How's the acceleration?

All late model Prii are particularly good at accelerating in city traffic if you aren't afraid to stick your foot in it.

It would be a good idea to rent one for couple of days and get familiar with it. You will most likely like it, but they are little different to drive than other cars.

 

The C is totally fine with accelerating in the city. It's actually surprisingly peppy in normal mode. The highway is where the acceleration really lacks. Getting up to speed quickly is not really possible in this car Once at highway speeds, it can hold its own.

 

99?

 

Horsepower?

 

I want 99 MPG. How do I get that much?

 

We have had our C1 for about 6 weeks now and drive it 15miles (one way) 4 times/day plus around town. Each 15m trip gets about 55 mpg; around town some times 60 or even 70 if the engine is warm and there is a lot of traffic/stop and go. It's really strange that it gets better mileage in stop and go traffic.

In town it is quite peppy up to about 30 or 35. Merging with traffic in town is the same as my Mustang - I don't require a larger gap, just stomp and go. We don't hesitate to use it on the freeway and have found no issues with accelerating up to 60 on the on ramp and cruising along at 75mph. Passing from 45 to 55 or 60 is satisfactory.

 

It does just fine with acceleration. Even did just fine going up mountains in West Virginia.

 

It's fast enough for normal city driving. It will keep up with traffic without need to floor the accelerator pedal. Getting from 0 to 35 is very quick. A little more effort to go 0 to 70. It is quick getting to the first 35 mph but the 35 to 70 prt takes a bit longer but still OK

 

Agree.

FWIW, I've only test driven the Prius c once and it was fine in city traffic.

I've had plenty of experience driving fairly wimpy rental cars to powerful cars (over 400 hp). I've had 110 hp Gen 2 Prius since January 06 and also owned a 255 hp Nissan Maxima and 287 hp Nissan 350Z.

I'd say that virtually every car I've driven in the past 10-15 years is more than adequate to get to 40 or 45 mph. But yes, a car w/a lack of power (or lots of it) is definitely most noticeable when trying to get up to highway speeds or rapidly accelerate on the highway. In my Prius, flooring to get from say 55 to 80 mph is crap compared to my former 350Z or Maxima...

 

I've said it previously here... in short: "If your goal is to be moving at the traffic speed when you merge, this car is fine. If you're a motoring journo who wants to set new 1/4 mile times on the [freeway] ramps, this is not the car for you."

 

^ Makes sense. I haven't driven a c, but my wife finds the regular Prius has:
a) a feeling of slight delay in response to pedal input.
c) PWR mode to give the closest to the "normal" pedal input she's used to in other cars.

Unless Normal mode in the c gives behavior like that in a conventional car it could take a little getting used to the extra gas pedal movement required or you might never be comfortable with it. So renting one for a few days could be handy.

(I drive in Eco and don't mind the extra footwork involved)

 

Owning both a big block chevy car and a prius I can say that the big block would win in the 1/4. For normal driving and getting out of the way of other drivers, taking off fast to change lanes or whatever you need to do, the prius is more then enough. The 0-30 times are actually pretty good in the car as you have enough from the engine and electrics to really get going. That said, if you are trying to get in front of a large displacement car or high HP vehicle and they also want to move quickly, just get behind them and enjoy the huge bump in MPG that you are getting.

I still say that having both is the best as you can save money regularly and comfortably most of the time. Then when the need for speed strikes, just take out whatever you want for the high HP times.

 

Keep in mind that the pedal is not connected to a throttle cable - it's merely input to the computer. There's no "Power mode" in the c, but regardless, there is no difference in performance between ECO, Normal or Power modes. What the modes do is change how the pedal input is interpreted. Power mode makes the pedal more sensitive during initial travel (so a given distance is interpreted as a larger request) and ECO mode is the opposite (so a given distance is interpreted as a smaller request). If you push it all the way in any mode, the interpretation is the same. In any mode there is a way to make the same request at any level, it just uses a different amount of pedal travel in different modes.

ECO Mode has an additional fuel saving measure with respect to the air con, but as the air con is run from the HV battery and is not a direct parasitic load on the engine, this doesn't directly impact performance.

 

0-30 mph is not bad. 30-highway speeds is another matter. Best you test drive one in all conditions. Overall, I find the acceleration adequate even with 4 people in the car.

 

It could also just be getting used to the CVT that made your wife think it wasn't responding well. We're all so used to the sound and feeling of changing gears that when you first drive a Prius, it feels like it isn't accelerating. That was my experience, and it's been echoed by others.

 

Does the C have enough power?

That's a trick question.

If you drive so that you need it, it isn't enough.

If you drive so that it's enough, you don't need it.

Let those behind you determine their own path.

 

If you tell the C to go fast it goes fast. It can beat many other cars from 0-45 in city driving. It just *wants* to be driven modestly. No complaints here. My coworkers asked me if I had extra batteries in my C cause they couldn't believe it could be that quick.

 

I test drove the liftback, c and v before purchasing the v.
I found the c felt a little more sluggish than the liftback or v, yet still plenty powerful for city driving, and not terrible on the highway either once you get up to speed.
I felt across the prius family they are all pretty darn quick from 0-30 as others have mentioned. Max torque at 0 rpm from the electric motor, I believe, makes this possible. 30-60 is where it starts to taper off as the low HP, low torque, gas engine takes on more of the workload.
Its interesting how often the VW Golf/Jetta Diesel are touted as being so much more powerful than the prius, yet if you just take a look at the numbers in this comparison test:

2010 Toyota Prius III vs. 2010 Volkswagen Golf TDI DSG - Comparison - Motor Trend


0.4 seconds slower 0-30 time for the prius vs a high torque diesel motor. How is the prius "so" much slower?
I personally have never driven a diesel engine car though, so maybe they are slower compared to gasoline equivalents?