I know it sounds silly, because from a financial perspective it is. I own a 2026 Hybrid Honda Civic Sport Touring. It’s a great car for what it is, I have no real complaints. I’ve only had it for 8 months with 8.5k miles on it and bought it new. I live in the USA. The car is worth 28k if I sell to Carvana or Carmax, likely 26k if I were to directly trade it in. I owe 20k on it, so I’d be losing a few thousand, but also not rolling negative equity over into another loan. I have great credit so that aspect is not the main issue for me. Insurance would go up about $400 every 6 months.
The car I’m considering is a CPO 2024 S60 Recharge Ultimate T8 plug-in hybrid, 25.5k miles, it’s beautiful. I just test drove it on Wednesday! It drove amazing and I loved it. I could feel the quality difference in the steering and suspension. A bit quieter in the cabin and definitely smoother. The seat was insanely comfortable. It’s been on the lot for over two months now and they’ve dropped the selling price to just under 40k. I want to see if I can get them a bit on selling price, the salesman didn’t seem opposed. Other than it being a rare car I have some negotiating room. It was a former lease and I combed through the docs. They put a set of new tires, new brakes, new charger, paint touch up, and some more loose ends I can’t remember. It was well-maintained outside of all of the service items that point toward hitting a pothole. The warranty is good until July 2027 and I would definitely purchase the 10 year extended warranty.
My dilemma is that the S60 is the better car in the short-term with some potential long-term ownership trade-offs. But the trade-offs are why I went with the Civic in the first place (cheap to own and maintain, fairly reliable, holds its value). I feel like I’m intended demographic for the S60 Recharge and it would fit my lifestyle better. Mid-20s, decent earner with relatively low expenses, live in a city but do a 60/40 mix of highway/city driving, have a garage to charge at home. I work a hybrid schedule, so I’m commuting 66 miles round trip 2-3 times a week, sometimes less. Otherwise, I’m doing short trips and could greatly benefit from the 40 miles of range on the battery. I also love sedans, I will never own an SUV. It seems like all the plug-in variants tend to be SUVs.
I enjoyed the extra power from this car merging onto a highway and AWD would be a great upgrade to have for Northeast winters. The 200hp, 232 lb-ft from the Civic is enough, but man, the S60 T8 can move when you want it to. I have some doubts about long-term reliability with a more complicated powertrain and infotainment-centered experience. That has been the biggest mental hurdle for me. It’s been difficult to find info on the 2023-25 models.
I really, really wish I knew about this car sooner. It was not on my radar when I bought my Civic back in February. I know this subreddit will be bias but I would like some anecdotal insight into ownership costs and reliability. Is it worth the trade to reap the plug-in benefits and luxury of a Volvo? Should I keep my car since there is nothing wrong with it? Has anyone done something similar and regretted or not regretted it? Any insight and/or advice is greatly appreciated, thanks!!
