Prius vs. Lexus CT200h ....

[calikev]

Do you have pics of your Prius? Did you get the TECH package?

I think that the new Accord is fabulous!! I have not testdriven it to see if Honda has (finally!) solved the road noise issue prevalent among Hondas...which has literally prevented me from owning Hondas in the past. If that is solved (via audio cancellation), then i really like it. After driving the Prius with DRCC (radar cruise), i want it on my next car. Surprisingly, the Accord Touring (and Hybrid i think) has this! I commute quite a long distance...and i love the radar cruise. In addition, the Accord Touring also has LED headlights like my Prius (and yours)...and i love 'em!! Bright white light that never fades with age. (On the Prius, you need to adjust them a little higher to really take advantage of the LED's.)

Personally, due to reasons above, i would pick Accord over Camry and Maxima. Camry big flaw right now is the poor IIHS minimal offset crash testing. Accord is great...but my only nitpick is the very average audio system...yeah, it has great specs (for OEM audio), but i was not impress with the package in my old TSX (same system). Camry's JBL is much better. (Hell, even my Prius JBL is better.)

The ONLY car that i would consider along with Accord is the new Toyota Avalon Hybrid, which has the proven hybrid powertrain of Toyota (which i trust more than Honda). In addition, it is bigger (3 kids for me), quiet, superb audio system (flaw in Accord), and comes with optional radar cruise. BUT, it does cost at least $10k more than Accord when optioned out. I guess that i can install some kickass aftermarket audio system in the Accord...but i have never been a big fan of aftermarket stuff (& install errors!).

Anyways...sorry for long post...but, yeah, big fan of Accord.

Hey Thai I don't have any pics of it here on my work computer, but yeah it does have the Tech pkg. We love the car and got a great deal on it too. I'm trying to determine if we want to buy it or get something a lil bigger. We have a 15 and a 12 yr old and on trips we drive the Runner. My 12 yr old son is almost 6ft tall right now and wears a size 11 mens shoe. My daugther is 5'7 at 15 yrs old. What's funny is that my wife is only 5'2. Clearly they get the size from me. This is my motivation in considering trading the Prius. Maybe we'll buy it and give it to my daugther...???

The Accord's specs look great. I haven't driven it either, but they have a really, really good lease deal on it for CA or NY residents only. I'm talking about the 2014 model. If the Maxima were rear wheel drive I would likely go get it this weekend or would have already had one. May just buy the Prius...my residual is only $16k and it matures in Feb 14' Should only have 40k miles on it then. Probably just certify it and buy it then.

 

[BlackWorksInc]

I'm very close to getting a 2011 CT.

The 330i had 62k miles on it. I just don't think those cars are reliable enough to keep past 75k miles.

I can answer that for you from working on enough used BMWs among other vehicles on a daily basis. They don't... period, you're damn lucky it lasted 62k without any major problems!

2009 BMW 335D, should get over 30mpg at some points in time, but still have 425ft lbs of torque. These BMW's are far too new for major stuff to be going bad anyway.

The diesels are a bit more reliable than than the gasoline engines (particularly since they started using GDI a while back, but its not so much a reliability issue as an inherent design flaw in GDI systems and maintenance issue.) But I just had a 2008 BMW 328i with less than 30k on it have a turbo failure among other major issues. Last year we had a used 2006 3 series with the I6 (under 70k, just out of the warranty OUCH) rattling like a diesel on start-up... lo and behold, TSB/Campaign for replacing ALL the exhaust valve lifters on the engine because they've failed.

It goes on and on, and I'm just talking BMW right now, Mercedes, VW/Audi, Volvo, Chrysler (That's a given no matter what year it seems, had a '08 PT Cruiser with less than 20k munch up a Camshaft position sensor)

Point being, BMW is an awesome car to drive. We had an '04 M3 just the other week, so much fun to test drive! But reliability is not something these cars come packaged with, nor is it an add-on option. BMW dealers make good money on repairs... that is if their customers can afford the repairs, which from a few BMW techs I know locally say they don't, evidence by a near dozen new BMWs sitting on the lot un-repaired and payments stopped because the owners couldn't afford to fix them. Ultimate Driving Machine they might be, Ultimately Reliable Machine they are not.

Sadly, I'd love to stand here on my soap box and say Toyota/Lexus is the far superior car here... but truthfully? Toyota/Lexus has lowered their quality standards to just a bar above the rest, rather than holding their standard at their own level like they used to. The interiors don't seem to hold up as well over time, the water pumps leak like sieves (to the point that Toyota says they're designed to leak and "self-eject and self-seal" itself and not to replace them unless the engine looks like a pink Furby, I can get you a copy of the TSB if you'd like! :O ) and much of the components seem to fail more regularly. (I don't know if that's because Toyota, like everyone else is trying to copy the Germans or because they're cutting corners to save money and sell cars for more. i.e. 5th gen 4Runner price/content vs. a fully loaded 4th gen V8 4WD during its day.)

But I would rank European brands just above the bottom ranking in reliability, the number 0 slot being reserved for ChryCorp, who's now just a skin worn by Fiat (I'm waiting on at least 5-10 years before I believe Fiat/Chrysler makes a reliable vehicle.


As to the original OP, I like the looks of the Lexus, I'm not to sure how well they compare to the 3rd Gen Prius. I am not a fan of the Prius, but I can see its appeal and what draws people to it. I don't think the Lexus helps them get rid of their "squashy, old people, slow as crap" I mean, "Lexus Experience" (while almost every other Luxury brand can make a car that is not only a lush experience, but can perform well!) image they've cultivated over the years.

Congrats on your new car and let us know how well it ends up being compared to a Prius over the coming months and such. I am really interested to see how this sort of half-hearted attempt to cash in on the Prius' popularity really plays out from an actual consumer.

 

[Thai]

Well, the CT200h seems to have better interior materials...so, i hope that the squeeks and rattles don't affect it as much as it does the Prius. My Prius fortunately has only one or two minor rattle at certain times (the change in tires helped smoothed out the ride and thus decrease the frequency of the rattle!). But, the cheap "eco" plastics sometimes get on my nerves...at least Toyota wisely put some padding on surfaces i put my arms on. (The CT200h, on my quick exam, has more padding.) The standard cloth interior just sucked IMHO in the Prius.

 

[Ogre75]

Theres no excuse for a "fuel Efficient" car to get less than 40 mpg. My commuter was $700 five years ago, and consistently gets 48 mpg overall with 30+ year old technology. This is a 91. I've had a 99 as well with the same results.