With lead-acid batteries I always used to buy a mid-price battery and replace it after 3 years. Someone once told me that none of them are reliable more than 3 years no matter how much they cost.

But the clunker I drive now came with a 10-year-old battery, and now, a year later, it's still good as new after 11 years of bitterly cold winters and blistering summer heat. So obviously there are some batteries that are better than others.

Maybe it's the same with the lithium ion batteries in hybrids. Maybe Toyota gives you a good one and some other manufacturers don't.

I've been watching the Prius ever since it first came out, because I figured eventually there'll be ones old enough for me to buy. Every one of them has gotten top ratings for reliability and fuel economy from Consumer Reports.

Obviously the battery is a big issue as they get older. Even a good battery is going to need replacement eventually, so anyone buying an old hybrid is likely to have a major expense before long, equivalent to replacing an engine or transmission.

But I did a little research online and found there are companies that will furnish and install a reconditioned battery in a Prius for $800, with a one-year warranty. And I read about taxi companies driving the Prius for 300,000 miles with the original battery, and then buying a recon battery and driving them another 100,000.

So I'm not too worried about buying an old Prius, and I might do that soon. Now that gas prices are low they're probably pretty cheap.

I don't know of any other hybrid that's worth considering at all. Even the Honda, which is essentially a clone of the Prius, is rated poorly by Consumer Reports.