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Buying a Prius vs. Civic (not hybrid)

5 messages,  Last post on Sep 02, 2007 at 9:58 AM

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#1 of 5 Buying a Prius vs. Civic (not hybrid) by jarivera Jun 15, 2007 (8:12 am)
I'm buying a car, then driving it cross country (MD to CA), after which it will primarily be used in city traffic in CA. The max I can spend right now is about 22-23,000. I'm attracted to the Prius for environmental reasons and because gas in CA is expensive ($3.75/gallon last week). However, when I test drove one, I noted that it didn't accelerate very well, and the rear view was somewhat obstructed by the bar that goes across the middle of the window.   I have researched the regular (non-hybrid) Civic and it appears that it may have more power and better handling, which I probably would like better (haven't driven one yet). The Civic also is cheaper and has fairly good gas mileage. I would like to keep the car at least 5 years, and so I'm wondering about real world experiences with depreciation and the "true cost to own" either car. They both seem like practical, economical choices. Please weigh in your opinion or experiences and help me decide! Replies to this message: stevedebi (Jun 15, 2007 11:17 am) slowpedaler (Jun 15, 2007 1:55 pm) jarivera (Jun 15, 2007 5:27 pm)
#2 of 5 Re: Buying a Prius vs. Civic (not hybrid) [jarivera] by stevedebi Jun 15, 2007 (11:17 am)
Replying to: jarivera (Jun 15, 2007 8:12 am) "Please weigh in your opinion or experiences and help me decide!"   I also live in LA.   My wife drives a 2002 Civic EX Automatic. We have achieved 35 MPG on the highway, but our normal combined (85% highway, 15% city) MPG at 50,000 miles is around 28 MPG - not exactly stellar. For 22-23K you could buy the Civic Hybrid.   If you want MPG, I suggest you go with the manual transmission. Replies to this message: slowpedaler (Jun 15, 2007 1:55 pm)
#3 of 5 Re: Buying a Prius vs. Civic (not hybrid) [stevedebi] by slowpedaler Jun 15, 2007 (1:55 pm)
Replying to: stevedebi (Jun 15, 2007 11:17 am) I have a Prius and a manual trans '06 Civic EX Coupe. I average 30-32 MPG in the Honda, 45-49 in the hybrid. The Prius is a pretty lousy highway car so your first drive getting it to LA would be interesting, but it's a great city car. Visibility out of the car is better. You sit low in the Civic and the huge A-pillar is right where you need to look in a left turn. The Prius sits up more like a small SUV. I quickly got used to the bar through the hatch. You really don't need the lower glass. Just look through the upper part. You can even set the rearview mirror up so you only see the upper. With that, all your mirrors and the back-up camera, there's plenty of visibility. Significantly more than the Coupe when backing up. The Civic Sedan may be better, though I've heard otherwise.   I'm happy with the acceleration of the Prius, especially from a stop. Electric motors have a lot of torque. You have to get used to the CVT transmission first, though. Most people think the Prius is slow when they first drive it because the revving sounds they hear don't correspond in a linear fashion to throttle application. A Constantly Variable Transmission is always in the correct rev-band for conditions, so sometimes the car sounds like it's idling while you're doing 65, and sometimes like it's redlining as you crawl down a steep hill. I found this out when I was doing 60 on the freeway and decided to speed up while adjusting the A/C. I looked up and I was doing 80. Surprise! The Civic does have more power, but you may not have much use for it in LA. Traffic there is horrendous and I would much rather be in a car that doesn't suck gas and spit fumes when I'm not moving.   My biggest complaint with the Civic is rattles. I've had the car in several times for them, but I'm clearly never going to solve all of them. There's acres of hard plastic in there.   As you can see, I much prefer my Prius, and I do a lot more highway driving than I think you will. For your application, I think it's perfect.   If you choose the Civic, get the auto. A manual transmission in LA will break your leg!
#4 of 5 Re: Buying a Prius vs. Civic (not hybrid) [jarivera] by jarivera Jun 15, 2007 (5:27 pm)
Replying to: jarivera (Jun 15, 2007 8:12 am) I should have also said that after some research, of the hybrids I would prefer a prius over a civic hybrid.
#5 of 5 Also comparing Civic vs Prius by mcaimless Sep 02, 2007 (9:58 am)
I've been armchair shopping online for the best possible deal on the best possible gas mileage car we can afford. I've gotten it down to an 06 Civic LX with 8900 miles and an 06 Prius with 33k miles The Prius asking price (private sale) is about $4000 more than the Civic, which just barely squeaks by for affordability for me (the dealer is asking about $4000 below book value for the Civic). I have seen neither car and I am waiting for my husband to return from an extended trip before we make the 200 mile trip to see them. Based on the EPA ratings and our estimated miles per year usage, it looks like we would save about $1000 a year gas costs for the Prius, giving it a four year payback time. And of course we'd be dumping about 2 fewer tons of CO2 into the air as well which has a very great value in my book too. Of course I still need to test drive both cars to see what I think of the visibility, handling, and other issues mentioned in the forums but given the cost and environmental factors I would be tempted to go with the Prius. I could not justify the cost in buying a new one but the used seems a reasonable deal to me and I'd expect to get many more miles out of it over the life of the car. On another note, did anyone see yesterday's NY Times article about people who are using their Prius' to power their homes during power outages? Cool!

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