Can't decide between a C or a regular Prius

Do you have children? Pets? Cargo? Friends you would like to keep? If so you want the Liftback.
Is your driving mostly city? Highway? The c has a better turning circle but worse aerodynamics.
I cannot judge either beauty or commonness as I owned a Subaru Forester, a Toyota All-trac wagon, and a Mazda GLC; (all ugly vehicles) and the Prius is owned by one owner in 1400 in MS so I rarely see one.

 

The larger size of the regular Prius also means a smoother ride, unless you pump up the tires to the max. I have a feeling the C will become as common a sight as the gen 2 and 3 pretty quickly once production can meet demand, so don't expect to be unique forever! Test drive em both, see what kind of deal you can get, and rest assured they're both great choices!

 

Drop the Prius and put a nice set of 17s on it and make it stand out. They look MUCH better that way.

They Prius c will not be unique for long and most people I've been with when they see their first one actually prefer the looks of the Liftback. Since beauty is in the eye of the beholder I would recommend driving both versions around for awhile and see which one fits you best.

 

Get the Prius III vs. the Prius C. I was looking at the C as my first choice but after driving a C and a III the same day at the dealer, the Prius III was way more car. Much more solid and quality build. The mileage is almost identical. The dealer had more room to move on the Prius III so the end price was not much different.

Do the same test. Drive a C then drive the Prius III.

 

Is there a reason why you keep using the term "Prius III"? Is it just to bug me and others who have been in the Prius community for awhile? The only "Prius III" was the 2010 Prius III (Toyota Vehicles : Toyota Announces Prices for 2010 Prius / Toyota).

Continuing to use such a confusing/misleading reference only serves to confuse newbies and prospective buyers and bug others.

Personally, I don't think the design of the Gen 3 liftback (aka regular Prius) is "awful". If I weren't on a tight budget (I'm not), I would pick the liftback over the c.

If one has mostly city driving or lots of stop and go, the c seems to have an edge in mileage in their scenarios.

 

Yes. I don't like the term very much but I think it's best to refer to is as either the "liftback" or regular Prius.

Here are some examples of Toyota using the term:
Toyota | Toyota Prius Family of Vehicles Receive GreenCarReports' '2012 Best Green Car to Buy' Award
Toyota Prius c Completes the Prius Family of Vehicles
Toyota Confirms Prius Plug-In's Eligibility for an Additional State of California Consumer Incentive and Its EPA Mileage Rating
Toyota Announces Prices for 2012 RAV4 Compact SUV and Prius Liftback

And since you're new, MY11 Prius | PriusChat was this:

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As you could see from the press release I mentioned earlier, for model year 2010 (start of the third gen Prius), there were Prius (liftbacks) I thru V (Roman numeral One thru Five).​

edit: MY11 Prius - PriusChat Forums was the original Prius Team post. Migration to the new software seems to have caused it to be lost (well, it was quoted later on)...

 

Don't worry about common or uncommon?.....If you have your heart set on the Regular Prius ,,,,then go for it!. Otherwise later down the track you "may" look back with regret,,,,wondering about it? . Take it from me. I really wanted the Prius C ,,,but was worried about peoples scare tactics in regards to owning a Hybrid car? . I looked at alternative hatchbacks / small cars = Skoda, Peugeot , Hyundai, Suzuki Swift, Kia Rio Reborn, Mazda 2 & 3, Ford Fiesta & Focus. also,,the Volkswagon Golf TSI. But I still kept thinking about the C . In the end,,,I followed my heart & bought the C... and have never looked back because it was my first choice!

 

Assume similar fuel economy and then ask yourself whether the liftback is worth an extra $4,000.

 

I find it amusing that we have crossed the line from, 'the Prius is strange I don't want a car that doesn't look like other cars' to 'the Prius is too common, I want a car that doesn't look like other cars'.

It is easy enough to customize your Prius, I wouldn't use that as a criteria myself. We need to get used to it, the Prius is a pretty aerodynamic shape, and other cars are going to need to emulate it.

 

One factor you can use in your decision is to note the small tiff quoted above. If you are attracted to weenie-like discussions such as that, then you would probably be more of a "liftback" type person...

 

If you're primarily a city driver and want an easy to park car that gets great mileage, the c is fantastic. But if you drive mostly highway (especially high speed/rough highway/mountains) or need to carry a lot of passengers/cargo you might be disappointed with the C's performance and would be better off with the liftback. The c is much cuter than the liftback though.

 

Lol Guilty

 

Great generalization...

 

That poster has continued to use the wrong (and confusing) terminology (e.g. III/4) over many posts. It's irritated others too, as seen by responses in other threads.

It really seem to serve no purpose other than to irritate and confuse. Toyota already added enough confusion by introducing the Prius v wagon. Let's not needlessly make things worse.

 

Awful is a little harsh unless your referring to the C and said Prius my mistake haha

A friend of mine just got a C and the size difference is rough. If you are in any way tall or have friends that are tall or stuff to carry, don't do it, plus the interior really lacks when compared to the Prius IMO. His reason for getting the C over the regular Prius was due to the e-brake location being central between the 2 front seats. He has had seizures in the past so this was a big selling point so a passenger could help stop the car if needed

 

The c and liftback are NOT "basically the same car". The c is Yaris based. The engine and transaxle (power split) device are different between the two. Bob Wilson bought some SAE papers on the c (SAE papers describing Prius c | PriusChat). The ZVW30 is he references is the Gen 3 liftback. (NHW20 was the Gen 2, NHW11 was our Gen 1. There was a NHW10, but it was never sold in the US.)

Re: "liftback", LOL. You can write it. Toyota's uses that term even though some of us don't like it.

Reliability is unknown since it's a brand new model, but generally, almost all Toyotas and Lexuses have above average reliability or in many cases, far above average reliability in Consumer Reports. However, as CR has noted, even Toyota tends to have more problems in a model's 1st model year.

My other reason for preferring the liftback over the c is from a multi-car crash safety POV, esp. given that almost all currently sold cars/and "light trucks" (pickups, SUVs, minivans, etc.) on the road in the US are heavier than the c.

Since you mention big SUV as your other vehicle, I think you'd understand. See my posts at Honda Fit Owners | Page 2 | PriusChat and Editorial: A Blind Squirrel Finds His Nut | Page 4 | PriusChat. The regular Prius (aka liftback) is ~500 lbs. heavier than the c...

Feel free to look up curb weights of medium sized cars, medium sized SUVs, larger SUVs, etc. or other stuff around you. Googling for [year] [make and model] curb weight should give you an idea. Remember, kinetic energy = 1/2 * mass * velocity^2.

I don't know if this matters to you, but there are numerous features/options available on the liftback that are unavailable on the c such as solar roof, lane departure warning/lane keep assist, rear backup camera, heads up display, dynamic radar cruise control, 17" wheels, remote AC, etc. Exclusive: 2012 MY Prius - Changes and Additions | PriusChat should give you some idea. The note about backup camera being included on model 2 is wrong though.