Want to know why the Prius C was trashed by Consumer Reports?

This is not the first Toyota CR has trashed. They also trashed the Scion IQ. The owners of Prius C are the only people that can tell you the truth about the Prius C and they are right here on this forum. I have driven the Prius C and I recommend it.
There are two reviewers I like and they are Motor Week and Brian Cooley of Car Tech.

Pay no attention to CR.

 

And you're basing this on how many hours behind the wheel of a C?

 

This would be an interesting question posed of anyone who has published a review.

 

I don't fault CR their opinion, they really say the same thing most other reviewers have said (it's not a car for raw power, and compared to the regular Prius it's going to feel cheaper because... it is a less expensive car).

I think what is abrasive about it is that rather than point out these things and let the reader decide if it's weaknesses are deal breakers, or even just say "it's not what we'd go for," they paint it as a flat out bad car.

Mines on order though, so I guess I'll find out for sure soon enough

 

Guaranteed, you will love it. Just spent $15.00 to fill it up for the labor day weekend.

 

Yep. Holds true for any car. I can't believe I'm in agreement w/you.

Same goes if it's not recommended for other reasons (e.g. below average reliability). They'll go on trashing the messenger and Consumer Reports.

Definitely not. CR doesn't like the Yaris either (and never has, AFAIK). Going further back, they didn't like the first Toyota minivan either (aka Toyota Van, predecessor to the Previa).

 

Probably an hour with three test rides. The noise, ride, cheapness (string holding up cheap plastic tray in rear cargo area) which were all the things CR noted also. I went in intending to buy the C but after comparing it to the Prius Three, there was no comparison. For $2K more I got the same mileage and a much nicer car.

 

My 1996 BMW 318ti had the exact same strings holding up the rear cargo cover, along with a cheap plastic interior.

I based my decision to buy the C (with which I'm very happy) on a week in a 2011 liftback rental, about 30 minutes in a V, and two test drives in the C, including one which was about fifty miles of mixed highway and local streets.

 

WOW for a researcher you sure didn't put a lot of thought into buying this car lol.

 

That was just the road portion! Before I bought the car I also read every post in the C forums here for about two months, and a lot of the posts in the forums for other models.

 

Well, there are a few folks here that are known to agitate. We also had a former (now banned?) resident non-hybrid/non-Prius owning troll for awhile. It took months before he went away or was banned.

There is a LOT of good info here on Priuschat and most folks are friendly.

 

I don't believe CR is biased overall; maybe that particular reviewer had a bad day which soured his mood enough to affect his objectivity. Pure speculation on my part but they did give a similarly bad review of the current gen Honda Insight, yet that car has many fans among the ranks of its admittedly smaller number of buyers. Ultimately, each prospective buyer must judge for themselves after an adequate test drive. Although, my Liftback rates over the C in CR tests, I can think of reasons to prefer the C on paper, although I've not driven one. Don't fret too much over this.

 

I agree .... CR may not be a master of all trades, but they've been dead on correct when I read what they said about cars I've bought and owned over the past 20 years .... good OR bad.


REV

 

+1 - I used to read CR - even subscribed. Early on their reviews for various products - such as cameras, binoculars, TVs, refrigerators and electronics were good. Later and lately - not so. I think what's happened is that there is so much innovation and change that it's hard to keep up. Also - IIRC - much of their reliability ratings are based on surveys from end users. Such surveys - although interesting - may not be entirely accurate.

YMMV

PS: My C's MPG seems to be improving slowly since my 5000 mile service. Maybe it's finally breaking in?? We'll see in the next couple of Fuelly updates.

 

Yes, I agree! Over the years I purchased a CR number 1 rated mattress, a new engineering designed Maytag washer/dryer, and tried to get information on a double oven and was extremely disappointed in my purchases. Had to replace the washer three times due to an engineering fault, the mattress was horrible after a year and I never did see any ratings on the better brands of double ovens. They appeared to have been in a "Kenmore is wonderful" state of mind. Unfortunately, consumers who bought Kenmore appliances were unhappy with their purchases as they broke down after only a few weeks. True, perhaps there are too many choices out there now to get good reviews. I guess these forums are a great source of info.

 

i think the higher up the models of the c you go the more it may be worth going with the standard prius .I purchased the one so the price diff was large which disappears with the higher models .I almost bought a prius in 08 but they were hard to get and i didn t like the colours and still don t the c has many nice colours and looks better