How is the learning curve?

I don't have a hybrid yet, but I test drove all the Priuses. The reality is, you can just get into the car and drive it like a car. Especially the C, with its normal automatic shifter. You can take it to the next level, learn how to him hyper mile, etc., but you don't have to. They just work like cars. The thing about the EPA ratings is that if you drive a C like a normal car, you get 50 miles a gallon. If you learn special techniques, you can get 60 or more. But really, there's no learning curve to get you from here to there.

 

No, you don't need to learn much new. You can just get in and drive it. You can ignore most of the displays, if you wish.

Some people end up obsessing over trying to get the best mileage, but in reality, this may be more psychological than important (see Car and Driver: Mileage? No, it's Your Gallonage that Really Counts | PriusChat). In reality, the people who driver guzzlers should be doing everything to eek out an extra mpg or two, but unfortunately, they don't (and are rather unlikely to even measure it). Run some gallonage calculations of say 45 mpg vs. 50 and then 18 vs. 20.

As for "high-maintenance", that's a myth. Current Prius family members have no drive belts and w/required synthetic oil, the oil change interval is 10K miles (Toyota Synthetic Motor Oil Change and Replacement Services and Information). You can see how recent Toyota hybrids did at Advanced Vehicle Testing Activity - Hybrid Electric Vehicles. Unfortunately, they didn't seem to get the memo that the OCI was changed to 10K miles and kept changing it at 5K mile intervals, for some reason. Maybe they had a bad dealer?

Brakes last forever due to regenerative braking. 100K+ miles on the original brakes on Prius liftbacks isn't unusual. We can't say for the c yet, though.

Also, you now receive 2 years of "free" maintenance (Complimentary Maintenance Plan - Toyota Care). I say "free", because it's included in the price of the car, if you think about it.

Do be sure to try out the larger regular Prius (aka liftback) too.

 

I just got the car and started driving it. I had been a passenger in my mother's older Prius but that was all of my exposure. Also, before this car, I tended to be a pretty fast driver. I was not aggressive, did not tailgate or weave around traffic but I averaged about 80-85 on the highway when I could.

So, my first couple of months I averaged 47-51 mpg without trying. Just driving and basically ignoring the fact that I was driving a Prius. This past weekend I drove 100 miles each way to my parents. Something clicked for me for the first time (I've had my Prius C for three months) and I averaged 54 mpg on the way, 56.7 on the way home. So even without reading anything about how to drive it, ignoring threads in this forum on the topic for the most part, I'm still getting it on my own, somehow.

I found all of that information too intimidating and overwhelming. So, I say, if you like the Prius C, go for it. You'll figure it out on your own without too much research. It's more fun than a Honda Fit!

 

I haven't received my c, yet, but I have driven my dad's hybrid camery many times. It's from 2006, and the only gauge Ive even glanced at is some 'Eco drive' meter or something. I had no idea how to really read it, but I still got rewarded with an "excellent!" readout on the screen after some trips. I'm not a particularly aggressive driver anyway, but it was reassuring to know the car felt I was doing something "right" even though I was just driving exactly like I always had.

 

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I just sold my 2010 Honda Fit(actually traded it in) and bought the Prius C.

Skip the Fit. MPG on the Fit-32 to 34. MPG on the Prius C-47 to 47(depending on how you drive.).
I had to replace the front brakes at 42,000 on the Fit. Tires at 38,000 with 90 percent freeway driving.

I've had 5 hybrids in the past getting 120,000-150,000 on the front brakes and 60,000 out of the tires with the same driving pattern.

Buying the Fit was a mistake. It's cheaply made, noisy, and has a choppy ride.

I love the new Prius C.

 

Wow, I really empathize! I've had my C about 10 days now. I agonized over the decision (including several migraine headaches once I'd ordered as I continued to second guess myself). I had a 14 yo Metro - no tech. So....was looking at not only new technology for the engine and trying to understand that, but winnowing through the conflicting reviews on the C (I've never seen so much love/hate for one car!). And...I lurked here for a long time and while most people were very happy with their Cs, there are still lots of reports of problems. You know, I think making a car buying decision was in many ways easier BEFORE social media (info overload).

Now that I HAVE my new C.....all those doubts have pretty much disappeared. I love the car. I have 1100+ miles now averaging 54 mpg and what's not to love about THAT? I was down to the Fit versus the C myself and I couldn't get past the real world 30 mpg of the Fit (and once that car was decked out with the features I wanted, there wasn't THAT much difference versus the C). I'm brand new to hybrid tech (hadn't driven one until my test drives) so I had a long list of questions (many gleaned from this forum) that I asked during the sales process. I took THREE hours when I went to do the paperwork and get the car - most of that time was me asking a lot of operational questions and the dealer helping me sync my phone, familiarize myself with the nav, make a test phone call and a few other things. So when I rolled off the lot, I didn't feel so overwhelmed by the things I "didn't know." I've been going through the manual at a more leisurely pace and filling myself in on more info, but didn't feel I HAD to right away. It does crack me up that the car is delivered with a laminated "Quick Start" guide. Let your salesperson earn their commission though and get you oriented if you go with the C

 

Fear not... you can just hop in and drive it - in fact it's been engineered that way.

