New Prius C or something else

[M1Accord]

I haven't bought a daily driver car in over 6 year and only bought one car from dealership and that was over 10 year ago. Overall, I own 3 vehicles, one of which is a off-road 4x4. Therefore, my car buying experience is terrible mostly because I am not as informed about car pricing as I once was.

I am in the market for a new car. I need a daily driver that has 4 doors and roomy to dublin as family vehicle. Since my commute is 80 miles a day and I do add another 20 miles of driving from various worksites at low speed on my own expense, a hybrid would be great. I would get decent highway gas mileage and low speed driving would cost very little when in electric mode. My buddy just bought a Prius C and it drives and handles very well. It is much smaller than my Accord but seating area is actually larger at the expense of luggage space. A Prius V does get that great of gas mileage though.

What would fit best as a long commuter vehicle that doubles as a family vehicle and groceries getter as well as vacationer? I like the Accord and Camry with 4 cylinder as they get low 30s, has much more horsepower, and offer plenty of cargo area. What do long commutershere drive and prefer to drive?

 

[The Critic]

I would get a larger midsize sedan such as the new Camry, Accord or Altima.

The Prius is a fairly unpleasant car to commute in due to poor straightline stability and road noise.

 

[JHZR2]

Passat tdi

 

[scm]

Bigger cars aren't going to see the better mileage. Putting a lot of miles on a Hybrid just doesn't seem logical. Think about it, 100 miles a day? Almost 36K a year? You'll have no new car warranty. And hybrids have more stuff that you have to worry about. Your best bet is a car that runs off of good ol' gas and gets good mileage while your doing it.

Toyota's are known for doing well all around in MPG, at least the newer ones... Honda is OK, the Accord is a gas guzzler in city driving ('09 I4... lucky to get 22 city.) Now if you wait for the 2013, you may have a better MPG gain.

Which brings me to the 2013 Altima. 27/38... best CVT in the business. That is the best "full size" car for MPG. I'd go test drive one.... I think you'll be in for a treat.

 

[daves87rs]

Originally Posted By: The Critic
I would get a larger midsize sedan such as the new Camry, Accord or Altima.

The Prius is a fairly unpleasant car to commute in due to poor straightline stability and road noise.



+1

 

[friendly_jacek]

I don't understand why you mentioned Prius C in the title if you are looking for a large car. That is the smallest Prius they make.
Sounds like fuzzy logic to me.

 

[friendly_jacek]

Originally Posted By: The Critic

The Prius is a fairly unpleasant car to commute in due to poor straightline stability and road noise.


I do agree about elevated wind/road noise at speeds 75MPH+ due to little sound proofing. Don't understand your straighline stability issues. If I were you, I would check tires/suspension/alignment.

 

[The Critic]

Originally Posted By: friendly_jacek
Originally Posted By: The Critic

The Prius is a fairly unpleasant car to commute in due to poor straightline stability and road noise.


I do agree about elevated wind/road noise at speeds 75MPH+ due to little sound proofing. Don't understand your straighline stability issues. If I were you, I would check tires/suspension/alignment.

I've aligned this car at least 5 times, tried 3 different brands/model tires and have verified that the suspension is perfect as-is. Granted, the straightline stability was best when I had a grippy set of Michelin Primacy MXV4, but the straightline stability of this car is just lousy compared to most other cars in its class.

 

[mewisemagic]

i have two prius's a 07 and 08 and they have been the best cars i ever bought. but to the op, try the bigger prius instead of the c. also they are a lot of prius taxicabs with well over 300,000 miles and still going,some on orignal battery

 

[PandaBear]

If you already have an Accord and need a normal commuter car, why don't you keep the Accord and go all out on fuel economy on the commuter, instead of buying a jack of all trade master of none?

In your case keeping the Accord and buy a Prius C make sense. Selling your Accord to buy a Camry hybrid or Altima cvt doesn't.

 

[eljefino]

Beltway traffic is always gas/brake, over and over. A hybrid makes perfect sense. Who cares if you wear it out fairly quickly, the gas savings will just rack up all the faster.

 

[rjundi]

The New Nissan Altima for 2013 manages 27 city and 38 highway. It is a really nice car and comfort is in the equation.

Honda is due out really soon also for more efficient engines across the line in Accords.

 

[supton]

I do 90 miles a day, but it's all highway. My Jetta TDi shines in this, 45mpg on D2, 700+ mile cruising range. But in reality, the $1k/year repair costs makes it equivalent to about a 30mpg vehicle that doesn't require $1k in repairs/year.

A hybrid makes sense I think, almost. Yeah you'll drive out of warrenty quickly. But why should it need repairs all that soon? Besides, anything else will need repairs just as soon--or as often--as the hybrid. Buying new just means a few years of zero issues (hopefully!). That premium might be worth it to you.

However, I'm not sure about these do-all vehicles. They always sacrifice something. Space, comfort/handling, mpg--it seems that you can have two of the three, but not all three. But if you have three vehicles, you could have your high mpg commuter which lacks space; and your family hauler. Heck, you could have the tiny 40mpg+ commuter, a 30mpg "next size up" and then a 20mpg minivan / SUV / whatever. Figure out the task at hand, and drive the right vehicle for the job.

