2012 Prius C

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I sat in one this past weekend while I was buying my corolla. It was really comfortable to sit in, interior quality was top-notch, and the MPG figures were great. The price is very fair as well, given that my corolla was priced higher than the base Prius C. My wife loved the prius, she actually wanted it more than the corolla, only issue was the trunk with the seats up wasnt big enough for us.
 
Well one thing's for sure, this car will get better MPG all day long than a Honda Fit (which is not particularly good on fuel)
I still think the Fit is the best small car out there for cargo volume. It is absolutely cavernous. Probably has similar build quality to the Honda. Seems like a solid choice to me, would have to drive one to say for sure though.
 
Haven't been able to check one out yet but it seems like you'll get your money's worth considering the base price and fuel economy. Reviews have been fairly harsh on how it drives though (Harshness, wind noise, interior plastics). But then again the price bundled with the mpg is what sells this car.
 
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My wife and I just test drove the prius c and the prius.
The prius c is very nice especially for the price, only a few things that bothered my wife as she will be the one driving it the most, was the trunk for her was way to small compared to the prius. Also she noticed that when we were driving it where the sun came through the rear window which washed out the dash completely! Could not see anything at all.
Now I know your going to say how many times will/could that happen but again compared to the prius this did not happened. We purposely drove the prius with the sun hitting the dash and no washout.
Then the biggest down fall for ourselves was the car seat and still having room to fit someone back there. That does not work too well with the car seat in the middle, safest spot and we do not want this seat on the outside rear seats.
I do think this car is excellent for a couple with no kids or with older kids, no car seats.
Btw we did purchased the regular prius. Which my wife loves. Took it out for a little drive over the weekend and got 49.7 mpg! Which was a mix of city/highway.
Her older car (04 maxima) would have used a quarter tank, round trip. So a huge difference for ourselves.
 
Small, but more than efficient than anything else for the price.

If you plan to keep it for under 150k, it can be a good car.

Just remember that cost of ownership does have the potential to be extremely high considering the hybrid components. This is definitely not a car for a paycheck-to-paycheck individual once the car is out of hybrid warranty.

The battery will need to be replaced at some point. Dealer is about $3500, but rebuilt ones can be acquires and installed for about $2k. This is an expense that should be considered about every 200k in many areas, but at shorter intervals if you live in an extremely hot region (i.e. Arizona).
 
Originally Posted By: cchase
Or a cold region.

Cold is actually OK, I have never heard of the ones in cold areas being prone to shortened battery life. Heat is the biggest concern, IMO.

But hybrids in general do seem to take a bigger hit in fuel economy in winter driving since the gasoline engine has to run more to stay warm.
 
It may take a bigger hit, but it should still out-perform everything else, even after a big mpg hit.

It can also function as something of a generator in a pinch too. A cold-weather bonus. Just leave the car set to "run", and hook up an invertor or two. Not enough to run a house, but enough for a few small items, if one lacks a regular generator or is giving the gas hog a break.
 
Originally Posted By: The Critic

Just remember that cost of ownership does have the potential to be extremely high considering the hybrid components. This is definitely not a car for a paycheck-to-paycheck individual once the car is out of hybrid warranty.


Neither is any car.

Originally Posted By: The Critic
The battery will need to be replaced at some point.


So will a combustion engine or a transmission. Everything wears out in time. Do you have any evidence to suggest that a battery is more likely to fail by 200K than an engine or a transmission? I'm not saying they never fail, nor am I suggesting that one shouldn't be prepared to pay for an expensive repair--but the Prius seems more reliable than most other cars, and the added complexity of the battery is mitigated by a great reduction in the complexity of the transmission, which is the most common expensive failure point in most cars.
 
Didn't Honda get bit by short-lived batteries on their Insight second gen? I recall something about them reflashing their ECU's, for longer battery life; and the result was less mpg's (on something that wasn't doing that great in the first place).

But so far, Toyota seems to be doing really good on their batteries. The c battery is smaller, so I guess it could wear out faster. But, as stated, so what? Up around 150k it's anyone guess as to what will wear out first. Not only that, but I know for my 50+mpg TDi, it *requires* a $700 TB every 80k. Put together some of that maintance that you don't need to do on a hybrid, and a battery pack every 200k doesn't sound that bad to me.
 
Originally Posted By: The Critic

This is definitely not a car for a paycheck-to-paycheck individual once the car is out of hybrid warranty.


Because you'd be seen in a "poor person's car" and it would rock your self image?
mad.gif
 
I was watching another video on You Tube and they also mentioned the trunk. I think that the reason the trunk is so small is to increase rear leg room. Look at the Chevrolet Cruze for example. It has a huge trunk but not much rear leg room.
Originally Posted By: FirstNissan
I sat in one this past weekend while I was buying my corolla. It was really comfortable to sit in, interior quality was top-notch, and the MPG figures were great. The price is very fair as well, given that my corolla was priced higher than the base Prius C. My wife loved the prius, she actually wanted it more than the corolla, only issue was the trunk with the seats up wasnt big enough for us.
 
I was just thinking about that. One of the things I look at when shopping for cars are parts. For example, some cars take synthetic 0W-20 and some take a less expensive 5W-20. I plan on keeping the next car I get for a while. I live in Texas so who knows how long the battery will last here.
Originally Posted By: The Critic
Small, but more than efficient than anything else for the price.

If you plan to keep it for under 150k, it can be a good car.

Just remember that cost of ownership does have the potential to be extremely high considering the hybrid components. This is definitely not a car for a paycheck-to-paycheck individual once the car is out of hybrid warranty.

The battery will need to be replaced at some point. Dealer is about $3500, but rebuilt ones can be acquires and installed for about $2k. This is an expense that should be considered about every 200k in many areas, but at shorter intervals if you live in an extremely hot region (i.e. Arizona).
 
The batteries and hybrid system have an 8yr/100k warranty. In CA it is 10yr/150k.

Anyway, the batteries now are repairable on a cell by cell basis. So if you do have a problem, which would be rare, and it was not under warranty, it wouldn't cost much to fix the bad cell or two.

I have a Prius Hatchback now that I will keep, and I plan to buy a Priuc C too in the next few months.

They only hold 3.5 qts of oil with a 10k OCI. So oil costs are not to much to worry about imo.
 
Originally Posted By: The Critic
Originally Posted By: cchase
Or a cold region.



But hybrids in general do seem to take a bigger hit in fuel economy in winter driving since the gasoline engine has to run more to stay warm.


True. During the warm months I can usually maintain 54mpg+ in my Prius. This winter I struggled to keep it at 50mpg+.
 
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