The Toyota Prius c made its North American debut today at NAIAS, boasting a 53 mpg city rating, said to be the highest of any vehicle that isn’t a plug-in hybrid. The Prius c will also supposedly return 46 mpg on the highway, for a combined 50 mpg.
The Prius c is also tiny. At 157 inches long it’s two inches longer than an original Miata, and weighs 2,500 lbs. That’s 542 pounds less than a regular Prius and 19 inches shorter. Power is meager at 99 horsepower and 82 lb-ft of torque. EV mode will only work at speeds of under 25 mph and for distances of under 1 mile.
All the usual in-car electronics like music streaming via Bluetooth, Toyota’s Entune infotainment system, an iPod jack and a 6.1 inch touch screen come standard. Anyone buying this car is far more interested in these sorts of things as opposed to performance. Even though it’s likely to be sleep medication on 4-wheels, the Prius nameplate alone will help it sell to the kind of folks parodied by Stuff White People Like when it goes on sale in spring of 2012.
Photos courtesy of Julie Hyde
Doesn’t the regular-size Prius also hit 50 combined mpg, with a few hundred more pounds and more power? Seems odd that this smaller car can’t do better.
EDIT: Regular prius, 51/48 (50 combined). This car: 53/46 (50 combined). Essentially identical.
Well…physics kinda limits things since the motors basically have to burn a certain amount of gas just to keep themselves running and on the highway aerodynamics matters more than curb weight and the regular Prius pretty much has the most aerodynamic shape possible so it’s not surprising that a regularly shaped hatch does worse.
I think the real selling point here is mostly that you can have your fuel economy at a cheaper price point so it’s really a budget car. Since it comes somewhat decently equipped it’ll compete fairly well with higher trims of something like a Honda Fit.
“Regular prius, 51/48 (50 combined). This car: 53/46 (50 combined). Essentially identical.”
Except that the Prius c doesn’t come with a quarter-ton of dead weight priced around $10/pound.
It tells you how close the standard Prius is to technical perfection.. you have to substantially increase the battery size to go any further than this.. not even diesel will help much.
I think this will sell well in Europe, where the Prius is considered a bit too large for most people.
Hybrids apparently don’t sell well in Europe; the Euros think Diesels are a better deal. They’re encouraged to think this by relatively lower tax on Diesel fuel and few restrictions on exhaust emissions.
Or you could buy the much bigger 2013 Fusion hybrid and get EPA numbers of 47 city and 44 highway mpg which is a combined figure of c.45mpg – within 10% of this car. Price might help otherwise why buy a much smaller car (two class sizes lower) for comparable fuel economy? Maybe even a game changer!!
Because in the real world, the Fusion won’t return those numbers. It is pretty simple to sandbag the EPA test, like they did with the last Fusion hybrid, when you run the electric motor to a higher vehicle speed to run off the battery just a little bit longer. With the EPA tests being 11 miles at the longest, it is pretty easy to deliver a car with a full battery and get a good number. When you actually have to somehow recharge that battery via braking and the engine, the piper must be paid and that is what happens in the real world. The EPA tests neglects that. For example, here is MT’s test of the previous gen Fusion and Camry hybrids. There was a big difference in mpg rating but the real world was nearly the same between the two with the Camry besting the Fusion in 2 of 3 of the mpg tests.
Year Model – EPA City – EPA Hwy – freq stop – occ stop – 70mph hwy
’10 Fusion Hybrid – 41 – 36 – 24.9 – 34.4 – 33.1
’09 Camry Hybrid – 33 – 34 – 26.5 – 34.0 – 34.4
http://www.motortrend.com/roadtests/alternative/112_0901_2010_ford_fusion_hybrid_2009_toyota_camry_hybrid/viewall.html
And finally, physics do matter. The 2500lbs, 99hp car is going to get better gas mileage in most real world situations other than when you’re really pushing the car. And yes, the fuel cost difference is pretty small. That is pretty true for any vehicles returning over 35mpg. This Prius c can be had for under $19k, though. I don’t think you’ll get a Fusion hybrid for less than $25k. That delta buys a lot of fuel.
I completely agree that physics do matter. If Ford is “optimizing” the EPA figures like Hyundai have been accused of then they will get caught out in real world testing like Edmunds does. Toyota is much more conservative and realistic in their figures in seems and that is to be commended.
I just posted about the Fusion because, if those figures are anywhere near correct then it is a big step forward and renders several of these niche figures redundant.
Screw the over priced, politically correct hybrids for fuel mileage. My Saab 9-5 with turbo 2.3l is pushing 40 mpg on my 80% highway commute. And it has 3x the horsepower of the smallest econobox.
