2012 Toyota Prius models, the C, the V, and the originals. Toyota of Canada PR photo.
As I said in my last installment, our family had become a Toyota-owning one, and we were being well served by our 2000 Avalon and 2011 Camry. However, I was considering to complement the family fleet with an additional small car to run non-family tasks. And despite an earlier unsatisfying experience with a rental model, I eventually, I chose a third generation Prius, the first hybrid I would own. An overall good experience, that didn’t come without challenges, both in car ownership and daily life.
For the last 15 years or so the price of gasoline in the USA has been on a roller coaster ride, and Toyota had models for sale to meet the demand. 2012 saw the expansion of the Prius product line with the smaller C model and larger V model.
When our 2000 Avalon was in the body shop in 2011 my rental was a second generation Prius. I was curious as to what it would be like to drive a hybrid automobile. At about 10 mph, you hear tire noise, and it was almost like being in a video game with flashing LCD graphics, different gauges, etc. It makes different noises from non-hybrid cars, and the engine starts and stops, not just at traffic lights.
During that time, we had a bad storm which left the street in front of our house a sheet of ice, and our house is at the crest of a small slope. Earlier that winter morning, my son and neighbor Thad got one stuck vehicle up the hill with a great deal of effort. But getting the rental Prius out of our driveway proved to be problematic.
Being unfamiliar with Prii I couldn’t tell if this rental had traction control or not. But after much effort we freed the car from the ice and I immediately went to Hertz to get another rental, which was a subcompact Nissan that had no trouble getting around on the ice.
First impression of Prius was not good.
Car enthusiasts certainly know about Prii, but every time you might consider one, your more practical friends would ask you, “But what about when the battery wears out?”
However, Toyota took the long view and kept making hybrid cars.
Prius C in Habanero Red, by David K from Flickr.
I was happy with our third Avalon and wasn’t necessarily planning to trade cars, but I was at the College Town Toyota dealer and noticed a Habanero Red model in the showroom. Went back and drove it, but at my age, maybe that wasn’t the color car I wanted to be seen in, unless I dressed in tropical shirts year round.
We had the 2011 Camry for trips, so a smaller car for trips around the city and suburbs of Northeast Ohio was appealing. I did the math and considering commute time, price of gas, the fact that we had two sedans but no car with a larger cargo area, decided that a Prius C might be a good purchase.
Consumer Reports gave the model’s highs:
- Terrific fuel economy
- Costs less than a real Prius
- Small and maneuverable, making it great for cities
- Hatchback utility
And it passed my “Can I sit comfortably in the back seat?” test.
2012 Prius back seat. Toyota of Canada PR photo.
And the lows:
- Crude and unrefined, with a cheap interior and brutally stiff ride
- Extremely noisy
- Slow acceleration
Note the “tiny” console that your knee didn’t hit. Toyota of Canada PR photo.
I didn’t know what a “cheap interior” was supposed to be. I grew up with padded dashboards and to me, a cheap interior was a dashboard that only had a gas gauge, speedometer, check engine light and front seat backs that didn’t recline.
The dashboard controls were familiar as the Toyota design language didn’t change — the cruise control, wipers, lights worked as I was used to. The roads I traveled to work and back were pretty rough, so the rough ride didn’t bother me. The only noise that ever bothered me, as my hereditary hearing loss progresses, is rattles, and this car did not rattle.
Liked the graphics of the dashboard.
Every local Toyota dealer had inventory, new and used. The Akron Toyota dealer had a 2013 model that was significantly discounted as Prius demand had slackened in 2014. And the Prius was known as the least expensive vehicle you could drive, long term, in 2014, considering purchase cost, operating costs, insurance costs, etc.
I got financing through our bank, but the dealership F & I manager or designate was not available when my bank branch manager (who used to be an F & I manager at a dealership) called over to coordinate the funds delivery and my paperwork signing. After an hour of phone calls, I was able to take delivery and drove it home.
Edmunds.com said this about the 2013 Toyota Prius c models:
“The 2013 Toyota Prius C is offered in numbered trim levels from One to Four. The base Prius C One comes with 15-inch steel wheels, automatic climate control, full power accessories, a folding rear seat, a 3.5-inch multifunction display, a tilt-and-telescoping steering wheel, Bluetooth phone and audio streaming and a four-speaker sound system with a CD player and a USB/iPod interface.
“The Prius C Two adds cruise control, a height-adjustable driver seat, a center console storage bin and armrest, 60/40-split-folding rear seats, a faux leather dash panel, a cargo cover and a six-speaker sound system. Upgrading to the Prius C Three gets you navigation with a 6.1-inch touchscreen, keyless ignition/entry, satellite radio and voice control. Also included is Toyota’s Entune smartphone integration system that adds Bing search functions, streaming Internet audio and traffic, sports and stock information. Alloy wheels are available as an option.
“The range-topping Four adds alloy wheels, heated mirrors, fog lights, a faux-leather-wrapped steering wheel and seat upholstery and heated front seats. Options for the Four include 16-inch wheels and quicker-ratio steering. A sunroof is available on both the Three and Four.”
