Come on.... be honest!

While I have not yet ordered a Prius, I have looked at the Honda Civic Hybrid. The 2 reasons I prefer the Prius are 1) gas milage and 2) Prius has more extras that the HCH. I am close to ordering one, just waiting for the New Car 2006 Motor Trend Issue to be sent to me. It will tell of any changes.

 

I fell in love with the looks of the ’04/’05 Prius the first time I saw it in real life . . . but I was not allowed to touch.
The love affair intensified when I drove it for the first time several months later . . . the beauty wasn’t just skin deep!
Now that we have been together for ten months, I will never look at another car the same way.

The Honda Civic hybrid may be a nice car . . . but it looks kind of Plain Jane to me. I guess the hybrid emblem as a distinguishing feature just doesn’t do it for me either. :wink:

 

Well, yes and no.

I first test drove a Saturn Ion last November when I was waiting for my coupe to be serviced. Wasn't that impressed.

Started doing some internet research in January when I decided I might buy a new car.

Decided to look at hybrids and then compared what there was at the time.

I wanted something comperable to what I was giving up and it had to be an automatic.

I eliminated the Insight because it was only two seats with not much cargo space.

One of the Hondas was only manual.

I think I eliminated the other because the mileage wasn't as high as the Prius.

The Prius also had going for it the low emissions, five seats plus cargo. The hatchback which I love. And the price was suprisingly reasonable. Just slightly more than what I paid for my Saturn 10 years ago. When I saw a picture I really liked it. The pictures of the others didn't do much for me. I like the Insight until I read about it's lack of space and it's pricetag.

I also didn't want to wait on any list.

In April I used cars.com or some other sight to e-mail my preferences to all of the local Toyota dealers. I had responses within an hour with Prii on the lot and available.

Kearny Mesa Toyota had a Black #1 at MSRP. Only difference was ivory instead of gray interior. I decided to buy it rather than wait. No regrets (except I really like the gray. That's OK. Next Prius will have gray interior.)

So while I did consider the Honda Civic Hybrid, it wasn't for long and I never even saw it in person or test drove it. It was eliminated pretty fast.

 

I did ... for about 5 minutes. Actually saw/drove the Civic before I saw the '05 Prius.

Was not impressed AT ALL with the Civic hybrid. Was surprised at how disappointed I was with it.

 

Yep considered the Honda offerings, I had HYBRID on my mind since starting to look. Considered the CIVIC, and the Ford Escape.. the Insight was just too small. The Civic was just outclassed, offered lackluster performance, and plainly was just nothing special, could not test drive one, they had none and a mile long waiting list. The Escape caught my eye especially since coming down from an Explorer, price and mileage was the problem. Most of them cost in the mid thirty's, $28,995 was the starting price, then you had typically $4-5000 in dealer options, no choice and waiting list. A Prius could be had for about $10,000 less, big enough and good performance, it was no contest.

 

I test drove a Honda Civic Hybrid. It didn't impress me and the hybrid system never seemed to kick in while I test drove it. I later learned that it wasn't a "full hybrid", maybe that's why it seemed funky. It also seemed very very cheap, and had a real crappy interior - as bad as the Prius first generation interior (one of the reasons I waited for the second generation Prius).

 

I had wanted a Prius before they ever came, but our need was immediate and the Insight was here. We bought one an like it a lot as my wife had a long commute at the time. When the commute ended, we got rid of the Insight and got a Corolla S. I still wanted a Prius but, again, our need was immediate. This year, after I retired and decided to travel, I still really wanted a Prius. We decided to sell my Camry XLE V-6 and take the plunge. There was no way to justify this economically at the time. I just knew I would feel better. And, I am really glad we got the Corolla instead of the Prius several years ago because the 2G was not out at the time. I looked at the HCH as a possibility, but it just didn't compare.

 

I wasn't tempted by the Honda either. My friends rave about Hondas but they've always seemed cheap to me too. Toyotas just seem more solid to me. I've owned Toyotas in the past and always been happy with them. Also, the Honda Hybrid system just doesn't seem all that appealing to me.

The only other car under consideration, actually, was the Scion xA. (That's the cute little four-door hatchback, not the Borg cube). I was looking for a small, efficient four-door, and the Scion seemed to fit the bill. True, not a hybrid, but at ~$13k the Scion xA is an incredible value. The 5-speed seemed peppy enough but the automatic seemed really slow. I definitely wanted an automatic for my stop and go commute. At some point I realized that I probably wanted something a little more plush and quiet since I'd be driving it most days.

