About to purchase Pruis C, having some concerns

Different people have different preferences, I respect that. Also, he ditched Prius C, so he thought he needed to justify that decision. I can understand that, we all can be biased at times. But it does sound annoying when he tries to force his opinion onto others without numbers backing it up.


BTW, this forum is the most "boring" forum I have seen. I remember somebody switched back to a Honda Fit from Prius C and everybody just said the Fit was a good car too and wished him luck. He posted the same thing on the Fit forum and lots of people started to trash the Prius C. Maybe we should all be a little biased now. That's the expectation.

 

One mans refuse is another mans treasure Like I said in my earlier post (that you obviously missed)
The C isn't that great of a car. The interior noise is to loud and it wears on me. The power is lacking
@ 99 bhp and the interior is cheap at best. The car has really low tech and Entune is a joke.
This is my personal opinion and the reason, I couldn't live with the car past 90 days.
It has excellent city MPG numbers and that's the market niche it's designed for. 46 highway MPG
isn't bad, but the Prius Liftback is a better car for commuting, IMO. It has less road noise, has a
better mpg rating highway and it's big enough not to feel like a crakerbox on wheels.
Rolling down the freeway in the C is not what I would call confidence inspiring with larger vehicles
all around you. I feel safer on my motorcycle than I do in the C.

 

I do love how you repeat this line after it was already debunked by another poster with numbers... and I'm pretty sure we've had the same conversation before.

I don't believe you have an impartial opinion because you chose to move away from the 'c'. You do have an opinion though and that's fair enough, to a point. Noise is not a matter of opinion. It's measurable fact. It has been measured.

If you're still claiming you view the noise differently from what's been measured, it simply indicates that there is unfortunately a bias that you are projecting onto your perception.

 

Strangely enough, people who like to dart in and out of lanes may actually like the c. It may be a slow accelerator, but if you're cruising along, the car loves to pounce when asked to do so. The instant kick of torque from the electric motor without waiting to change gears makes for some clear and emphatic lane changes that in those situations makes the car feel "lighter" than it really is.

 

This is certainly true. The handling is great. Mileage may not do so well though. These folks on the highway are always speeding up, passing, hitting breaks, etc.

 

Guess you can only kind of read... it also shows a C4.

 

To me the Prius C is not a noisy car. The Mustang on the other hand...
Especially when gliding with the ICE off, the C is really quiet.

 

53 is about as good as it gets with real travel involved. I get that on the hwy driving it like a normal car. My daily commute is above 60 on the way to work and home from work... unfortunately, those trips to places on the weekend aren't as good. Mostly because I don't know the route as well.

 

Drdiesel:
64.1 db @70 for the C-max Energi vs 64.8 db @70 for the PC
The C-max is louder at full throttle...

 

I don't drive at full throttle

 

and the difference isn't noticeable at 70.

 

Good point... I only do it occasionally and it's not enough to cause a noticable impact to fuel economy.

 

Jamie,
In re: to your question about transitioning from an ICE to a hybrid, I think you'll find plenty of interesting differences - mostly for the better.
My other car is an '04 Matrix XRS. Somewhat comparable to your Mazda3. Its a good compromise car for a fun driver, family friendly, with lots of utility and great gas mileage for a 10 year old car. What it does not have is any type of feedback on fuel economy besides doing the math yourself with the odometer. The Prius is very communicative about it, and basically prioritizes the driver's perspective towards fuel economy. I have noticed that my driving style in the Prius has mellowed considerably. Not that I was an aggressive driver before, I just didn't have any immediate feedback.

 

We have a 2012 Honda Fit Sport and a 2013 Prius C and are very satisfied with both. The Fit drives a bit more like a sports car than the Prius but the Prius feels more "solid" on the road and is quieter. The Fit has more storage space if that is important to a car buyer. The Prius gets better mixed mileage, ~50 mpg vs the Fit's 31-34. Reliability of both cars, from what I have read, is excellent. The Fit, in the over 18 months of ownership, has been trouble free.

As far as highway/hill driving, I have not noticed a big difference with both cars. They both require a little effort but our last trip through Pacheco Pass with the Prius was very satisfactory.

 

Compared to all other cars I've owned the C has by far the noisiest cabin at over 60mph. But with that said there are much worse. I play my music load so it's a non factor. The benefits and price for me justified the tradeoff. The seats where one of my favorite features; very comfortable in my opinion for the 4 trim. Its got all the gadgets I had on my last car minus auto headlightsi

The C isn't the fastest off the line but then again as mentioned that isn't the intent. It is fun; and I came from a 306hp car. I don't have any regrets after a year. It took a minute to learn new driving habits but that's a short lived learning curve. I can still manage to get off the line with confidence and keep up with the pack with no problem. Letting others warm up the red lights is fun too....saves my breaks ; ).

C-Max is a very nice car; Ive been in one. I can respect Doc's opinion. It's about finding the right car for your needs and comfort. He obviously liked something about it to give it a go.....just didn't work out and that does happen.

 

See if you can do what I did: for about $30.00/day, rent one from the dealer for the weekend or longer. Kind of like a test drive without the salesperson. Sold me on it. I was driving an '11 Yaris, and my c is far more refined. Driving becomes a game of watching the eco gauge and re-training your right foot. I even find myself driving my 07 Tundra slower...

 

I'm talking ROAD NOISE. Not engine noise. Besides, my C-Max very rarely runs
the engine. It's usually in EV mode

 

The test results are ROAD NOISE... next question.

They measure noise inside the cabin at these 3 static points on all cars.

Idle (Which is moot unless both cars have their engines on)
Full Throttle
@70 mph Cruise

 

I have to admit, after reading people's posts about road noise, I was a little concerned about the c. When I took my test drive, the salesman WANTED me to test it on both the interstate as well as surface streets (not only for road noise, but also to address any pickup concerns I might have). I was satisfied then, and tomorrow it will be a month since I've had my C4 and I couldn't be happier about noise or pickup. Of course I've had windows down most of the time, so I might feel differently when winter comes and windows are up. Also, my highway driving is limited to about 8 miles interstate driving on my commute. However, neither issue was a deal breaker for me.