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The poor showings of the Prius V on the small overlap frontal crash test - really, an abject structural failure, with the steering column moving over so much that there is effectively no protection from any airbags and a great deal of intrusion into the safety cage- (posted on another thread here) would definitely have me cross that one from my list.
I know, the chances of that particular accident are not great but the chances of any accident are not unheard of and why not get the safer vehicle when buying new?
Most economical would be the Prius V, however, the Passat and even Jetta to a lesser degree are really in a different class of car. I mean, VW vs Toyota reliability. Yes, Toyota is overrated, imo, on that front, but you're still talking one of the more reliable brands compared with one of the less reliable ones. The Prius has a great track record, not sure about the V in particular. The Passat is better than your average VW, about average with the new built in the US Passat although there's not much history for long-term reliability as of yet.
Now, do you want to spend 2-3 thousand hours a year in a Prius? That's a different issue. For me, the answer would be no. The C-max is sort of a middle ground. It struggles to meet EPA mileage just as the Passat TDI easily beats them in the real world, so especially if you're doing mostly freeway miles, it may not get quite as many mpg as the TDI. But, diesel is more expensive. Ford has been at the top in reliability with the Fusion (another option, and personally the route I would go driving that much). But, it's a new car whereas the Prius V is not. So there's likely some new car kinks. The major drawback with the Fusion hybrid is the trunk is still small. It's a big improvement over the last model, but 12 cubic feet is on the low end. Moreover, if you're trying to stuff boxes through the fold down, you've got a lot less height since that's where the battery sits. The Prius V is the clear winner in cargo hauling but also the clear loser in rear seat comfort and overall chintzy interior.
I have narrowed it down to 4 cars that get excellent mpg's and still have cargo room for my job. They are Toyota Prius V, VW Passat TDI, VW Jetta Sportwagon, and Ford C-Max. Any input please!! Price willing to spend is 35,000.00. I drive 150,000 miles a year so expense is justified.
If I'd drive that many miles a year, it better be in style and my car better be best I can afford.
As I said, to me out of the gas savers out there it would be the A3 TDI since it has:
- best response and fun drive with the S-Line transmission and suspensions
- TDI fuel economy with no need for urea
- one of the best cargo space with the hatchback (wagon) style
- quiet and luxury interior, comes loaded
- best of the bunch to keep its value
I'd go with one of the diesels if the majority of the driving was highway, one of the hybrids if not. We looked at a similar list and focused on the hybrids because we were looking at a bunch of short trips on city streets. Eliminated the Prius V as it was a tad too long for the available garage space. It came down to Ford C-Max or Lexus CT200h, which has the same engine, hybrid system, etc. as the Prius V. Chose the Lexus mostly due to aesthetics.
We have a '08 Prius. It is at 125k mi but mainly city driving.
City driving is when it excels... not so much on bare highway miles. Hence why the taxi drivers must like them... but I am assuming 150k a year is highway miles?
Our prius has a "life average" of 44.8mpg. It droped a lot when we took it on a 2000 mi road trip. It's great in city traffic because the engine cuts off at stoplights traffic jams.
Overall we like our Prius. I will say though it has the worst fit and finish of any car we have owned though. We buy "base models." The fabric interior is thin and crappy and coming out of the seam at the console. The plastic drink holder in the backseat keeps falling out. We have owned Dodge, Ford, Subaru, Honda & Mazda over the past 20 years, and this is our only Toyota... worst interior cabin. even my '91 Ford Tempo was nicer!
Our other car is a minivan, and when looking to trade up, we were already leary about the Sienna. A top rated van, but the fit and finish of our 5 year old Prius turned us off from the Toyota brand
I have narrowed it down to 4 cars that get excellent mpg's and still have cargo room for my job. They are Toyota Prius V, VW Passat TDI, VW Jetta Sportwagon, and Ford C-Max. Any input please!! Price willing to spend is 35,000.00. I drive 150,000 miles a year so expense is justified.
I've seen quite a few comparisons of the C-Max and Prius V and the C-Max does very well. While the 47/47 rating is somewhat difficult to achieve in real-life (although it is possible if you are extremely light footed), many C-Max owners are averaging 38-41 mpg. The C-Max is also a better handling car, faster than the Prius V, and contains more upscale materials inside (Toyota's cost cutting is readily apparent inside the Prius V - sit in both and compare). Think of the C-Max as the driver's car of the hybrid segment, with more features and better value than the Prius.
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