Was it price?
Brand Loyalty?
Waiting List for Prius?
Quality?
Engineering?
Body Style?
Other?


Doesn't Prius have the most advanced hybrid system today?

 

Brand loyalty is a big one for me. Although Toyota is a great company and I would never be concerned about buying one, I have always preferred Honda. After a dozen Hondas, I've never had a bad one and never had any major problems, nor a bunch of "little" problems.

Along with loyalty is styling. I LOVE the new style. Add price and in my mind, the Civic is the winner.

As for having a "less advanced" system...I'm not concerned with that. The Honda IMA system works. More advanced doesn't always mean superior...sometimes simpler is better.

 

The Prius has a better hybrid system without question, but I felt it was an inferior car otherwise. I found the '06 HCH to be a lot more fun, it looks better both inside and out, and it has a better view. I am definitely getting much worse mileage than I would in a Prius but I'm enjoying this car much more.

Still, I eagerly await the Prius III.

 

I'm having the hardest time deciding on the 06 HCH and the 06 Prius. Hopefully this thread will me out. IMHO, my top "pros" for both vehicles are as follows:

06 HCH: Design, Style, Driving "Feel".
06 Prius: NON 1st year production model.

My wife and I bought a 1st year production Lexus a couple of years ago, and there were too many little "bugs" for a >$40K car. We since then decided that we were NOT going to by any more 1st model year production vehcles. However, the 06 HCH is pretty DANG nice, but the 06 Prius probably has MOST bugs worked out.

Richard

 

A lot of people worry about first year cars...I don't with Honda. Out of the 12 Hondas I have owned, seven have been first year (82 Accord (185K), 90 Accord (98K and still going (niece's car), 92 Civic (totalled @78K), 94 Accord (130K), 99 Odyssey (99K), 03 Pilot (35K), 05 Odyssey(28K)). The best was the 99 Ody (two very minor problems, Clock Light and Cup Holder Flap). The worst has been the 05 Ody (Bad Active Rear Engine Mount, Windshield "whistle", RES connector loose, and misaligned interior trim piece). None of the Hondas have had anything as "bad" as the Active Engine Mount which caused some vibration and noise at certain speed. But once fixed, it is fine.

Compare that to our 97 Dodge Grand Caravan ES (POS) (towed at 11K, six check engine lights, transmission that wouldn't engage, electrical gremlins within 23K miles) or our 03 Sub (Electrical Gremlins, still haven't figured out the seat memory failure, RES failure, Climate Control failure, Horn failure, electronic rear view mirror failure in 55K). The Dodge was a second year car, the Sub a fourth year. Now, with the exception of the memory seat, everything has been fixed and it has been a great car for the last 22K miles, but the reason why I ordered the 05 Ody was because of all the problems we were having and I was ready to get rid of it. Instead, I fell in love with the Ody and decided to trade the 03 Pilot that I also loved.

I'm sorry to hear about your Lexus. Toyotas are great cars, just like Honda. But everybody makes a bad one every now and then. It is just a matter of what percentage are bad. And first year cars are almost always going to have more bugs. I expect it, but also accept it...as long as they are minor bugs and not in a large quantity. So far, I have been very lucky, I guess.

 

A couple more things to remember.

You can fold the back seats down in the Prius and not in the Civic Hybrid.

The Honda seems alot less "electronic". And I mean that in a good way, you want to change the temp in the car - you don't have to press a button to bring up the Enviro screen, you just grab the *** and twist.

Cheers,

Scott

 

For those of you who have driven both the 06 HCH and the Prius, which one is more "fun" to drive. Looking at the suspension specs on both vehicles, the 06 HCH would seem a better "performing" vehicle.

Richard

 

I considered the Prius first, although I think it's one of the ugliest cars on the road today. When I test drove it, I didn't like the layout of the controls one bit. I prefer things to be in a standard place, so that I don't have to adapt from one of my cars to another. Visibility through the rear window is poor. Then the dealer shot himself in the foot when I said I didn't want their dealer installed leather interior. He went on for ten minutes about how poor the factory fabric interior is. Well, if it's so poor I don't want it.

I test drove a 2006 Civic EX before the HCH showed up, and fell in love with its styling.

Overall, I think that on an apples-to-apples comparison of features and options, the HCH costs less than the Prius.

 

I went though this same process and settled on the HCH. I compared against an 05 Prius, obviously.

- I found the HCH to be more fun to drive, handled better. The Prius felt like a 'miniature minivan'. The HCH was also more comfortable to sit in, and had a better look overall.

- The HCH was more ergonomic. The driver's seat goes up and down (Prius does not), and the steering wheel is fully telescopic. I also liked having physical controls for the climate and audio controls instead of going through the touch screen (or using the multi-purpose controls on the steering wheel). I also liked having the instruments in front of me instead of in the center of the dash.

- I liked the Prius more for the ability to put the back seat down and carry more cargo.

- Price. I wanted NAV, and that make the Prius $5k more. Granted, that package on the Prius had a lot of other stuff, but it wasn't stuff that was important to me.

- Technology. The Prius does have more new and cool hybrid technology, but in the end, it's the results that count. Judging by the database here on GH, and Consumer Reports, the 'real-world' mileage seemed to be closer than the EPA numbers indicate, and that was comparing the 05 models. The 06 HCH is supposed to improve on those numbers, making them about equal. I'm impressed by Honda's simpler solution to the problem which yields similar results. I also liked the fact that Honda put a lot more effort into making the ICE as fuel efficient as possible instead of just turning it off whenever possible (which they also do). I thought this would bode well for higher speed, freeway mileage where I do most of my driving.

- Brand loyalty. This is my 5th Honda since 1985. I've always been impressed with Honda reliability and engineering. The fact that it's a first year model did not even factor in.

 

lol yeah Honda Rules
Civics are famous for a good reason
rock
solid reliability