Hi All -- I'm thinking about buying a used 2012 Civic hybrid for our (4 person, 1 dog) family. 91K miles, seems in very good condition. What to look out for as we do a buyer's inspection? Dealer salesman says battery issues are rare, but...do you agree? Test drive was good: starts up fine out of "traffic light idle", etc. All advice appreciated. Price came down substantially from original listing, ($9K to $7.5K), apparently because car wasn't selling, though superficially it looks really, really clean.

Thank you very much in advance for your experience/wisdom.

expect 10 years life for the battery...
if you buy, reserve money for it
check KBB site for expected prices in your area for that car model

I know this is a reasonably old post, but for anybody else considering a hybrid, this is my advice.

As sdaidoji mentions, battery life is 10 years, so for this car you are very near that period of time. You can get a quality after market replacement battery modules for around $1500, they pretty easy to install if you are reasonably competent mechanically wise.

A "new" OEM battery module from Honda will cost more, I think nearer $2500 from the dealer, but, they won't be any better than after market as they haven't made the module/packs for years, so IMHO, you might as well go for a good after market one.

If it were me,I would use the fact that the battery is near EOL as a bargaining tool.

Also, IIRC, for some years there was a recall for the batteries, and Honda replaced the entire battery module, so, it maybe possible that even though it's a 2012 it may have a newer battery, you would have to research that by using the VIN.

When test driving, check to see if the "Charge" and "Assist" gauges go up and down, the Assist should go up when you use reasonable acceleration, and the Charge should go up when you use the brakes, good test is to go down a hill, use the brakes for as long as possible.

If the IMA light is illuminated, then this means the battery is on it's way out, personally I would try and drive it for at least 20 miles, an unscrupulous dealer may have reset the IMA light, and driving for 20 miles can sometimes shake that out.

Some people say it can be lacking in performance, and I would agree with this under certain situation, if you load the car up with your family, 4 people and some luggage, performance can be lack luster, especially on inclines.

Thank you both for your advice. Epilogue: we bought the 2012 Hybrid in January of 2021. It was squeaky clean. The battery has been decent so far. Now we're at 11 years and 116,000 miles. I think the gas mileage has dropped from about 45-46 down to 44 -- maybe that's due to battery aging. Other than that, yes, the indicator on the gauge cluster often shows the battery decreasing in charge, say, during highway driving (tho' I thought that was "all gas", so it confuses me), but the battery indicator always returns to full when I start braking.

I think the CarFax report would show whether the battery had been replaced due to a recall, which you reference above. I wonder if you, curlywurly, have any updated ideas on when and how to replace the IMA battery. I would like to be prepared for it to go.

You mentioned that Honda has stopped making the older batteries, so aftermarket is probably just as good. Do you still think that? I see aftermarket for $1895, and they even do mobile install for $400 or so. Not too too bad, right? Warranty is 3 years. Seems decent, no?

I guess I should find out what their lead time is. If it's months, we'd be without our main car for 2 months while waiting on their battery plus install. There are only 2-3 places online that provide these batteries -- interesting!

If you have any further words of wisdom on this, I'm all ears. And thanks a million for your insights.

Check if you can get the battery through rockauto, they're not hard to install yourself. I'd wait until the battery fails before replacing it

Thanks, Colin. I thought they were harder than the Prius battery changeouts because the batteries are under the car's midsection. I'd need a really good instructional video, I think.

I would like not having to change it out until it really fails. Just worried about time without a car while we wait for a battery to ship, and get installed (or do it ourselves).