Gojirra99

Prius may be weird to some, but study shows those who actually spend their money to buy these hybrids instead of just talking about them mostly want their hybrid to look more distinguishable instead of looking just like a plain jane regular car, weird or not . . .

bitkahuna

iTrader: (20)

Yes, they want to show their contempt for those that don't drive hybrids.

xioix

The passenger volume of the Prius puts it in a mid-size class

And I would go for the Prius, the dash lay-out is different but nothing to hard to get used to in a few minutes. And styling is a tie since I think they are both ugly and the Civic looks to have the same design shape as the Prius. But if she does want the nav for 24k I guess the Civic will be the car to get

CVsIS250

Toyota = Prius = = biased opinion

CV

BiGLeX 400

Prius = Better

Civic = Better Looking

I drove the Prius when it first came out and was impressed with how advanced the car was. It was like something from the future the first time I drove it. I still can't get past the looks of it but I was definitely intrigued the first time I drove it.

Performance is lacking however and we decided we would wait until a new generation of hybrids hit the market. I need more power but I still want to get 50mpg+.

We later decided on the Corolla because it looked better, offered better performance, decent mpg, and was a steal with a family discount. I would recommend a Corolla as a good hybrid alternative.

doug_999

Looks like she is going with the Prius. Went to the Honda dealer and apparently they had no Civic Hybrids in stock (even though the website showed 8 of them). New sales lady who knew nothing - they were a bit rude as well.

Down the street to another Toyota dealer where she runs into the guy she bought cars from 15 years ago. He is obtaining the Red Prius she wants (supposedly).

She asked if she was doing the "smart thing". I told her the smart thing is a 4cyl Camry/Accord - but she would be one of the 600,000 people who bought one of those two cars this year and I know that is not her type. So we shall see how she likes this thing!

spwolf

Honda dealers can be rude (well all of them can)... I remember when I was poor student, we were looking for used car, went to Honda dealer, saw an new S2000, went there to look at it, salesman just went by and told us dont even look at it, they are all sold out... too bad 2 years later on they couldnt get rid of them ... he also showed us an ford in "perfect condition", which had flat battery and 2 blown tires. Finally, run us out of the lot when we laughed in his face :-).

Nextourer

Well, I can give you some reasons to go with the Prius. It will be biased since I own one but I"ll try to be as neutral as I can since your aunt, or rather you are looking for opinions and not an owner's report.

Prius:
- sheetmetal - yes, it's thinner than most cars (you can "dent" the car in a lot of places such as the rear quarter panels and the roof) but the reason why it can be this thin is that it's using Ultra-High strength steel vs the "conventional" high tensile steel that's used in most cars today. Result? less material, less weight but similar strength and crash safety

- battery - more powerful than the Civic and allows for up to 2 miles in EV mode.

- same exterior dimensions but bigger interior - clever packaging allows Camry size interior with Corolla sized exterior (it's actually 3 inches SHORTER than the Corolla). Rear seats fold flat and so do both front seats (which allows you to carry surf boards and other long items).

- more equipment - SKS, bluetooth, nav, VSC, leather, backup camera, of which only one is available on the HCH.

- greater potential for increased fuel economy - drive it normally and it gets great mileage. Learn to drive efficiently and you can unlock its full potential. Case: Drivers in my area (at least those I've stopped and talked to) get about 5-5.5L/100km (42-47mpg). Me and a few other fellow Prius drivers can get as low as 4.2L/100km (56mpg).

- safety: standard 6 airbags (for 2007), LED brake lights, TRAC and Brake Assist. Optional VSC, HIDs and (useless) foglights. Engine immobiliser is standard, alarm is optional and the GBS is an accessory.

- flat underbody for improved aerodynamics - front wheel spats, front and rear underbody cover, rear skirt and a curved roof surface contribute to low 0.26 Cd

- tons of storage space - two gloveboxes, large centre console box, in-dash compartment, hidden drawer, seatback pockets, front door pockets with bottle holder, underfloor and side cargo bins/compartment

Cons:
- no height adjustable driver's seat
- poor foglights
- cheap OEM tyres (ask for an exchange for better tyres like HydroEdge or ComforTreds)
- slab side makes it jittery in strong crosswinds (BT brace solves that)
- no telescoping steering wheel

HCH:
- less complex system so lower price - IMA is waay less complicated than the HSD system and yet still manages reasonable mpg gains.
- more traditional sedan shape - some people prefer a sedan with a boot (trunk)
- flat rear floor - as small a detail as this may be, it makes quite a bit of difference back there
- wider tyres (195 vs 185 on Prius)
- telescoping steering wheel
- easier to achieve posted mileage

Cons:
- no folding rear seat
- slower acceleration despite equal hp and more torque and a lighter weight (~12 secs vs 10.5 secs)


Both:
- pseudo heads-up for instrumental panel which allows for easy reading of vital information
- AT-PZEV rated - SULEV + zero evaporative emissions
- lightweight alloys

doug_999

Update
Her "old" Toyota dealer was not honest with her. Apparently EVERYONE wants the red Prius with options -and telling her that he could get one in a week using his silver base one was a lie.

She found another dealer that had a red one with decent options (not all she wanted but more than base) and picked it up. Then she promptly left for Greece for the summer. I'm curious to hear about the car, once she gets back and starts driving it.

spwolf

heh, hopefully she isnt long in greece or someone is driving the car... smart entry needs to be turned off if you are going to be away for more than an month...

mmarshall

That's ( finally ) starting to change. Honda dealers, especially in the 1980's, were once notoriously arrogant. But their competition is much greater now, particularly from Toyota and Hyundai, and they can no longer sell cars by treating people like cattle.
When I reviewed the Honda Fit a couple of weeks ago, the sales rep I saw there was SUPER-nice. If they were all like that the sales buisness would be far better off. I took a bunch of his cards......If anyone I know wants this car ( or ANY Honda product ) you can bet the monthly rent I'm going to refer people to him.

jrock65

I voted for the Civic Hybrid. Despite what the EPA ratings say, real world mpg is about the same (47 mpg for the Civic and 48 mpg for the Prius, according to greenhybrid.com).

Actually, I don't care for either car. If I had to, I would choose the Civic simply because I just can't stand the center-mounted instrument panel on the Prius.

Nextourer

???

The current Prius has the unit in front of the driver, you're talking about the old Prius which had a centre cluster but even then it was at the base of the windshield, not upfront like the Echo/Yaris

doug_999

Really? or the battery goes dead? Do they show that in the manual or something or do you need to have someone do it (she can put gas in the car but that is about it).

Let me know
Thanks!

jrock65

???

The current Prius has everything oriented toward the center. There is that strip at the base of the windshield, but in front of the driver, it's pretty much just dash plastic. I hate that look.

http://www.toyota.com/prius/interior.html