Prius c one - do I need cruise control

What's your avatar? It's you, or? Like the look.

 

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I actually traded in my 2014 vehicle which was a gas guzzler and went in for a new 2015 Prius C 1 for about $18,000, for the 2 they wanted a little over $19,800 and it was moonglow white, which I didn't want. A lot of the Toyota dealerships around my area were selling only the 2016's.

Trust me, if they had the C2 in black or metallic grey, I would have jumped on it immediately. But all they had were white C1's and a C2 and one metallic grey, which happened to be the cheapest and the one that I negotiated to bring things down lower.

But to be truthful, my motivation for the Prius C1 was to save more on gas, especially for the amount of traveling I do and to divert my income for more domestic and international traveling. I'm fiscally conservative and as much of me that wanted a BMW or Range Rover, my friends and co-workers who have great vehicles complain to me over and over how the majority of their income goes to rent and their high car payment.

So, this past weekend...I wanted something cheaper enough that I could negotiate with a no money down and pay the same amount or less for my 2014 vehicle. But in the long run, pay off quickly and also save money to travel more.

Got the price down, got my monthly payment down with the GAP with the negative equity from the trade and sure, it might not have the CC, the 60/40 and arm rest (and speaker system) but for the price I got this for...I'm pretty cool with it.

Just me.

 

Loss leader. The dealer failed to up sell you. Got it.

 

Lol...the young ladies came out to try and promote the Camry discounts and they were really pushing the new Camry's and the Scion IM (I think it's called...sorry if I get this wrong). But in my mind I was thinking, if I trade my vehicle, I know I would have negative equity, as I have about $15,000 left to pay for it. What vehicle would give me better savings but also wouldn't put me in the hole and I was fortunate to be there when they were trying to rid of their 2015 Prius C's, as they wanted to push their 2016's.

I was actually considering the new Camry and it's discount over the weekend. But life priorities for me have changed where I want to pay off debt faster, travel more and save money in the long run made the Prius C attractive.

But yes, I would have wanted a black or metallic gray C2 if it was available mainly for the Cruise Control and the 60/40 seats. But Moonglow white (or other white) must be popular in my area, because it seems for Prius C's, that's all they had color-wise.

But if I get the CC installed for the $500, I'm all good. No buyer's remorse from the purchase of a C1.

 

A wise choice, you won't regret it!

 

The dealer here in Northern San Diego County, Carlsbad....does not install or upgrade their Prius. They referenced an off site independent shop that would do the work. I have not investigated them yet.

The retail CC kit on Amazon is around $150, and according to the Utube video on installing, looks like around an hour. A couple of folks on this site mentioned that rogue ground wire down the steering wheel shaft, and if not properly installed the unit will not work.

I can, I guess, live without CC... I do traverse across the desert where CC would be nice, but I am not going to spend that type of money ($500). Ouch.

Anybody in So Cal have a better deal, or can recommend a shop to install a CC on a C1 for a reasonable price ????

 

There are several discussions on this forum, on other threads, discussing how to install CC on C1. The C1 is only missing CC stalk and 2 pieces of wire (20 gauge) to connect the stalk to both the ECM and the ground. The CC stalk is shared Toyota/Lexus component since probably early 2000. You can buy new from Toyota/dealer OR you can buy used one from ebay or junk yard. It costs me only $25 to buy a used stalk. It took me roughly 2 hours to complete the installation, including scratching my head to understand the instruction.

 

Thanks for your reply. As a novice, I am not understanding what a "stalk" is, how it is configured into the CC system for a C1, ground, etc. If there was a decent set of instructions or a detailed video, I may try to make the install, still looks kind of scary.

I did read if you get a wayward wire wrong, you could deploy the airbags, not a good thing.... yikes.

 

A stalk is term for the little arms sticking out beside steering wheel, like lights, signals. CC is also on a stalk.

 

You could browse some other threads on this Prius chat. There's one that I found having some link to a document published by Rostra, an aftermarket company. The PDF outlines steps to install CC on Prius C.
Or you could search online "Rostra Prius c cruise control", and Google would list one of the result of a link to the PDF.

Basically you first need to buy the CC stalk, new or used. Make sure you have the wiring harness that is supposed to attach to the stalk. That will make life much easier.
Once you install the stalk you will connect the harness to the steering wheel.
Then you will connect one wire from one of the black connector at the right side of the steering column to the ECM connector located to the left of the steering wheel.
Last you will connect another wire from the black connector at the right side of steering column to the ground.
And that's all, you'll get a really nice working cruise control that you'll love

 

Thanks for your response. I have a C1, and there is discussion that there is a separate ground wire to connect somewhere down the steering wheel column. It is unique to the C1 setup, so I am wary of making the effort without more information on this "critical" ground wire to connect to...

 

Basically, you will need to connect the metal body of the car to the cruise control mechanism. There are plenty of metal near the steering column. The ground wire will basically enable the cruise control. Without it, the cruise control won't work.