I think you’re kind of missing the point of a subcompact city car. It’s meant for people who want a car in this size class who also happen to want good city fuel economy. And it starts a good $7000 cheaper than the Fusion Hybrid, which buys about a decade’s worth of gasoline for this thing so I’m not really sure why you’d ever cross shop the two.
Most people buy a sub-compact because they cannot afford more but want a new car. There will be some who want or need a small car but the typical buyer wants to get as much metal for their money. Not saying this is good or bad, just want seems to be a reality. Most subcompacts can be had for less than the purported $19K and offer 35mpg combined so that delta also covers a lot of fuel.
My point wasn`t that you would cross shop a Prius C with a Fusion (or Camry hybrid) because they are completely different sizes. The point was the claimed EPA figures were comparable, which from Ford’s perspective is good.
Prius C pricing will start under $19,000 (according to the press release.) The 2012 Fusion Hybrid starts at $28,700, and it’s unlikely the 2013 will be cheaper. That’s a $9700 difference, before adding any options.
I think your assumption of the Fusion hybrid being around $29K is wrong since that is the current model which is the top spec. Ford are following Toyota’s lead of offering their hybrid powertrain with lower specs rather than reserving them solely for the top spec. So in the Fusion’s case I read that the SE would also get the hybrid, not just Titanium level. This means a price of $25-26 may be possible – we will find out in time.
As for adding options I would assume the Prius C has less spec than the Fusion (I would hope so for the price). Running it through Truedelta in the months to come will help determine who is right.
This car might be 3 or $4,000 cheaper than a regular Prius or a Fusion hybrid. Combined with excellent fuel economy, this could be a compelling package for people who want an economical new car.
Or for people who live in a metropolis who only, on rare occasions, travel long distances on the open road.
The denizens of inner cities rarely exceed 25mph in stop and go traffic, but should they venture out, this hybrid will prevent the range-anxiety that comes with a pure EV, like the Leaf.
Ideally, Toyota should have added a 110v plug-in module to charge and maintain the battery at full capacity. That would have added about $1000 and 125 pounds to the Prius c.
One of my brothers resides in downtown Manhattan and he uses a Nissan Leaf to get around in the city. So far it has worked well. No problems. Although public-utility charging stations are few and far between and often in use.
But if he or his wife ever need to venture farther than the comfortable 20-mile radius of the Leaf, they take their Lexus LS460, which is a little too large to navigate in the dense traffic of Manhattan.
I think this c(heaper) Prius will do well in its intended niche market.
EV mode kicks in at under 25 mph for less than a mile? I wish manufacturers couldn’t do this crap just so they can advertise a couple more MPG in the city. I’d bet most drivers of this car will barely ever be in EV mode and get significantly lower MPG than advertised.
Running in EV mode should have zero impact to the overall mpg of the Prius c. It isn’t a plug-in. The battery on the c is charged by the engine and regen braking. Getting that energy requires gasoline. I don’t see a good reason to use the EV mode, but it is there if you want to drive the car down a long driveway without kicking the engine on.
It’s actually not useless in real life for people who regularly get stuck in crappy city traffic jams. Anybody who’s ever dealt with large city traffic has sat for probably an hour in crawlingly horrible traffic, and this is where this will actually save you a lot of gas by not having to idle the engine while you crawl along at 10mph. Obviously it’s totally useless if you live in the countryside or surburbia but that’s just it…this thing’s strong suit is the city where regular cars have worse mileage but this thing actually delivers better mileage.
Toyota may have some problem selling this one. Where the regular Prius is unique and doesn’t compare very well with anything else in the Toyota line-up, this seems a lot like a hybrid Yaris 5-door.
Unless gas prices skyrocket, I can’t see many people willing to pay for a hybrid Yaris where the better fuel mileage doesn’t come close to offsetting what will likely be a ‘big’ premium over the non-hybrid version.
When the first Prius came out, it was an environmental statement to buy one. It meant you cared about the environment more than you cared about money. But fast forward 16 years, with higher gas prices and many other great choices hitting 40 MPG highway, the competition is much more crowded. Personally, I don’t see this as a compelling product in the same way the original Prius is, but I think there’ll still be buyers who want the Prius eco-image and the maximum MPG crown. More of my opinions at http://rockyroadblog.com/2012/01/2012-toyota-prius-c-affordable-green-machine/
Why launch the car in almost the same “sky blue” color as the Leaf? Did they do that on purpose? This looks Honda Fit sized. So Toyota now has 3 Prius models available in 20% size increments.
