Narrowed it down to Prius C, Accent, or Focus - Help me choose!

Yes. This is a great community. I've learned a lot here. I don't have much to contribute to your decision besides cheerleading.

My decision was based on the high-MPG rating in my price range and styling. The high-reliability of Toyota also played heavily in the decision.

To me, the interior doesn't look cheap and I like the exterior styling a great deal. I used to buy 10 year old beaters on principle and literally drive them into the ground. This is the fist new car I've owned. I'm 43.

The previous posts offer many objective vectors for making a rational decision, so I'll just saunter into the dialogue with some cheerleading...

I just got back from a 400-mile round trip up the NJ Turnpike where I got about 50mpg up and 48mpg back. My highway cruising average speed was 70mpg with quite a few 80mpg sprints to get around trucks and annoying drivers (who don't use cruise control and vary their speed 10-15mph constantly ... arg!). Anyway, without competitive merging and using the middle lane, I had no issues keeping up with traffic.

I bought the PCII because I couldn't justify 5k more for navigation that can't compete with my smartphone and some extra sparkly bits and a push button start. All the pushbuttony thingies on the steering wheel make me feel enough like speed racer to satisfy and the integrated bluetooth works seamlessly.

So the whole package makes up for any deficits real or perceived.

Hope that helps.

 

Agreed. FWIW the c version of the "instructional videos" are here:

Even though the maps in my c's navigation are two years old and I generally dislike the system, I'll also still use it over other GPSes I have most of the time because it's convenient and accessible. If I'm going to defer to something else (going to a new suburb or something), I'll take my TomTom and it's windscreen suction mount.

 

This has been good reading, even though I have had my car since August. I like the 50 mpg. I see nothing wrong with "flooring" the car when needed. I like to keep it blown out. The little sucker makes a nice vehicle for us. We customized it to suit our desires. Hey, life is good.
Dan

 

I plan to buy a Prius C asap for eco reason and really enjoy reading so many helpful information/knowledge in this chat site. I have been driving 80 - 100 miles daily between office and home for the past 15 years. In average I gas up my Accord every 4 days in S.F. bay area. Farfle, may I know which dealer you went to purchase your Prius C three? I like to ask if they still have 2012 Prius C one. Thank you.

 

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Falfle,

Could you tell me which dealer, around 10 days ago, offered you the OTD $18,800 (or $18,600) for C2, and adding $700 for C3? I sent email to dealers for C1 two days ago, so far only one dealer responds to me with OTD $20,300. Maybe their Prius inventory is low so they do not want to lower the price. Thank you. (12/26/12)


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Smart choice going with the Prius. You will have many years of just routine maintenance. The car is very reliable, economical to operate, and your doing the ecology good by reducing pollution. Enjoy.

 

I don't own a Prius c but I did buy my 06 Prius (new in January 06) from Toyota Sunnyvale. I was satisfied w/the buying experience and wouldn't hesitate to consider them again.

I did help a friend buy a new '11 Prius at the end of Dec '11. We did go to Toyota Sunnyvale but she ended up buying from Piercey because they were more willing to budge on price. Do be careful about their F&I folks. Just be prepared for their high pressure and psychological sales tactics in F&I.

For your driving, if you have a lot of opportunities to use cruise control, I don't recommend you buy a model One, as it doesn't have it. (I wouldn't buy a car w/o CC in this day and age.) Get a Two at min. Make sure you're ok w/the ride, size, interior quality and noise level. Since you spend so much time in the car, I do recommend looking at the regular Prius (aka liftback) or '12-'13 Camry Hybrid as well.

 

Thanks, Cwerdna. I will check the regular Prius and Camry Hybrid with Toyota at Sunnyvale and Piercey. ( I drive mostly in highway, but barely use cruise control since it is easy to run into mild or heavy traffic jam in bay area.

 

Cool. BTW, but F&I, I'm talking about them trying to push extended warranties, service plans, etc.

 

FWIW, the (regular) Prius got best value and Focus hatchback got worst value for small hatchbacks at Consumer Reports Names Toyota Prius Best New-Car Value, Unseating Honda Fit .

 

Oh no, not the dreaded Consumer Reports again.

 

LOL! They like the Prius liftback. They just don't like the c.

 

Anyone else thinking bait and switch? "Oh you're looking for 2? I can give you a 3 for only $700 more than the 2. Come on in. Whoops, my bad. Must've been a typo. You wanted a 2 anyway, right?"

Just remember, "Fool me once, shame on you. Fool me twice and yada yada." I put up with these dealer shenanigans when I was young and thought they were doing me a favor by approving me the loan on the car.

For example: Paperwork had a $200 higher price than agreed. "Oh that's because you wanted a white one and we need to ship it from another dealer, we quoted you a black one." I paid it.

For my next car:
They said, "That $300 charge is for the security system."
"Take it out. I don't want it.
They replied, "But sir, it's already installed we'd have to charge you to remove it."
"I'm not paying you to remove something I didn't want in the first place."
They counter, "What if we charged you $250?"
"I don't want it. No one is going to want to steal a minivan!"
They removed the charge.

I don't know about the 3 months thing but I've heard the same thing from Toyota, Honda, and Hyundai. Same as you I finance to get the rebate even though I could pay cash. I just split the payment three lump sums. I didn't ask if it was true or whether they get additional profit or not.

 

PriusC is an obvious winner compare to Ford Focus or Hyundai Accent or any non-Hybrids. No comparison. Case closed. If you are comparing to Honda CRZ, PriusC is still a winner by a little bit.

 

I'm not a mechanic but it Sounds like the alignment is off if the car pulls left or right. The 5K service they will do the alignment.

 

When I was car shopping [I think I might have posted this before], I test drove a Fiesta and a Focus the day before I bought the Prius. That new Ford automatic transmission is...weird. Kinda laggy. The whole car felt a bit bulkier than the Honda Fit I'd been driving for 5 years.

The road noise complaint in some reviews of the C is kind of a non-issue; you're not going to find too many subcompact cars with less road noise. That said, you won't find too many that are noisier than a Fit's cabin.

 

I also feel that the steering of tbe Prius C is a little too loose on the highway... but I can live with it. Don't worry about any issues from paying your loan off early... the finance company and the mechanics are probably in different time zones and don't communicate. I also love the bluetooth phone features... its like star trek.