I had the Model Three, with touch screen, backup camera and some Internet connectivity — the backup camera was nic,e but using a smartphone for navigation worked better. The car software eventually was out-of-date, but the Toyota dealer, at that time, was quoting $200 or so to “update software”. When I inquired about this, I got the feeling they didn’t know how to handle this — is it service, or parts, or the owner’s responsibility?
In 2014, 2015, 2016 the Prius did well. Two years of “free” routine maintenance. It was a great car for me and my dog.
Mack and I off on adventures.
Drove all over Ohio and western Pennsylvania in the Prius and took road trips to Massachusetts, North Carolina, and Georgia. The gas mileage was as advertised and it was cool to see your MPG become 99 MPG when you coasted down a long stretch of mountain road. And sometimes the gas engine shut off and you pulled up to the curb in silence — but those battery-only modes never lasted more than about a minute or so in city traffic.
On the streets of Cleveland
In winter of 2017 I had to be out of town and had a hard stop appointment, but it was snowing that morning. I drove up a hilly four lane boulevard that was still snow covered and slippery, and the traction control pulsed continually to the crest of the hill, but I made it up the hill OK and was on my way.
I know three people who owned the same Magnetic Grey Metallic-colored Prius, one was the deluxe Model Four with fancier wheels, tires and a sunroof. The second Prius had at least 180,000 miles and was still going strong last time I saw it. And I gave my leftover bottle of touch-up paint to a mechanic acquaintance who drove his Prius 120 miles round trip, four times a week.
December 2017 in Loganville, Georgia.
2017 turned out to be the year that I “officially” retired, and in 2018 I settled into a routine of working part time first part of the week, but usually not on Fridays.
February 2019, one Saturday, I took a day trip with my daughter to Virginia so she could buy a stick shift VW Golf. The next Saturday, I was in intensive care at a local hospital because of a work accident.
I had fainted and hit a piece of shop equipment and had a traumatic brain injury (TBI) — and had balance issues that needed to be resolved. (I’m OK now, but things are different — brain injuries are problematic). About three months after the TBI incident, I backed into a young man in a narrow restaurant aisle and apologized to him that I had “No radar in the back of my head,” and he mentioned that he had the same problem after his car accident. Protect your brain!
Settled back into normal routine, back to working part time, full time as needed, and then came March 2020 when we were all admonished to “social distance.” Most people didn’t do that; they charged around me, and they definitely weren’t six feet away. I also began to feel vulnerable in the small Prius, especially when in the left lane and in that semi’s blind spot. No more freeway journeys in this car.
Prii were supposed to never need brake jobs because of regenerative braking, but my Prius did at 50,000 miles and six years of ownership. Were the brakes rusted from sitting over the winter at the dealer’s lot (it was on the lot 6-9 months)? Or did the traction control event wear the brakes prematurely? I will never know.
Sometimes there would be multiple Prii parked at the local Best Buy.
Finally my part time job was gone, and I got into a short-term retraining program where I learned about modern American sign making and vehicle wraps. There are templates available for all vehicles and you make mockups, quote the job, get customer approval and then enlarge your design to print on giant ink jet printers. You could even wrap your car and get a new wrap every year, but it is not cheap –it is a special skill set to install a vehicle wrap.
Used a heat gun to erase the dealer’s tacky emblem from which the “silver” had worn off; it took about 15 minutes to remove the emblem from the car. And our streak of parking lot incidents continued; a bumper wasn’t hit — the rear driver’s side quarter panel was, probably with a shopping cart.
Farewell picture, it did all that it was advertised to do.
My wife and I had a short ride in her sister’s husband Honda Pilot and I began to consider the one type of vehicle we had never bought. If I needed a reliable beater I would buy another Prius, but it would be the third or fifth generation models.
Related CC reading:
Why the 2013 Toyota Prius C Epa Combined Ratings Are No Higher Than The Prius III
Prius C is based on the platform shared with Yaris, wonder why the author didn’t go for a Yaris with manual transmission. Yaris is a good little car. Since it was built in French, and also sold in European markets, it has a reasonably handling European drivers expect. It is not Golf, Polo or 206 or another small European cars, but New York Times back then still had a auto review section, the reviewer gave it on par with GTI! I believe because of its small size and Torsion bar rear suspension setup.
Back to hybrid vehicle, it increasingly becomes popular again in Europe as a way to counter Chinese EV invasion and current trend to move away from commitment of Paris Climate Accord. This also happens in US, people realize hybrid Toyotas are the most sensible transportation tool in the post Tesla hype — for record I am the current owner of Model Y. However, the mad aunty inside is its battery, how long cant it last? How much to replace the battery? About that I heard from my mechanic that the OEM was over $7,000, aftermarket probably $2,000 and up, but most shops don’t have the software to reset the system after installation of the new one, it is a dealer item. The dealers often don’t want to do with the aftermarket battery. Being the car is a Toyota product, it is quite normal to have a service life over 20 years.
