV. Probably end up letting one of the kids have the Accord.
You’ve kept the Accord for almost 10 years. There are plenty of hybrids on the market that are at least that old and I haven’t heard of a ton of issues with battery replacement. Also, batteries will sometimes fail catastrophically, but more typically they slowly wear out and lose capacity.
I looked at a hybrid a few years ago and at the time it didn’t make sense financially. For the driving I did, the payback period was close to 10 years. Now that’s not the only reason people buy a hybrid, but from your post that seems to be the primary consideration. Like others have said, I think you should let other considerations make the decision. In the end they will be more important than the financial aspect.
There are other ‘costs’ to a hybrid, too. The battery takes room, so you lose some storage space. I agree with @VOLVO_V70, though. Take a test drive in the regular and hybrid version, they will likely drive differently and that may make the decision for you.
I have a co-worker who has a Civic Hybrid. Well north of 200k miles. Nothing but normal maintenance. The hybrid battery is all original.
Hybrids have come down drastically in price. You no longer have to buy a high-end model with all it’s features to get a hybrid. You can get hybrids even in the base models. The cost difference in Toyota is about $1,200…Other manufacturers it’s less.
But if you’re driving mostly highway miles then it’s probably not worth it. My wife has he perfect commute for a hybrid. Her next car will probably be one…but by then we’ll both be retired and our needs may change.
I would worry about reliability, and for that reason I would exclude any hybrid Honda car from my shopping list.
RAV4 hybrid looks to be a worthy contender for me.
Yes, most likely the find will be “hybrid version feels more refined”, that was my find for both Honda and Toyota similar model counterparts… (but I made a bet on a bad horse among these two)
On a hybrid '19 Accord sedan I have, I observe substantial MPG improvement over non-hybrid for both city (~35%) and highway (~20%), but yes, on highway it is smaller to compare to the city.
Why I know this difference all too well is because I’ve been driving loaner non-hybrid Accords a lot while Honda still can not fix my car’s hybrid brakes system, so I had a plenty of opportunity to compare.
I also happen to have 15-years Prius in my family, which is as close to “evermobile” as it gets in my view. Toyota’s take on hybrids is so much more reliable.
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First hand experience: Let the wife get what she wants or she will make you regret it.
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Google “Honda hybrid class action lawsuit” to read more about the problems with the Civic hybrid.
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That’s the Accord…NOT the CRV which the op is looking for. You can’t compare a hybrid system from one vehicle to another.
I would implicitly expect that “brain application is required” here 
I would recommend @Kennedy1963 to go check reviews on both CRV and RV4 in “Alex on autos” Youtube channel - that guy makes a great job doing very “orthogonal” reviews on vehicles getting in his hands, and he makes a lot of them.
I like the idea of a hybrid. Back in the fall of 2017, I thought about a Chrysler Pacifica hybrid minivan to replace my 2011 Toyota Sienna which we sold to our son. However, I have never been able to deal with the Chrysler dealer in my town and I wanted to wait a while to see how the Pacifica would work out. I bought a new Sienna instead.
Some years back, about 2008, I made a 200 mile round trip to a conference in a Honda Civic Hybrid, where my research partner and I were giving a paper. This car was from my institution’s fleet. We checked the gas mileage on the Civic Hybrid. My research partner had a Honda Civic at the time with a manual transmission. She claimed that the mileage was about the same on the Civic Hybrid as her manual transmission hybrid.
I have a couple of friends who own the Toyota Prius Hybrids. One just recently traded a 2005 with 200,000 miles for a new Prius. They had no issues with the battery pack. Another friend had a Prius and the main battery did go out. I don’t know how long she owned it, but she elected to trade it for a Nissan Versa. However, three of us were talking about the kind of car we would like to own. One friend said that he would really like to have a Mercedes Benz. His present car is a Cadillac. My friend who had owned a Prius, said that she would like to own another Prius. I stated that I wish I had bought a Checker back in 1965 when I had the opportunity. I would never have had to buy another car.
The Pacifica hybrid minivan would have made sense in my situation. I need a minivan to transport my fellow musicians and their instruments. However, I do a lot of around town driving when it is just me in the vehicle. It doesn’t make economical sense to license and insure a small around town car. The Pacifica would fit my purposes better than the Sienna with its better around town mileage.
The best advice I can give is for the OP let his wife choose the vehicle that makes her happy. Mrs. Triedaq bought a Toyota 4Runner back in 2003. She still likes it and keeps it looking like it just came out of the show room. I can own a new vehicle for two weeks and it will look like it’s been through three wars.