Why I bought a Prius rather than a Honda Civic Hybrid

The Honda is not a full hybrid, the rear seats do not fold back, very similar to a regular Honda Civic, MPG not as great as new Prius, and (correct me if I am wrong) emissions are not as low as Prius.

The main reason I did not buy a Honda is the rear seats not folding down, and the fact the Prius is a hatchback (better storage).

I am very glad I bought the Prius.

 

Looked at the HCH only briefly. Aside from the tech aspect which at least on this forum seems to be no comparison (and with which I agree)... The HCH felt much smaller. The trunk seems miniscule having sacrificed a significant amount of volume to the battery pack. Furthermore, I felt that the hatchback seemed to be better suited to hauling our 2 golden retrievers around. Ultimately, it has proven easier just to give the dogs the back seat which leaves plenty of room for luggage and dog supplies on road trips!!! One cowork does drive an HCH and seems happy with his. Perhaps he is just trying to avoid "cognitive dissonance" :lol:

 

The HCH is a solid vehicle and I'd never admonish anyone for buying one. A far better car for the money than anything offered by the big 3. I think much of what determines who goes to honda and who goes to prius is psychological. The prius screams change and the civic hybrid politely asks people to think. Frankly I think it's time to scream.

Oh, and the dog space. Dog space was definitely a key element in my decision.

-Tim

 

MPG not as high.

Emissions not as low.

Not as much cargo space/versatility, I.E. Prius hatch and fold down seats.

Uninspired design compared to Prius. (I.E. HCH boring, ugly)

I think the Hondas listed for higher MSRP than Prius also.

Once I saw the Prius and the hatchback....that was it.

(And I had to have an automatic, my manual days are over.)

Once I test drove the Prius, didn't bother to go to the Honda lot.

BTW no waiting too. I heard there was a wait for the HCH. I just went to the Toyota dealer, test drove, bought and drove it home. They had 6.

 

Hondas seem overpriced.

Motor Trend named 04 Prius "car of the year".

4 & 5 star crash ratings.

After test drive CVT a must have.

And the real reason (drum roll please...)
The wife decided for me! Didn't take a whole lot of pressure though :lol:

 

I test drove the Civic when I looked at the Prius. I even liked driving it a bit better as far as handling and ride were concerned. But I couldn't pass up the synnergy drive and the real hatch features. Plus I expected the Prius to give me better mileage. Besides I saw no point to a car with an engine that stopped at stop lights only if the AC was turned off.

 

I came from the Honda Civic HX w/ lifetime 199K mi fuel average close to 37mpg (my fuel spreadsheet dates back to 1996), and the first modern CVT plus close to being the first ULEV car. Getting a bit more with the Prius's price to fuel savings ratio was not necessary.

I'm also used to less expensive Honda service departments, predictability, better engine technology, history of performance driving etc, better looks (although it's been downhill since 2001), fancy dials, Honda reliability; even if my Honda's CVT was breaking down, the exhaust manifold cracked again, and it was costly to repair.

The straw that broke the camel's back was Honda decided to go with NO folded back seats combined with a smaller than trunk space. This made the car nothing more than a big, crippled, substandard roadster that happened to have roomy back seats. Entirely unutilitarian as I have gotten used to going to places like Ikea and be not limited by what I can carry home.

Now the Prius's trunk isn't deep as a standard car's (because of the cubbie box and batteries), but it more than makes up for it with height in the hatchback.

Since then, I've grown to like the Prius looks, the electric steering assist that makes the car steer like a heavy bicycle, plushy seats, how it performs under hard driving, PZEV, and the HSD, but still not fond of the lack of decent instrument cluster (a '90s Taurus looks instead), bad steering wheel and seats positioning, and miles of plastic.

At least there isn't only one car with the the CVT option anymore which I was never going to give up. I was also looking really, really hard at the Audi A4 too with the multitronic tranny that seems less likely to break than Honda's.

Oh, and the Prius is the only car on the market that has what I've always wanted a few years ago as first car: EV mode. Since GM's EV1 is gone, what options are left?

So ya, I have a preference for the latest, coolest, useful, technical car of the time.

 

I don't think it's psychological. I believe if you look at Edmunds and do a comparison, there are 32 advantages of the Prius over the HCH. It just doesn't add up. I had the Insight so I am not against Honda and did look carefully at the HCH. But to me there is no comparison. But even if you didn't do the math, the drive itself is unbelievable.

 

I have nothing against the HCH, but it seemed just too small and underpowered for me. My wife wasn't sold on getting a hybrid (truth be told, neither was I), so we were able to test drive both. In retrospect, we were very lucky to be able to find a Prius to drive.


At any rate, the HCH was just too little legroom for me (6'5") and I feel cramped in the back. The Prius, while not exceptional, was adequate for me. Plus, just when driving it, the Prius seemed so much better in terms of accelaration dept, while the HCH felt like my Ford Escort.


My wife really liked having the Navigation system and I liked the other tech features of the Prius. I also think the MPG was also better in the Prius.

To us, the HCH really wasn't even a comparison, after driving the two about 30 minutes apart.

 

I've always wanted a car with a big LCD/touchscreen. If anything, it's cool, Just for the geek factor. (Coastal Dave, when are you going to start selling the ViewTech???) I will finally be able to play MAME in my car!

After getting the car, I've noticed that the CVT makes accelerating from a stop exceptionally smooth.

Hmm. other features I never thought I'd love: SKS. How cool is that???

 

the 06 civic will seem to have improvements but i still do not think it will match the prius...i had 3 different hondas since 97 and just recently got an 05 prius...does not really take much research to notice that the prius is way ahead of the civic hybrid...the honda is a fine car and i applaud anyone for getting a civic or a prius...as opposed to the people i work with that just bought monster suv's in which they do not even need or use for the capacity...it would be one thing if they worked construction or hauled stuff around but nope... just wasted empty space...i'd better stop...getting off on topic ...

 

While awaiting delivery of my Prius (and wondering if it would ever come), I did consider bailing out of the waiting list and purchasing the HCH as my vehicle was showing signs of an eminent and premature death. When I proposed this idea to my wife, she objected vehemently stating that I’d never be happy with the Civic hybrid and she did not want to hear my comments later that I should have waited for the Prius. After contemplating her comment, I realized that she was oh-so correct in her gut-feeling analysis, and upgraded my order from the base package level Prius to the AM package level to shorten my wait time significantly.

The features that initially attracted me to the Prius were incredible mileage, outstanding emissions, ability to run in stealth mode (such a pleasure in stop-and-crawl traffic), versatility of the hatchback and the shear cool factor of the car. In every one of these categories the Civic hybrid, though a decent car pales in comparison to the Prius.

 

For me, the hatchback is what made me look more closely at the Prius, and the cool electronics is what sold me on it.

When I first started thinking of what kind of car to buy next (a couple of years ago), I had decided that I wanted a hatchback. This car was to be our family car when my husband and I start our family, so I wanted the extra crap-toting room.

Initally I considered the Outback, but I was really turned off the crappy mileage. Basically, I wanted a car that had lots of cargo room, gets over 30 mpg, and is a price we could afford. The Prius came out on top.

Plus, as an environmental professional, I am putting my money where my mouth is, so when people ask what kind of car I drive, I can smugly say, "A Prius".

 

The car that I replaced with a Prius was a Ford Explorer. I was a bit nervous about losing my cargo space, so I decided that whatever car I would buy, hybrid or not, it had to be a hatchback. So therefore, I never even bothered looking at the Civic.