The Prius V is the hybrid Toyota I really like to own one time, but for some reasons Toyota just kept it in production few years and one generation only. These days I often see few Prius Vs at the local Wholesale Market for those independent Amazon delivery vehicles. I believe that is the most sensible tool for this task.
The Prius C didn’t really catch on much here, and it’s not too surprising as the regular Prius was a significantly better car in every respect, well worth the fairly modest higher price. And the C didn’t get better mileage in real world driving either as its battery was smaller, hence less opportunity to take full advantage of the hybrid system. And yes, they were widely criticized for their primitive ride. But yes, they did give reliable and economical service; my neighbor still has hers.
My wife is driving a 2012 Toyota Auris hybride, same hybride system in a different body she liked better then a Prius. Now at 180.000 miles and still going strong and looking great, with almost zero trouble.
Back-up camera, sunroof, 17 inch wheels, and Inreplaced the original stereo with a aftermarket system with Carplay. She makes bout 60 miles roundtrip every weekday, that car will last her forever if she wants. Toyota makes the best hunrid in the market.
The Prius C is one of those cars that seems almost unnoticeable, is it a Prius or a Yaris or something else, although it’s kicked-up haunch (haunches?) are pretty distinctive. When I do notice them I realize how many are on the road. They only seem uncommon relative to the number of 2nd, 3rd and 4th gen Priuses still running around. The current gen Prius, despite its good performance and sleek styling (or perhaps because of its sleek, ie not roomy, design) doesn’t seem like a big hit compared to the Corolla or Camry hybrids.
Prius C, despite its popularity in Japan (as the Aqua), was even discontinued in the US, unsurprising to me since cars in a size class popular (even necessary) in Japan and Europe are a hard sell here. And when we shopped the Prius ca. 2014, rebates at the time eliminated my main objection vs. the Corolla and Civic, which are a close match in size. The only real advantage we saw with the Prius C was its more appealing palette of body colors!
If you’re looking for excitement, consider other models or makes, as that’s not the Prius design brief – it does what Toyota intended. Tip: When the electrical system goes silly, check the 12V battery before panicking.
My main Prius experience was with a 3rd generation, 2012, model. It was a vehicle inherited from my father-in-law, and it stayed in the household for about 6 months. I never cared for it. It just had a hard, plasticy, interior and was quite uncomfortable. I came to truly dislike the dashboard graphics and the controls in general. That little floppy gear selector was particularly unsettling. We did ultimately sell it though at a time (I don’t recall exactly) when gas prices were high and sold it quicker and for a higher value than nearly any other car I’ve sold. People who want these things really want them.
The hybrid system itself was fine. We were also driving a hybrid Higlander at that time (and are driving a newer one now) and I believe that hybrid vehicles are excellent ideas overall. As for “the battery wearing out”…well, I think that’s typically a question asked by people who are unfamiliar with hybrid vehicles. The battery on our 2007 Highlander Hybrid was still going when we got rid of it at the end of 2025. I have a friend with a first gen Prius and he only recently had to deal with the battery…2 dead cells that he replaced on his own for about $100 total. I’m not saying that everyone would be up to that diy job, but it’s do-able…and the point being that the battery is not in itself a big barrier to any normal person who typically keeps a car under 10 years. They last much longer than the normal period of ownership and then are indeed serviceable after that point.
Snow/ice traction can indeed be a problem, particularly in the older Prii, if you don’t understand in advance how to deal with the traction control (i.e., the procedure for turning it off); but once you have that down, it’s like driving anything else. I have a friend who has a 3rd generation Prius in rural Vermont. In the winter, she runs studded Hakkapeliittas and carries on.
Pete, as a Camry-lover, maybe someday you’ll return to the Toyota fold with a Camry Hybrid. Here in Boston (and I think the same is somewhat true in NYC), that’s the car of choice for medallion taxis (yeah, we still have those)…so that says something about their stoutness.
From an article at the time, the Prius C was very popular with Uber and Lyft drivers because of low costs but a slightly risky choice because the cramped back seat could lower their ratings. A friend bought one around 2019 after his incredibly basic 2000 Honda Civic was stolen, and then he bought a second Prius C after that one was totaled. He’s the type who sees a car as an appliance and the Prius was a good fit.
Definitely haven’t ruled out another hybrid. I researched the battery and found there was a robust market for after warranty repairs. Would have loved to have had a V model.
The NZ car market is flooded with ex-JDM Aquas (as they are known there), and they are utterly ubiquitous on commuter routes due to their fuel efficiency. A friend has one on which the battery died under dealership warranty, so he got a brand new battery for free on a 100,000km car, which is an ideal outcome.
There are downsides, in particular the cramped interior and overall cheap feeling. Very much a “penalty box” of a car and on the occasions I’ve been inside one, I’ve been glad to get out again.
Also, many of the ex-JDM cars are ridiculously easy to steal. This has to led to very high insurance premiums, impacting the value proposition.
I’ll probably be looking for a budget commuter in the next couple of years, but the Aqua won’t be on my list. If I’m going to be spending a couple of hours a day inside a car, it needs to be a bit less punishing than these are.