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2012 Toyota Prius c Long-Term Road Test
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2012 Toyota Prius c Long-Term Road Test
Apparently great MPG trumps squishy handling.
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That being said, hopefully Toyota can squeeze every penny and offer more refinement and a better interior for similar price on the next gen Prius C.
I went home for the holidays and drove my dad's Leaf around. The Leaf was actually fun! Instant throttle respone and heaps of low-end for pulling away from low speeds. I actually did a timed comparison between the Leaf and my G35 sedan (manual, 298hp engine), and the Leaf was actually faster 5-30mph. The handling also has a nice balance of firmness/roll resistance and ability to soak up bumps. It probably helps the heavy batteries are placed as low as they can go. The Leaf was fun, the Prius was far from it.
I traded in the G35 for a Lexus CT200h. Sure, it takes a bit of a mileage hit compared to the Prius, but it's a far superior handling vehicle. Steering feel is still sorely lacking, but at least the steering has some weight to it. The 215 wide tires, while hurting mpg, greatly improve road holding. I'm getting 44mpg (hand calculated, the onboard computer reads 5% high) and still have fun in the corners.
As for driving a really slow car, I was in Europe and I was in a Mazda 2 with four full-size adults. I did manage to pass one car up in the mountains with that poor 72hp diesel screaming. Talk about an exercise in setting up a pass; it took about 10 tries of setting it up by getting creating a gap and getting running start on the car in front of me heading into the corner. At corner exit, I had to peek to see if there was enough straight to make the pass.