For the price of a Prius...

[nookandcrannycar]

Originally Posted by why?

Sort of what I meant. I do agree there is nothing wrong with it. It does seem though some have a preoccupation with the Yaris.



I disagree. The Malibu was a totally ugly and indistinguishable car. The Prius is unique and easy to pick out in a crowd. And the Prius is not aimed at people who like to drive, it is aimed at people who want to get good gas mileage, and unfortunately has been adopted by the eco crowd.


Probably true. Most people I've talked to buy it for the political statement, or for the unfortunate and incorrect hatred of the oil companies.

Ok, give me a minute to get over the shock of that. Oh wait, you live in Texas. I so need to move there. Seems like a really good place to be.

I'm not sure where you are coming from. I do think people think their choice is the correct one for them, but I do not think it has anything to do with what one could afford.

The Prius is sort of the punching bag for Yaris owners, and it has been so from the beginning. And the math easily shows why. If you go on the math alone, the Yaris is a much better value.

Yet the math does not tell the entire story. The Yaris is extremely spartan, and while that works for some, it does not work for a lot of others. For many people a car without the usual luxuries is not a car they will ever own. I can understand that perspective. There is something to be said for buying a car from the factory with everything you could want. Heated seats, nav, leather interior, full moon roof, etc. Some people want a car to have it all. You can't get that type of stuff in a Yaris.

It seems some people on yw don't like that perspective, which of course, is their choice.




So true, with the exception that getting 40mpg is becoming cool to many people. And a drive in a Yaris and most people realize it is fun to drive, and nothing like what the auto journalists seem to think it is.

Personally I'd go with a Highlander Hybrid, because even the Prius V seems a tad on the small side. Of course I have no reason for either vehicle right now.



well said. Although Honda's system is sort of the exact opposite of Toyota's.

--RE 1st Quote of Billiam and your reply: I don't really get where Billiam is coming from on this as why would 'feeling better about what they bought' enter into the consciousness or thought process of anyone posting to an auto forum, even as a byproduct of some other action. Your (Why?) short reply was insightful and made me laugh. I probably have a preoccupation with what I THINK AND FEEL THE YARIS STANDS FOR...which is mutually exclusive from the however more widely held view that Billiam expressed. --RE 1st Quote of me and your reply: I think the 2nd generation Prius is unique and easy to pick out in a crowd on the outside and is attractive, but as I am seeing mostly the interior when I am sitting in one, I have the feeling I stated and you quoted. The 1st generation Prius was monumentally ugly on the outside and the inside as well as sterile and looked as though a US Government bureaucrat designed it even though it is a Japanese car. The 2nd generation Prius lost the ugly exterior and on the interior lost the ugliness and the 'US Government bureaucratness' but it still feels sterile to me. The interior of the current S Class Mercedes Sedan also feels this way to me, whereas in contrast I think the interior of the current 5 Series BMW Sedan is fantastic. I think the Prius is aimed at people who want to get good gas mileage AND be coddled while they are getting good gas mileage (and I think the coddling is at least as important to them as the gas mileage) If they only cared about gas mileage (and the effects of high gas mileage) they could restore an original Honda Insight (it gets better gas mileage) or restore a Rabbit after converting it to run on cooking grease. While reading this part of your reply I was reminded of a thought I had a few months ago. I was at the St. John Town Center in Jacksonville Florida in April of this year and saw a Prius C that a dealer had arranged to leave on the plaza, away from any cars. I looked the car over and soon realized how loaded with options it was and wondered how the level of equipment would compare to a Prius Liftback Four or a Prius Liftback Five. I checked this out quickly today as best I could today by using the previous sentence re a search and one of the hits was an article I think some might find interesting.....'2012 Toyota Prius c Review - The Affordable 60 MPG Monster' at http://priuschat.com/threads/2012-to...the-affordable and I compared the equipment by level on the Prius C to the equipment by level on the Prius Liftback. I compared the base Prius C Four to the base Prius Liftback Four. The differences seem as follows: 1. The Liftback Four has an 8-way power driver seat with lumbar vs the C Four's 6-way manual driver seat with no lumbar, 2. The Liftback Four has the JBL Green Edge Speakers with amplifier and the C Four doesn't (the reviewer states though that he thinks the sound is better without these speakers)., 3. The Liftback Four as an auto dimming rear view mirror with a Homelink universal transceiver (for the garage door opener) and the C Four doesn't, 4. The Liftback Four has halogen headlights with Auto on/off and the C Four doesn't, and, on the other hand, 5. The C Four has Integrated Fog Lamps and the Liftback Four doesn't.......however, the base Liftback Four costs $5,005.00 dollars more than the base C Four....To me this largely brings the point back to a point I later made that you later quoted about how many people normally ride in a Prius Liftback and that a Liftback is only really needed if the passengers can't be comfortable re their number or size in a Yaris......Also, I look at the C as really a Yaris. In Japan it is called the Toyota Aqua, but in some other countries it is called the Yaris Hybrid. --RE 2nd Quote of me and your reply: The two reasons you stated are also the top two motivations I hear re buying a Prius Liftback. --RE 3rd Quote of me and your reply: Now, Now, be nice. There are some places in Texas that are 'a few centuries back', but those are much fewer and farther between than most people think. I like where I live. I love trees and have many trees around me. If one attempts to start toward Ron Paul's district via Hwy 288 part of that trip looks like a trip to the moon in my view. I have to have greenery around me. The general population fairly near me is predominantly non native (58 percent of the people are from other states and international locales).... and even though Montgomery County is (according to The Daily Caller) the 3rd most conservative county in the U.S., the people in my general area are intelligent and not 'lockstep' on everything. I haven't been here an inordinantly long time. I started looking in 2007 and moved here in 2008. I'm a 5th generation SF Bay Area native who has also lived in other parts of California, but I moved here from Marin County ('Prius and BMW land' LOL, and the 3rd most liberal county in the U.S). I have actually found people here around my new area here in Texas to be incredibly nice and down to earth and much happier with diversity than many people in the SF Bay Area even though many Bay Area people pride themselves on fostering diversity. --RE 4th Quote of me and your reply: I was originally coming from thinking that you and Billiam were both coming from thinking that the owners you were speaking about have the particular views they do because they can't afford a more expensive car than the Yaris and have collective chips on their shoulders re that. I was wrong, after rereading both of your posts I realized that neither of you was trying to say that. Except for the part about needing to save up (I don't), my view is pretty similar to that of Tooter (although if people started to get original Insight like numbers out of the Prius C (see article from PriusChat I mentioned),AND sufficient TRD options + a 6-speed manual were available (6 speed manual never will be), I might consider a Prius C when my Yaris dies. --Re 2nd Quote of Billiam and your reply: I completely agree with your first paragraph and would add that for some reason Consumer Reports seems to have a particular brand of disdain reserved for the Yaris.....and re a personal choice of a somewhat related type of vehicle, I'd go with the 6-Speed Manual 5-Door Subaru Impreza Hatchback. One of my relatives has one and she loves it. --Re 1st Quote of teddy and your reply: I haven't sat in, nor have I driven a Prius C, but I did like the body when I saw one displayed on that plaza in Florida.