What other cars did you test drive before picking the Prius C?

Archaeo,

I totally agree with you. If you are spending so much money, you gotta make sure it's for something you really love.

 

Yeah, claustrophobic is exactly how I would describe the feeling of sitting in the CR-Z. It was so disappointing because it was actually the one I was most excited about before I drove it. The Prius C was the least enticing until I drove it. I didn't expect a Prius to be able to satisfy my desire for cornering but it held up nicely against the competition.

 

Just the Sonata Hybrid, because the other cars I was considering I ruled out once I did some research on the Prius C, and we just got a bunch of Ford Focus at work so I already drove that and ruled it out. Was just a toss up between whether I wanted to pay a major premium for the larger size (in retail price, plus worse gas mileage). The Sonata with at least leather was still way too much to justify spending the money. In the end, the Prius C was far and away the correct choice. Plus the Hyundai salespeople wouldn't even show me a loaded (or at least with leather) Sonata Hybrid without putting down a deposit.

My previous ride was a gas guzzling Jeep Grand Cherokee, got a whole 14mpg driving that thing, commuting 45 miles a day.

 

Honda Fit, Chevy Cruze Eco, Ford focus, Subaru Impreza hatchback. Liked them all for various reasons, but really wanted a hatch. The Fit was ok, and probably my second choice. The Focus was impressive, but mpg varied and Ford dealers haven't always been high on my like list. The Prius C met my desire for mpg with a sporty look and a hatch.

 

Honda Insight, Prius III and Prius C.

Ended up buying the Prius III as best value for money.

 

Pontiac Vibe, Honda Fit, and Kia Optima. I was leaning toward the Fit when I came across the C. Took me a bit to get used to the views when driving the C, but the MPGs sold it for me. I love driving this car.

 

I test drove Golf TDI, Mazda 2, Mazda 3, Honda Fit, Honda Insight, Chevy Volt, Prius, Prius C3, Prius C4 and Ford Fiesta.

I bought a Prius C 4.

The Golf had comfortable seats, good performance, plenty of space and ok mileage. However, it was more expensive and got worse mileage than a Prius C 4, which also had comfortable seats and I didn't need the extra space. I almost never take any advantage of my Honda Accord V6 hybrid's performance, so it didn't bother me to give up the performance difference.

The Mazda 2 didn't get good enough mileage and wasn't as comfortable as I wanted.

The Mazda 3 in the configuration I wanted cost too much for the mpg it gets relative to the Prius C 4. I also didn't like the way it rides nor the quality of the road noise (less wind and more vibration and engine) as much as the Prius C (windy, but otherwise smooth).

Honda Fit was a good car. Very competitive with the Prius C, because of its low cost, decent mileage and loads of space. It was a very tough decision. I went with the Prius C because over time the difference in gas mileage would make up much of the cost difference (planning on a 10 year vehicle life) and the Prius C 4 was more comfortable for my body shape (specifically the shape of the lumbar support and I really liked the Softex).

The Honda Insight was more expensive and not really in any way better than Prius C. The flappy paddle shifters on the EX model were so amazingly stupid to put on a CVT car there was no way I could brink my self to buy it regardless.

Chevy Volt has nearly unusable capacitive buttons for the dash, instead of much more practical conventional buttons. That basically killed it for me, though it was also too expensive for the amount of gas it saves.

Prius was more expensive, didn't get much better mileage and I didn't need the extra space. I also don't like the funny control pad, the angle of the navi catches a lot of glare, the phone charge port is nearly out of reach from the driver's seat, the heated seat button is in a hard to reach spot and I didn't like the interior nor exterior styling. The Prius 5 did have just about the best powered drivers seat adjustment of any car I have driven. The liftback Prius is in bad need of a refresh. It really shows that the car was designed 4 years ago and they have just been tacking on things here and there. By comparison, the Prius C seemed like a more holistically designed car.

The Ford Fiesta was a tin can.

The Prius C3 seats weren't as comfortable as I wanted and I didn't like the styling of them.

So the decision was basically between the Honda Fit and Prius C 4. I chose the Prius C4 for the reasons stated.

edit: Added Honda Insight

 

Nothing else.. I had to spend 23k due to IRS regulations for a business vehicle. That eliminates a lot of 16-18k cars. We already owned two Toyotas so I looked online. I stopped by the dealer Friday night, test drove it sat morning and brought it home sat at 11am. I didn't like the looks of the regular Prius so when I saw the c i was basically sold. My 4x4 Tacoma was getting 17 mpg so my prius c is saving me lots of cash!!

 

I was looking at cars for well over a year before I got my c, but I was doing research as opposed to test driving. I did test drive:

Honda Civic
Ford Fiesta
Hyundai Accent
Prius Liftback

Out of all of those, I liked the liftback and the Accent the best. The Civic is nice too, but I didn't like the look of the car or the colors available. The Fiesta was a very nice car, but I really enjoyed the ride of the Accent better and it felt more comfortable inside.

I pretty much had my heart set on a c when I first heard about it though, but it was a bit more expensive than the other cars. However, when I secured a higher paying position I decided to go for it and test drove a c and leased it.

 

Truth

 

I wish that was true in Phoenix, AZ. I really prefer the all black look of the Prius C 4 with the dark interior, but I test drove a C4 on a hot summer day, and the softex seats definitely were hotter than a cloth seat. The casualty of living in the desert.

 

I have the grey interior myself, which did get hot during our never ending summer long heat wave, but that's only a couple of months out of the year at most, thankfully. At least you won't have to drive her in snow! Not looking forward to that.

 

They make a lighter softex seat. The color combo is called "Light Blue Grey". You might want to see if you can find it. For me, in the California valley, the solution was as simple as leaving the moon roof vent open on hot days.

 

Yeah, that one is nice looking too, though I prefer the black softex interior.

I shouldn't really be posting in this thread because I haven't bought a C yet, though I've been thinking about it. Your moonroof solution is cool, but it wouldn't work for me either. I'm tall enough that I need the extra room in the non-moonroof C's if I'm not going to hit my head on the ceiling.

I can add to this discussion that I'm waiting to test drive a Ford C Max Hybrid, hopefully sometime this month, before buying a car. There are some things I don't like about the Prius C (road and wind noise, slightly smaller car than I'm looking to get - currently drive a Matrix), but I find it quite possibly the most charming car I've ever seen, and I love the tech!