Traded my AWESOME 2009 Honda Pilot for a Prius C Three.

I've been pretty spoiled by having an average commute over the last 16 years of less then 7 miles round trip. 3 of those years they were zero since I worked from home. I've owned a Honda Civic, 1999 Mustang Cobra, a Ford Sport Trac and a 2009 Honda Pilot in that time. My wive has a 2006 Honda Pilot. I really liked hers, and when my Sport Trac started giving me trouble I eagerly moved into a Pilot.

Last November I changed jobs and my commute went from 10 miles round trip to 40. The Pilot was paid for but it was getting hard for me to justify two SUV's now that my commute was longer. Our youngest child just turned 16 and has his own car so we do not do nearly as much kid taxing.

I knew if I traded my paid for Pilot for something smaller, I would save quite a bit of money on gas, even though gas isn't as high as it was last year. The problem was that wanted as close to a lateral trade in as possible. If I had to pay 5K to get 20-30 better mpg it would take years to make up the difference, and honestly I enjoyed the utility and other things about the pilot and I was hell bent on making this sacrifice worth the $$$. I drove around to 4 different dealers in the KC area and only found one that had 2 Prius Cs. A Black Two and a Red 3. I had done the research and didn't even want to look at the two. I wanted some Tech if I was going to give up the Pilot.

My wife and I test drove the Prius C first and was surprised at how smoothly it drove. We then test drove a regular Prius Three, and compared to the C I didn't like the handling at all. It felt too boat like, and honestly I was never a big fan of the looks of the original Prius.
I had the dealer make a trade in offer on the Pilot which Kelly Blue Book rated at 24K but they came back only offering 17K. I was pretty annoyed and told the sales guy that he had made my decision easy and walked away. The next day they called and asked me to bring my Pilot in again so the REAL used car manager could look at it. They offered a little over 22K which made my out of pocket around $1900. Considering I knew I would have to get 4 new tires this fall for the Pilot I took the deal, but I almost walked away feeling like I was giving up a lot.

I've now had the C for almost a week. There are a number of things I miss about my Pilot.
1. Sitting up high and seeing around traffic easily.
2. The ability to put a lot of stuff in the back. Bikes, lawn mowers.
3. Leather seats. Because I like to go trail running, and mud a dirt comes of leather much easier then cloth. (I'll have to invest in seat covers).
4. Although I didn't think the Pilots information / Navigation display was all that great, it had better resolution, and I never had any problem reading it in the daylight.
5. The Stereo sounded much better.
6. Heated seats.
7. Electric seats. The Prius C seats are actually pretty comfortable, but I miss the fully adjustment parameters.
8. Backup Camera
9. Proximity sensors - Honestly the Prius C is so small I don't really need them.

Do I hate the Prius C?
No way! Not when I am averaging over 54 mpg for my commute, and regularly see 57-61 on some shorter trips around town. I even had a 5.9 mile 70.1 mpg trip this weekend.
Easily saving over $100 per month on gas can take the edge off of quite a bit.

Oh, and boy is it nice to be able to turn tight corners and park in places the Pilot wouldn't fit. I should be able to move things around in the second garage port to fit the C in. Couldn't do that with the Pilot.

Do I love it? No, but after owning a Cobra and the Pilot it's hard to get excited about driving a little car with no get up and go and not too much heavy utility. But that is what I want my commuter car to be. Super economical and a tad bit fun to drive. And watch the money saved after every trip is making me really like it. If gas goes back up to over $4.00 here in the midwest I could see loving it.

A friend of mine recently bought a Lexus CT 200h. It is very very similar to the Prius C. Slightly larger engine and small, but the interior is much nicer. My C is paid for, he is making payments, and I get better mpg. After riding in mine he said maybe he should have forgone the "Luxury" and gotten a "C" with better mpg and a nicer Tech system. Although his stereo sounded very nice.

In early July my wife and I plan on driving it from Kansas City, to Chicago to watch my son play in a basketball tournament. I'm eager to see how we feel about it after that longer trip. The money we save on that trip alone will pay for one night at the hotel.