Impressive for the price are some standard safety features that, until recently, were premium: 1) Vehicle proximity notification is a boon for urban drivers. 2) Tire pressure monitoring helps you wring every last ounce of fuel efficiency from the drive and, of course, can save your life. 3) LED brake lights are bright and attention-getting, though with them now appearing standard on so many lower-priced vehicles no doubt they’re ruining the neighbourhood for A4 owners.
The discussion of which is creeping close to looks and bling. So let’s proceed.
The push-button start is a nice opening that says you’re not cheap. But, again, you may not believe the car’s actually started, being so quiet.
Most subcompact producers have their own cutesy names for their products’ colours. Mini sells hot chocolate instead of brown cars, while Fiat offers espresso. Can’t blame them: when your vehicles look like toys its hard not to anthropomorphize and cutesify them. This Prius c tester is ‘Absolutely Red’ and, well, no one’s arguing.
    2013 Toyota Prius c Technology. Click image to enlarge |
Outside, the design maintains the signature Prius profile that Ford has recently been “drawing” attention to in their C-Max ads. Yet, it creates its own truncated charm. Inside, it’s a careful mixture of hard plastic and cloth softness in attractive two-tone contrasting black and cream.
Like most competitors, the Prius c has many caches for the storage of little things that young people carry. There’s a subdivided tray in front of the steering wheel, ideal for phones, sunglasses, rolling papers, condoms, etcetera. There’s an open shelf above the glove compartment with a USB dock. The deep front door wells offer an extra cupholder. (You can never have too many cupholders: each commute goes two ways.)
  2013 Toyota Prius c Technology. Click image to enlarge |
Beneath the carpeted tonneau protector rests the spare tire. It’s emblematic of Japanese automotive engineering: each cubic inch has been considered and none wasted.
And what electro-goodies do you get for the money? A six-speaker stereo with outré connectivity: display audio with navigation; SMS-to-speech and email-to-speech technology; utter integration with your smartphone. The systems prompts you to download relevant apps from the iTunes store (like Apple doesn’t know enough about you already) when you connect your phone.
Ultimately the Prius c Technology is like your corporate office cubicle on wheels: it’s in all the major cities; it’s parsimonious with space; it has all the important electronic trinkets so you can do nearly anything in it; and it moves slowly.
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Pricing: Toyota Prius C Technology
Base price: $23,415
Freight & Pre-Delivery: $1,565
OMVIC fee: $5
A/C tax: $100
Environmental Handling Fee – tires / filters: $30.20
Price as tested: $25,115.20
Competitors:
Honda Insight
Mazda3 Skyactiv
Honda CR-Z
Ford C-Max
Crash Test Results:
National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA)
Insurance Institute for Highway Safety (IIHS)
