May 2012 Issue Of Car and Driver Full of Digs & Jabs In 1-Page Review Of Prius "C"

I do not agree with everything Car and Driver states but I do
agree the Prius C should have obtained an EPA minimum average
mpg of 55 mpg or more, and not the same EPA average as the regular 500 lb more Prius and the Prius C has less horsepower
besides.

 

To be blunt I work in the photo industry in which bigger sensor cameras with some reviewers are the best. But real photographers say otherwise...

If I trusted these "trusted reviewers", I would have never really looked at or drove and bought the Prius.

Sure the C should have done better IMO compared to the Prius in mpg, but all in series reaches their own market.....

 

Also, don't forget that people who write for car magazines generally aren't happy unless a car can accelerate hard enough to make you nearly black out. Anything less than that is boring to them. The technical elegance of Prii at an excellent cost does not seem to be a factor.

 

Amen, the Prius is 0-60 @ about 10 seconds which seems to be plenty fast for me. The issue seems to be the nation of excess we have.

Studies continue to show that greater than 55mph wastes energy. But we allow for 65 and 75mph speeds now.

 

I bought my C because it allowed me to get a new hybrid for less $. It also gets way better fuel economy than my 15mpg truck (avg 50 mpg). My fuel bill for 2 cars was over $400 a month and now it has dropped to $250. I can also lower my monthly expenses by not purchasing new issues of Car and Driver magazine. Cars are a tool and should be used for the proper jobs. On long family trips we take the Honda Odyssey. Commuting and short trips we take the C.

 

I have had my 2012 3rd Gen Prius III for 5 weeks. My other car is an 04 PT Cruiser GT. It has 220 HP, a blast to drive, VERY fast acceleration, and of course, 20 mpg. I love my PT GT, and I love my new Prius. They ARE two different cars. That is what these car journalist do not seem to understand. None of the Prius's were designed to be hotrods or sports cars. Sure, The C is sportier than the standard Prius and I think that it compares very favorably with cars like the Focus, Fit, etc, and gets a lot better mpg! The Prius line do what they were designed to do very well, that is why they sell the way they do.

 

And this review is a surprise to anybody? All the car mags have hated the Prius since the day the first one went on sale in the U.S.! These are niche publications that cater to the slowly fading horsepower at all costs crowd. The only time I look at them is at the doctor or dentists office, because it's either that or Modern Maternity!

 

:rockon:

 

A car car does not have to drive fast to be fun, my c still puts a smile on my face through the tight turns -- u turns on city streets are a blast. And I'm still laughing past all those gas stations posting 4.20 a gallon. The Prius has granted me freedom to drive when in my old car I would be considering my motor scooter. BTW when driven with care, my Prius gets the same mileage as my Suzuki Bergman scooter.

 

I could care less what Car and Driver has to say. Nothing they can write will slow the crowds of people queuing to buy the Prius.

Besides, there are two types of car reviews. Legitimate, balanced, and honest ones and there is Car and Driver.

 

90% of the car magazines/websites review cars and grade them based on how fast they are. I mean, do I really give a rats @ss if a 5,000lb full size SUV sucks at the slalom or at 0-60? As long as its 60-0 is decent and it meets the needs of the target market, thats all that matters.

 

All they care about is how much HP cars have. Personally, I'm coming from a 500+ hp car. I love fast cars, but they are pointless to have just to drive back/forth to work, school, etc... My Prius C gets me where I want to go, and it saves me a bunch of money in fuel.

 

Am I reading you correctly, that the high fuel prices were the main motivation for your switch ?

The 500+ hp car could not have been cheap to buy or maintain. Why did you choose the 'c' over other hybrids ? I have been assuming that the 'c' price is a large part of its appeal, but perhaps for you it is something else ?

 

For those that do like to drive fast, it's more fun to drive a slow car fast than to drive a fast car slow.

 

Ca we get a reviewer with some knowledge of how car use energy?

The only size measurement measurement that matters is frontal area, which needs to be pretty close to the prius hatchback. Weight matters, but primarily in city driving, where the C did do better (I am sure we would all have loved to see it even higher).

But compare the C to ANYTHING else out there, why don't you.

"In the end there can be only one..." Any guesses which it will be?

 

I am definitely a Prius person now. So much that I hope to be two Prius family soon. I don't really understand all the negative hype against the Prius, I think it political or something. But anyway, my wife and I car pool with each other a fair distance everyday and it has been great since we bought my FIL's Prius. In fact, I was hesitant to have a Prius but now that I understand the technology better, I can say in someways the Toyota Hybrid Synergy drive is less complex than a non-hybrid.

So my main reasons for buying another Prius is the savings at the pump, using less petroleum over the life of the car, enjoying the technology, smiling when people look at me with a surprised/shocked face when I tell them I average 50+mpg, etc.

I have figured that selling my current non-hybrids, factoring in the fuel savings, car insurance savings (going from 3 cars to 2), reduced preventative and repair maintenance costs, and more, that my monthly car related expenses will not change much. In other words, I can have my Prius hatchback and a new Prius for what I spend now keeping all 3 running.

I'd rather spend the extra $ on a hybrid now and save fuel $, than buy a non hybrid for less and have the higher fuel $ expenses go to corporate profits.

 

All the car magazines that love big fast cars that
get less than 20 mpg should all love our Prius
owners.

Less face it all the gas you save gives the car owners
with big luxury gas guzzlers more gas to buy no matter
what the price.

When gas goes well over a gallon, you notice the word is
when and not if, you will see a lot of land yachts for sale.

Not many people will be available to pay their car payments
and 500-800 buck a month for gas.

 

Yes and No. The car I had was not a daily driver. It was garage kept and driven on the weekends. My daily driver was a Tacoma. I'm just saying what is the point of having a high horsepower car to drive daily when you can only drive the speed limit. My car was occasionally tracked.

 

Reading through these rant threads that pop up every time a car enthusiast site/mag does a review has been highly entertaining. Why do people always get so defensive and butt hurt about these things? The articles are written for a specific audience point of view, and that is definitely not the transportation appliance/mpg crowd. Is that so hard to understand?


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