Replace the Prius: Corolla or Civic

[hayden55]

2010 Prius (192k). Been watching the Prius forums and I'm closing in on the 20k mile range where the large majority of cars deal with egr cooler clogging, head gasket replacement, and battery refurbishing. Thats a lot of labor and dollars wasted mostly in opportunity cost. All of that combined with the hot car market, the new hybrid road tax, and my new commute being mostly highway with very little city driving I think I'm going to pawn the prius off and get a 90-97 Corolla or 92-00 Civic. (I am averaging about 42-47mpg now)
You guys think a 90-97 Corolla would be a good choice over a 92-00 civic? I still have a VX trans for install into a civic but it seems like the civics have all been seriously ragged out now. The corollas seem to be largely ignored and grandma driven locally and i would venture to say are more reliable.

[redpoint5]

Gen IV Prius have been having head gasket failures?

[JSH]

I agree that you are more likely to find a nice Corolla than a Civic from that era. If you are interested in the E100 Corolla (model year 1993 - 1997) I would also look at the Geo Prism which is the same car made in the same NUMMI plant as the Toyota.

Coming from a Prius I might also look at the Toyota Matrix / Pontiac Vibe for similar room with a conventional ICE engine

[cRiPpLe_rOoStEr]

I usually see the Corolla as some sort of Japanese equivalent to the VW Beetle. Not impressive at all, yet not disappointing. As for the model-years you're considering, the 7A-FE engine is still good.

[Ecky]

The Civic is definitely the better car, from suspension to ergonomics to engine to gearing. But yes, you're going to pay a premium for one that isn't torn up.

I'd give finding a Civic a shot first.

[cRiPpLe_rOoStEr]

Originally Posted by Ecky

But yes, you're going to pay a premium for one that isn't torn up.

Finding one which wasn't either riced out or underwent a half-assed fix at some moment is quite hard, yet the double-wishbone front suspension featured on some previous generations of the Civic was really outstanding.

[hayden55]

Originally Posted by redpoint5

Gen IV Prius have been having head gasket failures?

Top failures: at least 2010-2011 maybe even 2012:
Piston rings clogging
EGR cooler clogging
Head Gasket Leaking
If you make it far enough you will then be graced with a cell or two in the pack going bad.

Gen 3 is 2010-2015.

I have seen as bad as 300mi/quart on my car in an extremely mountainous trip, and right now driving it easy it uses a quart every 1500-2500. Starting to knock slightly around 1600rpm downhills on the interstate so the egr is gonna need to be cleaned. I am under the impression the egr cooler knock is usually what leads to the head gasket issue, but I am not an expert. Usually when it does this i just throw it into neutral and avoid the knock but i assume some people just drive through the knock until it gets pretty gnarly.
As for the battery I just make sure to stay above 50% SOC or preferrably around 58% (peak is 70% which keeps the engine on 24/7 so you wanna stay below that). If you go below 50% it will drop like a friggin rock down to 20%. But i stay above 50 and usually never have that issue.

[Ecky]

One car I consider to be a real steal of a deal is the first gen Civic hybrid. I don't know if Arkansas has state inspections, but aside from the hybrid battery the HCH1 with a 5 speed is dead reliable. You can bypass the battery (will result in a CEL that would fail an inspection in most states) and continue to get 50-60mpg. Tons of these cars ended up in junkyards as a result of a failed hybrid battery and can often be picked up for a song.

[hayden55]

Originally Posted by Ecky

One car I consider to be a real steal of a deal is the first gen Civic hybrid. I don't know if Arkansas has state inspections, but aside from the hybrid battery the HCH1 with a 5 speed is dead reliable. You can bypass the battery (will result in a CEL that would fail an inspection in most states) and continue to get 50-60mpg. Tons of these cars ended up in junkyards as a result of a failed hybrid battery and can often be picked up for a song.

Thats a good idea.

[Vman455]

Originally Posted by hayden55

(peak is 70% which keeps the engine on 24/7 so you wanna stay below that)

This isn't correct. I've observed as high as 80% in mountainous areas; when that happens, the car will run electric-only above the middle line on the dashboard indicator: