well, its sunday and i just got back from putting 200 miles on charlotte, my new black sand pearl c. i drove to the pretty little town in the foothills of mt eagle 100 miles from nashville. i drove the rural roads on the way and took i24 interstate back. here go my long winded observations: seat adjustment critical for long trip. the backs are great but the seat cushion can be a little trying. i even switched wallet pockets! i have said that these are about the best side mirrors ive encountered. but... i still have a very small blind spot no matter how i adjust the drivers side. so, i will, afterall add a 2dollar convex to the outside as i have done on all my vehicles for years. okay, on the way up i drove no more than 55mph. im getting used to the stiff ride and slight relay of road noise and usurfaces thru the steering wheel. this car is rock solid! no twitching jouncing or any of that stuff. in fact, if it had more power it could approach sporty status. as i started going up the extremely twisty mountain road (as low as 15mph speed limit) i was impressed on how much better it cornered than all my prvious prii. the little engine howled, bitched and moaned but did not lose speed. on the way back down the hills it was regenerative braking all the way. when i finally got to little cowan i had averaged just over 51 mpg. i stopped in the town square to take a couple of pics which i hope im able to upload. on the way back i took i 24 at 70 mph. again, no wandering. no vile things. quite mannerly, although road noise is noticable. also, for the first time i could hear some outside wind noise. not bothersome and no leaks. the srtrange thing is that i got better mileage on the way back! almost 54 (53.9mpg) summation: a great little car!!. liking it better every day. next challenge is to get my bicycle to fit inside did i miss anything. if so, let me know because im darn near an expert now fred from nashville
Thanks Fred for your review. Its nice to see that highway mpg is better than the EPA of 46 mpg. The only concern I have is if the MPG gauge is accurate. Ours is off about 3.5 mpg over reading in our 2010 Prius.
Best of luck from Europe. This is a really nice car. You mentioned the engine howled, bitched and moaned. How does this in general compare to other Prii? And nice surroundings! Are those in the background the foothills of the Apalachans? Jan
to answer couple of questions. i think it sounds like its struggling more than actually having a tough time. also, for the other question from europe. i found that all my prii sound like they are choking on a frog going up hills. it think that they just sound that way. i have yet to have one not make it at the appropriate asked for speed. fred from nashville
ooops i missed one. these are on the hills/mountains on the way to chatanooga. not sure if they are part of the applacians . maybe a cousin
ooooops! forgot to give impressions of radio. not so positive. not much ooomph. not much bass . kind of tinny treble. very complicated in that you have almost TOO many choices. on the positive. really nice stereo separation. feeling of being in the sound.
I don't own a Prius yet, although I'm very tempted to replace my 1996 BMW 318ti hatchback with a C later this year (I would keep the BMW, which with its 1.9 liter four cylinder engine averages 34mpg on long trips, but at 15 years old the maintenance is getting a bit much). At the beginning of 2011 I rented a Prius Liftback for a one-week stay in the San Francisco area, and drove it pretty much the same way as my little BMW. I took it on a day trip from Sunnyvale over the mountains to Santa Cruz, and as others have said the engine howled a bit going uphill, but the car was responsive and felt like it still had plenty of power. I filled up before I took the car back, and assuming that Alamo gave me the car with a full tank, I averaged over 50mpg for the week I had it. The main thing I didn't like about the liftback was the rear visibility, and I also don't need a car quite this big. The C looks like it should be just the right size for me, based on these numbers comparing the 318ti with the C: BMW first, then Prius C: Length: 165.7 in. / 157.3 in. Height: 54.8 in. / 56.9 in. Width: 66.9 in. / 66.7 in. Weight: 2,745 lbs / 2,500 lbs I'm looking forward to test driving the C if the Toyota dealers here on Long Island (NY) ever get them in and show some enthusiasm for the new model. Bill
Thanks for the review! http://priuschat.com/forums/freds-h...elevation-profile-route-between-2-points.html might be of interest to you.
answer to ftl. this wont be anything like your bmw but compared to other prii this is a killer handler. and to cwerdna thanks for the info. you are right. it is amazing to me how just being an enthusiast about one thing can lead to many many things to be learned. from physics to sociology fred from nashville
Great trip and car review, Fred. Good to see you're liking that c! I just drove one yesterday for the first time, same color, too for a short distance, and I agree that it's a very nice handling, solid car that happens to be small. Every time I read someones review I get closer to ordering one. I want to drive one again later this week on the Interstate when our dealership's gets more cs in. They sell out of cs pretty fast. Your MPG figures may have something to do with elevation change during your trip. Nashville's around 600 feet and Mounteagle is up around 1,920 feet elevation. So it was uphill overall going there and downhill overall coming back to Nashville. That would explain the higher MPG at higher speed on I24. Re: ftl... That c is going to be really different than the 3 series!
The 318ti was an odd car for BMW - a reasonably priced hatchback, sold in the USA only between 1985 and 1989. For a 3 series it had a small engine and almost no prestige (ugh, a hatchback!); the US BMW dealers hated it and soon killed it off. I did enjoy driving the Prius liftback last year, and from the reviews of the c here I'm hoping it will have some of the same fun factor as the 318ti, even if not quite the same power (the 0-60 on the five-speed manual BMW was a decent although not outstanding 9 seconds). Bill