If you want to go a little step further (and this could well be down the line, after you've been "just driving" for awhile and it's no longer so overwhelming), the ECO Score screen on the display has its way of encouraging you to drive more efficiently, but even here you can take as much or as little as you want from it. You don't have to do this though and you can even turn the screen off (leaving just the odometer and time display on the top of it).

This is my first ever hybrid and I've been driving it for 3-1/2 weeks now. Personally, I'm a nerd. I love the bits and pieces and I love learning about all the clever things the car is doing that other cars do not. I find normal car nerd talk so boring... even basics I know I probably should listen to, my eyes just glaze over. However this car is different, I'm excited to learn about it... but you don't need to. It would make more sense to drive first and - if you want to - ask questions later.

 

Pull the rear head rests out and/or lie the rear seats down... both of those will increase your rear visibility greatly. I have both rear head rests off and one rear seat down, and now have no problem seeing out the back window.

 

Glad to hear the Prius c is in your final round after test drives.

There's nothing unusual about driving the Prius c, other than the gas engine may not be on some/most of the time, depending on where and how you drive. Growing up racing electric R/C cars, I never associated "On" with "audible", so keying on the Prius and not hearing the gas engine fire up is no bother to me. If you want to go, press the "go" pedal. Time to slow down? Press the "woah" pedal. It can't be any simpler. If you want to play games with the hybrid system and watch your progress via the computer graphics, by all means, have fun with it. This is my first "hybrid", and it's mindless unless you want to get involved with hypermiling, staying in EV mode, et al.

Maintenance is dirt cheap: oil changes at 10K mile intervals, and that's it until >100k. Since it's a Toyota [and thus tailored to mass-market], you can be sure that the user interaction requires no special knowledge. It's not like driving a 1st-gen BMW iDrive system whatsoever.

Like others have said, remove the massive rear headrests and rear visibility is awesome. I never [or rarely] have people in the back seat anyway.

Let us know what you decide!
Cheers,
Ryan

 

drive a fit on the high way in wind or around trucks it blows around and it is a little scary on the high way other than that its a great car -the milage if you equip the fit the same way the price is very close the storage is great in the fit it just comes down with how much highway driving your doing i took one on the highway for 30 miles took lots of work to keep on the road .I love the c and made the correct choice my first hybrid

 

That was my number 1 worry! When I first test drove the C I felt like I was trying to look out a PORTHOLE in the back of the car! I knew that no matter what car I got, it wasn't going to be the same as my old (oooooollllllddddd) car because car "styling" has changed so much. I had felt that front visibility was a bit compromised as well in the C (compared, again, to my old Metro). Then of course after waiting for 5 weeks, that visibility thing just got worse and worse in my imagination lol. The reality turned out to be very different - no issues out the front. And I had totally planned to take out the two tall rear seat headrests, but am finding that I'm doing fine with them in place. Others had written about how the side mirrors really provided necessary viewing in back and they are right. I may not be as completely happy when the weather changes - that rear view wiper looks like it was made out of tinker toys, doesn't it? I've never seen such a tiny wiper! ;-)

 

I've never had a rear window wiper before, but I have to say this one is practically useless. It covers such a tiny area and it really isn't dead-center to my line of sight, either. I get the impression it was added as an after-thought or a decoration, because it doesn't seem to serve much practical purpose. I will probably never use mine except by accident or to show it off.

 

I went with a 3 because I wanted a moonroof (wanted a moonroof BAD). It was worth the 5 week wait! I've never had a moon/sun roof either and I knew I wanted a factory install if I was going to have one. Funny thing is, I don't really want it for the SUNNY days as much as I want to let more light into the car for the many months of gray days we have here in the Seattle area. (but it's really great for the sunny days too). I also like the Sat radio, push button start and voice activation (which I have really used for the phone) of the 3 (I think that's a 3 & 4 item).

 

The moonroof is $850 added to the price of the base 3. Maybe you can do some wheeling and dealing though. Cs are so thin on the ground in the Northwest that there isn't much to negotiate over here (mostly trade-in value). I have family in central California and I had looked at inventory in California and know that your neck of the woods has a LOT more Cs than we do (if I searched within 100 miles on cars.com, I always got well under 100 total vehicles available near Seattle, but in the Bay Area, there would be HUNDREDS). For awhile I toyed with the idea of purchasing in the bay area and driving it back up here.

 

Sorry Berkeley...I think I knew what you really meant and it does sort of add up. Paying sales tax is what really aggravated me ;-) I guess I'm not too surprised about demand being real high there; certainly a lot of time can be spent crawling in traffic. I think you'll be really pleased no matter what trim you choose.