Why compare a Prius to a Corolla?

The head of engineering at Toyota, Torrance spoke at our club meeting some time back and referred to prius as a stretch vehicle. The implication being that it was somewhere between the impractical concept cars taken to car shows and the typical production car that gets chopped by accountants and marketers after leaving engineering. He also indicated, it was on a typical 3 year design cycle and Toyota was committed to at least one more major revision presumably in 2007.

 

I think many compare the Corolla because they feel that it deflects the "why'd you buy a Hummer if it's just your daily commuter for 99% of the time". You'll get the "I need to tow a trailer (although the number of SUV's actually pulling a trailer can be counted on one hand in my area)...I need to carry 5 people and their stuff (but even with this tremendous cargo and people capacity, I still see SUV's with cargo carriers on the roof)....I need it for winter driving - even though the lowliest econobox still makes it thru the snow covered streets in my area, and last but not least - I like the safety they afford me. Then they link to a video showing an SUV ramming into a Hyundai.

I usually counter with "The corrola isn't a PZEV" line, and point out that with the large number of SUV's on the road, the odds are better that a Hummer will meet a Denali - let's run the video on that and compare safety stats - shall we?

 

I determined a full 2 years ago that my next car would be the G2 Prius, months before it was in production.

I want a good, reasonably economical commuter vehicle that was the opposite end of the spectrum from a 4X4 pickup truck that I will be keeping. That said, I'm not a small guy and that alone would keep me out of a Corolla or Civic sized vehicle, and that would have also excluded the G1 Prius. It also has to have comfortable seating for 4 adults, again, something my truck cannot provide.

So I would have been looking at the Camry myself. Load up a Camry, which I certainly would have done, and you're paying more MSRP than a Prius...and then there's those lovely tax incentives for the Prius, especially in Connecticut where the 6% sales tax is waived. On a Package #6 BC with an MSRP of $26,580, that's a $1,595 break.

The Camry would have really been "more" car than I was really looking for and the Prius fits what I'm looking for size-wise perfectly.

Anyway, let them draw all the comparisons they want. Regarding comparison with a Corolla...the Prius is significantly larger, has more power, it doesn't use as much gas, doesn't emit as much pollutants, and the Prius is a cool, cutting-edge, attention-getting car. The Corolla is just another boring little econo-box, with, granted, an excellent service record.

 

I have a Corolla and a Prius. The Corolla is the most expensive one made. We drive the Prius whenever we can. There simply IS no comparison.

 

My wife and I tried the Corolla and the Prius. We bought the Prius. As mentioned, the Prius is really more comparable to the Camry in size and comfort. I did, however, keep my 1995 Tercel. It has 140,000 miles and nothing has every gone wrong with it (except for a fuel injector). My Tercel feels more solid at 10 years old than a new Corolla, let alone an Echo.