Prius C vs Prius vs Camry Hybrid

I have a Prius C2 that I bought last year in December. I just helped my parents buy a new car during Black Friday weekend, and had a chance to test drive a regular Prius liftback and the Camry Hybrid. Here are a few points about them compared to the C:

Prius Gen III Liftback:

• There's more braking regen before it engages the friction brakes.
• The HSD display/Multi-function display sucks compared to the C. It's monochrome, and the resolution is terrible. It looks like something from mid-2000s. The C's small little box is both tidy, colorful, and much higher PPI.
• The "flying buttress" console in between the driver and passenger really makes you feel like you're in a cockpit, rather than a car. It's a bit confining, if you're worried about that. It didn't bother me that much, but it certainly gave off the impression of less room.
• The car accelerated and drove a bit smoother than the C. Overall it felt like I was driving a much larger car. The C feels more sporty, more nimble, but also less luxurious.
• The steering was more "floaty" than the C. It was way easier to turn the steering wheel on turns.
• In ECO mode, the gas pedal had a LOT more range than the Prius C's. I had to push that thing incredibly far to get it to accelerate. In Power mode, when accelerating onto Freeway, it felt normal like a regular car's throttle mapping would.
• The rear window is odd; at first I thought my view was being obstructed by the small, upper portion, but then I realized I could see a bit more closer to the ground out of the lower portion, so it was an interesting trade-off.
• It took me forever to find the USB port. Turns out it's INSIDE the armrest console area. What a crappy spot.
• The lowest Trim sold is comparable to Prius C three trim minus navigation. It has smart key entry, and touch button tracers. Better entry value than Prius C's Two, let alone One trim. The navigation in Toyota cars seems exceptionally crappy, espcially when compared to modern smart phones/tablet. I would really not pay extra $$ to get it.

Camry Hybrid:

• It's certainly more luxurious than the PC and Gen III.
• It feels and drives like a regular sedan. It has a ton of power for accelerating.
• It's not THAT much quieter than the Prius C in terms of tire noise on the free way. It's still disappointingly loud on bad pavement on the freeway. Maybe that has something to do with the actual LRR tires? The wind noise, however, is much better than the Prius C past 60mph or so.
• Much more sunlight enters the car's cabin, and couple that with the much lighter (cream colored) interior upholstery, it feels like the Prius C's a bit of a dungeon compared to it. The rear window is much larger on the Camry.
• It doesn't drift nearly as bad as the Prius C on highway lanes. The wheels, being 205s (vs PC's 175s) and the fact it's a wider car, allow the vehicle to ride in the existing grooves much easier.
• Its dash is much less "futuristic" with its analog displays for MPH and MPG. The Prius C has the tidiest display configuration of all three, and has the best malfunction display as well. I prefer digital readouts over analog, too. They're much more precise.
• The rear leg room: OH..MY..GOSH! It's night and day different than both the Prius C and the Prius liftback. Whereas the liftback had maybe a few inches more than the C, the Camry seemed to have multiple feet more! I adjusted the driver seat to a comfortable spot (I'm 5'11) then sat in the back. I literally still had an entire foot between the seat and my knees. It's very luxurious back there.
• The rear pass through is a joke. The entire right half of the rear seat folds down, and it has a nice rubber backing on it rather than cloth, yet the actual hole through the trunk is not more than 5" high by 12" wide. It feels like it should be much larger.

My overall take on value:

Here were the prices of all three during Black Friday specials:

• Prius C2: $17,500
• Gen III: $20,200
• TCH: $22,500

In terms of features and value, I feel the Gen III offers much more than the Prius C at those price points. The PC2 should be at least $500 cheaper, probably $1k. Yet, at the same time, I have a hard time recommending it over the Camry. The Camry is a much more luxurious vehicle, no doubt about it. And while it gets worse MPG, we're only talking about $2400 difference in gas cost over 10-year span.

The Prius C has intangibles going for it. It feels like a fun, nimble, sporty (relative) car compared to the others. It's smaller, yet still has as much, if not more cargo capacity as the Camry with rear seats folded down. Plus, it doesn't look like a Prius, and also comes in flashier colors.

If you can live w/o the Smart key system (don't overlook that..) and less cargo room, and want the feel of a small sportier car, go for the C. If you want a luxurious ride and feel of a normal sedan, go for the Camry hybrid. If you don't care so much about the size of the vehicle, the desire for best ride quality, nor the "stigma" of driving a Prius, but just want to get the most bang for you buck, get the Prius liftback.

PS - All three of these, compared to a '99 Accord drive like luxury cars and are a lot safer to boot. Even the PC has 9 airbags, compared to the '99 Accord's 2. That was another significant reason my parents felt like it was time to upgrade. It's really impressive how much better cars are across the board than just 15 years ago.

 

Yes, those prices are correct and were from our dealers here in Eugene, OR. Thankfully I got my parents to get a TCH at that price. We're lucky to have two dealerships who hate losing sales to one another! I'd recommend you check your local dealerships for 2013 TCHs and Prius liftbacks. If they're available, they might be discounted quite heavily, as I think Toyota made too many of 'em, and with the gas prices going down, etc.

Now I wish I sold my PC2 and got a Camry Hybrid, hehe!

 

Yes, but we have other taxes to make up for it...

Also, I'm not sure if you can dodge the sales tax by buying here if the state you're registering it in has it. Not sure tho, might be worth checking up, esp if you're from northern Cali or Washington.