I will say our Camry gets 32mpg in backroads driving (I get 27-28 driving aggressively); and it has enough space for weekend trips for a family of four + small dog. I don't think the automatic version would get nearly the same mpg's, certainly not in city driving. But it has lots of space.

 

[Mr_Incredible]

I've had my C now for 6k miles. My commute is only about 12mi each way and mostly city. I could go more highway percentage but I'm not in a hurry and I get better mileage on city streets. It's only real duty is as my daily driver. It does that well enough.

The handling is a bit wandery. Electric steering. I've gotten used to it, but it does require paying attention on the hwy. Not so much in the city. It corners well enough. Can be zippy when required. Easy to park. Easy to change oil and rotate tires. Nice controls. Visibility to the rear is a bit pinched due to the aerodyamics, but is not dangerously so. The headlight are good. Visibility to the front is good.

Since it's just me in the car, there's plenty of room. Groceries and odds/ends from the hardware store and lumber yard fit ok. If I need real space I'll get the truck.

I've taken hwy trips and they aren't so bad. If I had to do a lot of hwy I would prefer a quieter car like the Prius hatchback we have. Pricing is similar.

I've had American cars all my life. The 2009 Prius was my first import. I got the CRX as the second. It went 289k miles when it left my driveway. I don't think I'll ever buy an American car again. Toyota has the best reliability rating of any manufacturer in a price range the everyman can afford. We haven't had a single issue with our 2009 in it's 30k miles. No rattles, no repairs, no noises. Nothing. Oil changes and tire rotations are it.

I get in the 50's regularly. My best tank so far in the C is 58.1mpg. I'm working on an 60 mpg tank right now. 100% hwy I might get 48-50. The 2009 gets as good highway.

The warranty is good. Reliability for the Prii have been outstanding. I have nothing but good things to say about them from our users point of view. There are people that don't like them, but so what? Haters gonna hate.

But even if the battery would need replacing after 150k miles, you've saved enough, and more, to buy another one. I have a screen on the C that shows me savings over another vehicle I would have used. I put in my 10mpg truck, since I would drive it daily. I've saved over $2000 dollars in just 6k miles. If I figured it vs my 20mpg Camaro I would still have saved over $1000 dollars. The CRX usually came it at 38-40 mpgs. It would take longer but would still pay for a battery before it was needed. Win/Win as far as I'm concerned.

 

[jigen]

Doing a rough estimate with your yearly mileage, you'd save about 1000 each year going with a Prius compared to something like the new Altima.

I'd test drive both in city and highway conditions to get an idea. A bigger, more spacious sedan would be my pick if I was doing a long drive everyday.

 

[Hokiefyd]

A co-worker just bought a new C. She had a Scion xD previously and they're passing that on to their 17 year old son. She loves her C. She drives like a bat out of Hades, and so she's "only" getting 55 mpg with it.

 

[friendly_jacek]

Originally Posted By: The Critic

I've aligned this car at least 5 times, tried 3 different brands/model tires and have verified that the suspension is perfect as-is. Granted, the straightline stability was best when I had a grippy set of Michelin Primacy MXV4, but the straightline stability of this car is just lousy compared to most other cars in its class.


Something is not right here. What tire pressure do you use? There should be a differential in pressure between front and rear for best traction. Even though I have not noticed it with mine pumped equally at 40-42 psi.

 

[BrianWC]

I saw some more pics of the new Accord yesterday and it looks really nice. Dare I say it, my Civic Si is a nice commuter car. I have to say, though, I have nav in mine and I think it makes a big difference. For 2013, the Civics are supposed to have a freshened interior to calm some of the cheapness gripes about the 2012.

 

[Hokiefyd]

Originally Posted By: friendly_jacek
Originally Posted By: The Critic

I've aligned this car at least 5 times, tried 3 different brands/model tires and have verified that the suspension is perfect as-is. Granted, the straightline stability was best when I had a grippy set of Michelin Primacy MXV4, but the straightline stability of this car is just lousy compared to most other cars in its class.


Something is not right here. What tire pressure do you use? There should be a differential in pressure between front and rear for best traction. Even though I have not noticed it with mine pumped equally at 40-42 psi.


Additionally, just because it's "aligned" doesn't mean the actual alignment is optimal for handling. There is usually a pretty wide allowable range, and moving within that allowable range can make a huge difference in how the vehicle drives.

For example, if the car wanders on the road, front toe should be examined. It sounds like it's too neutral or even toed out. Toe in really adds response to a car's steering, though at the expense of tire wear.

 

[sciphi]

I'd look hard at a Prius C. The savings in gas will make up for many other shortcomings. And, for stop/go traffic, a hybrid makes perfect sense. One can't make use of sharp handling when crawling at 25 mph on the freeway...

The Prius C is basically the 2nd generation Prius drivetrain in a Yaris. Not much to worry about there, as the 2nd gens were notoriously reliable.