So even though it was twice the money, and even though it seemed too big at the time, I decided to go with the Prius and I'm glad I did.

 

Never considered the Honda. The wow factor with it was ZERO with me. And the hybrid capabilities seemed to play 2nd fiddle to the Prius. Nuff said.

 

I was a long time Civic driver, and had not thought about the Prius when I was ordering in the early summer of 04. I tried the Civic and was quite impressed :roll: but was encouraged to give the Prius a try, largely by a Honda Salesman who knew his stuff and was explaining the difference between the two cars. At that time there were no Prii on lots in my area and I was being encouraged to order a Prius unseen, with the knowledge that the dealer would have no trouble selling if I did not like it, but as my circumstances were somewhat unusual, (we were returning to Canada from living in Egypt and I really needed a car by a certain date, and I did not want the hassle of finding another car if the Prius did not suit) I found a dealership with an employee who drove one and was willing to let me test drive his own and I was blown away. Car ordered late May for delivery September 1 2004
My husband, a long time Toyota driver. was sceptical but this was my car but once he was driving it :mrgreen: he was convinced enough to buy his own! Hence two silver Prius on the driveway. He's thrilled by the ease with which he can fit lumber and other DIY supplies and was proud to be the first to achieve a 60MPG tank. :lol:

AVA (sleek and elegant) and WIZARD (well it is kind of magic isn't it) both derived from Ontario Licence plates
Millennium Silver 2004

 

I test drove the Honda Civic before I saw a Prius. Liked it and asked about the Insight too, which was not on the lot. Ruled them both out because
of the battery location. I needed a real hatch back at a minimum.

Then the clincher was learning that the Prius transmission did away with gear shifting, clutches bands, etc, and had an EV button readily added.

 

Never considered a Honda for a millisecond. There's no comparison for an engineer.

 

The planetary drive and low emissions got me. The appointments just made it easier to rationalize. (What a headline: "Planetary drive saves planet".)

 

Back when the Prius Classic was the Civic Hybrid's main competitor, and I was only mildly considering a new car, I tended to lean towards the Civic.

I liked the way it looked just like a normal Civic from the driver's seat; and after 17 years with one Civic hatchback, I was pretty sold on Honda.

However, it wasn't a hatchback; and when the '04 Prius came out, I decided to give it a look. LOVED the way the Prius drove, compared to the Civic; and when I saw the differences between Honda's "mild" hybrid system and the Toyota HSD, I went Toyota.

The Toyota HSD appealed to the inner engineer in me, I guess.

 

I briefly considered the HCH. However, Toyota beats the car hands down since it's a full hybrid, instead of the mild hybrid Honda.

 

Thought about the Civic HCH, looked at one. Couldn't figure out how we were going to do our road trips with 2 golden retievers and junk... ( the battery pack just ate up too much trunk space, and no room for the pups to spread out in.) Got the Pruis instead. It also better satisfies my Geek Gene.

 

I test drove the HCH and was not impressed. I have dreamed of a car like the Prius for many years and while buying an '04 did not exactly qualify me as a groundbreaking innovator, I still felt it WOULD live up to my dreams. WOULD because I had to order sight-unseen (early September '04) and not test driven. I'm usually more exacting on big-ticket purchases, but on this one I went with my gut and was rewarded plenty. I would never give US carmakers such leeway, but have been a Toyota driver for many cars and have never been disappointed. A car that turnes off when stopped? has oodles of new technology? has (in CA) a HUGE waranty?

 

Good replies to all, I did post earlier and looked at options, but EASILY determined the Prius was the and still is the best out there. Trying to make some sales for our local dealership, these cars are great. In my area many teachers drive long distances, and I have actually calculated that even with a trade in like say from a 2002 explorer to a 2005 Prius, the CAR NOTE is paid for by the GAS COST SAVINGS., and that is using 40 MPG for the Pri, because in TX summer 95-105, with good humid conditions to boot near the coast is common, so the AC stays ON mostly all the time. I think this will be a TOP selling point, besides all the other issues. There currently are about 2 in our school, and I heard about 20 in our country, so lotsa fertile ground is there.