Naah, it’s the signature color for the Aqua (JDM Prius c). Plus, there was an almost identical color on the original gen1 Prius, which was about the size of this one.
I like this. I’ve been waiting for a smaller hybrid; I was considering the iQ as well, but this works, too, and isn’t much more.
There is *some* hope that this will be OK for taller drivers – note the lack of the “signature” Prius super-swoop center console… But it still needs 41 inches of “real” legroom (like CR measures; from the back of the driver’s seat in the full-rearward position to the gas pedal, not the floorboards).
I’ve been waiting for this to come out and it may be our next new car.
I was hoping for a 2-seater like my 2000 Insight as I don’t need the extra seating but if the seats fold down nicely this will probably give me a bit more cargo room that Insight.
I was hoping for a bit better mileage but honestly would have waited to see what actual buyers get before basing any sort of decision on advertised mileage.
Right now I average in the mid-60’s in my Insight, the winter kills me as it keeps me right around 60 while in the warmer months I’m in the 70’s.
I can’t imagine that performance would be worse than I’m used to; at 1900lb and 66hp the Insight is not a rocket ship but is perfectly adequate for any circumstance I’ve come across.
We’ve been holding off buying a car until this one came out, but it doesn’t quite do what we need. We have a Ford Freestyle for family hauling duty but need a short, highly efficient 5 seater for primary use. Short, for easy parking. Small, for maneuverability in narrow old streets. Efficient, because I’m an engineer who would prefer to spend $ on engineering than oil. For our suburban use, an electric range of 5 miles and plug in rechargeability would have enabled us to drive over 75% on electric. This vehicle doesn’t quite meet our needs, but there isn’t anything closer on the market now or in the future.
Oh, and we are cheap.
So it’s about the same size as the original Pruis but gets better fuel economy. Cool I guess.
I am somewhat disappointed by the lack of fuel economy bump up from the regular Prius. While I understand that squeezing more from hybrids is a game of diminishing returns, I can’t help but wonder if the same car with a tiny diesel would get similar fuel economy and be substantially cheaper to manufacture and cost less to the consumer. Or for that matter a diesel hybrid. If we’re going tiny, why not explore alternative engine types to squeeze even MORE mpgs?
Regardless, I dread the thought of hustling this toy up a highway onramp to merge with F250’s going 80.
“Regardless, I dread the thought of hustling this toy up a highway on ramp to merge with F250′s going 80.”
For much of the 1990’s, I drove a small, 1983 Honda Civic hatch all over, highways and over hill and dale, including 2 trips to Medford Oregon via I-5 from Tacoma Washington and had no issues with it. It did 70MPH just fine and would maintain that speed all day long If I let it and it’d still return me AT LEAST 35MPG while doing so (1500cc CVCC that did all of 67HP, mated to a 5spd manual).
Today, I drive an extended cab Ranger and am working on moving back to something similar in size to that old Civic or slightly larger, but no larger than a B segment vehicle though as I live in the city and it’d be my only car.
re: diesel- highway mileage would be similar, city mileage would be significantly worse. Diesel hybrids seem to be mostly an either/or proposition. IIRC the diesel doesn’t take well to the start-stop cycling that hybrids engage in.
re: merging- It seems that most Americans have been trained by generations of raucous, low-revving domestic engines to be afraid of flooring the gas pedal, and terrified of allowing an engine to get above 4,000 rpm for any length of time. Absent those fears, even a smart car can handle most onramps just fine.
Last night, I tried to pull out of a restaurant on a bend of a road with a 35 MPH speed limit, when a gasoline tanker truck barreled around the corner doing 50+. It was all I could do to get my manual-tranny Elantra into reverse gear to prevent getting the front of my car ripped off, as he didn’t even swing out to give me any room. Much scarier than an on-ramp scenario, and I shudder to think if I had (thinking that my car had the acceleration) pulled out – I would have gotten rear-ended very hard (no snickering there). I guess what I mean is that with the Prius, I would have known that I had a slow car, and not pulled out until I had a long look at that bend (which is partially hidden by parked cars).
I have a first-gen xB with a paltry 105 hp, so I’ve been hearing about the OnRamp Problem since 2005. With 80K on that car, I think for every onramp experience I’ve wished for a bit more power, there are 20 times I’ve been crawling up the tailpipe of a housewife’s Tahoe doing 45 MPH because she’s too busy on her phone call to pay attention to the merge we have to execute in 3 seconds.
Trust me: if you have enough brain activity to aim for gaps in traffic, you’ll be fine.
That doesn’t sounds safe at all.