I want to buy a car and I'm conflicted between 4 choices. Camry, Corolla, Prime, and Ioniq

Corolla hybrid! For the cost and it's a Toyota, proven hybrid reliability. And in the long run, in 10 years you will have a lot more support with a Toyota than a Ioniq.

 

Have you test driven any of them, or better yet, rent them for a week? Determine which you can live with on a daily basis in terms of comfort.

 

I'd be more convinced about TOYOTA Hybrid batteries - and that TOYOTA has been doing hybrids for over 20 years. Here, they're willing to put 10 year, unlimited kilometre warranty. The drivetrain has 7year, unlimited kilometres.

Hyundai (here) only put a eight-year/160,000km warranty on the battery - and only 5 years on the drivetrain.

 

If you and the other person will be switching off driving, driver's seat memory is very nice to have. It is available in the Ioniq, not the Prius or Corolla (and I don't think Camry). Maybe not the most important factor but something to consider.

Also, be aware that in any hybrid you won't get anywhere near the advertised fuel efficiency when it is very cold out because the petrol engine must run more of the time to maintain operating temperature. A non hybrid efficiency drops in cold weather also, just not as much.

 

I have a friend who drives about the same distance every day with his Prime, and the fact that he gets about 25 of those miles in purely electric mode makes his overall mileage much better than a pure hybrid, and he's very happy with it (it helps that we have low cost charging at work).

I assume the times with very low temperature will greatly reduce the electric drive range, but note that the Prime actually has slightly better mileage in gas mode than the Corolla 55 city/53 highway vs 53 city/52 highway, assuming -no- pure electric driving.

For me it was a no-brainer because I have a shorter commute. But there's just something about the instant reaction time of the pure-electric driving that just calls to me. I don't think I could go back to a car that has no electric drive mode. YMMV.

Note that you may be able to get federal and sometimes state and power company tax subsidies/refunds for a plug-in hybrid.

 

A couple of years ago I was looking at some of those same vehicles and ended up with a Camry.

I was leaning towards the Ioniq until I went and looked at one. The back seat was too small and there was no way to put a carseat in the middle in the back so that knocked the Ioniq out for us. I see you don't care about the back seat so this will not be an issue for you.

My wife drives an Elantra which has been a reliable and decent car. I don't have any big complaints about the Elantra however the Camry is a big step up in ride quality and noise. I expect a big difference between the Ioniq and Camry there as well.

They might have fixed some of the Camry's entertainment issues by now but back when I bought mine the Ioniq had a much nicer entertainment system including Android Auto which the Camry did not include back a couple years ago.

The Ioniq lacks a traditional 12VDC battery and can "jump" itself with a push of a button. Cool feature IMO. The Camry uses a traditional 12VCD battery in the passenger compartment/trunk which is not the greatest idea. There is something about it being inside that makes it important to use a certain type of replacement. If it was under the hood this would not matter.

You mention folding seats. The Camry has the traction battery under the rear seats so the seats do fold down. A great idea that one. Many early hybrids just bolted the traction battery in the trunk behind the rear seat so the seats would not fold down. Big win for the Camry there. Not sure about the other models on that issue. Something to check out.

It might sound like I don't like the Camry but I do love it overall. It has power, great MPGs and a smooth, quiet ride. It gets about 47 MPG at 75 MPH with the AC on in the Summer. Mileage is worse in the Winter, especially on short trips which a have a big warm up penalty. Long trips will not be so bad once everything is warmed up. Your garage and/or a block heater will help in the cold. I just did a long trip at 45 to 55 MPH and was pushing 70 MPG displayed (the display lies a bit so more like 65 MPG).

I drive for milage a good percentage of the time and I'm getting over 50 MPG year round but I'd expect a normal driver to come in in the mid to upper forties in the Camry.

I see the Camry as the better vehicle but the Ioniq is better with the wiz bang and is most likely a bit cheaper. I trust Toyota but I also trust Hyundai. Oh the Ioniq has a lifetime warranty on the battery does it not? Alan says 8 years but I remember lifetime to the original owner.

 

Yes, best to check regional differences - Australia Hyundai only 8yrs, 160k kms on battery, but TOYOTA 10 yrs, unlimited kms.

 

I would rule out the Camry (because higher costs) based on your "only two people" most of the time comment.
Seems you don't need the larger passenger compartment or truck.

The -10 temperature concerns me in your list of vehicles.
Snow zone and no ground clearance nor 4 wheel drive options.
Battery storage energy retention they say decrease in cold temps.

I don't have experience in these vehicles and temperatures to comment further.

FWIW and good luck with your decision.

 

Looks like Canada is 8 years on the Ioniq traction battery. Should have looked it up, sorry.

 

Bullet proof trumps warranty every time. My son drove his 2005 Prius for 10 headache free years before trading it in on a larger Prius v. If my brother in law had not totally abused it, my 1996 Camry would still be on the road.

In the US at least, I say Toyota thrives in spite of most of their dealers. Depending where you are in Canada you may want to try a different dealer. I am in a rural area but still saved money driving 150 miles to a good dealer. The local dealer would not even consider price match.

the Corolla Camry and Prime suit different needs. When I was last car shopping I considered a Corolla based on my experience with out 200& that is still in use. We knew we were going to get a medium sized dog. We actually tried putting a dog crate in the back seat of the 2008 and realized the Corolla was too small for our needs.

Unless Toyota moves away from the huge black grille style my next car will be a different reliable brand.


EDIT: Happy Thanksgiving to you and all Canadians today.

 

I think BIG Grilles seem to be a "thing":

 

Another reason I bought the Prius was my wife was also totally repulsed by the black grille. She is OK driving our 2008 Corolla though.

Honda seems to have good reliability on their non-Hybrid models...

 

The grills on a few of them might be necessary. Either because the model was designed to be driven hard on a track, or is old enough that the cooling system isn't as efficient, with the possibility that the air intake is supplied from behind the grill.

Then a close look at the modern big grills will show that they aren't fully open, with a large portion blocked off. It's visible in the i30 photo.

 

I've always preferred the look of a car with either a small grill or no grill, like certain Corvettes. The air dam/scoop provides plenty of air for cooling.

 

Or PRIUS Gen 4:

Much nicer than some other TOYOTAs