The Prius c is rated at 4.5 L/100 km in the city which is about as good as you can get without going to a plug-in or full-on EV car like Nissan’s LEAF that starts several thousand dollars higher than the Prius c before you.

But what if you are among the millions who live in the vast expanses of Canadian suburbia (or better still, you’re among the hearty souls in rural Canada), does Clementine still make sense when the distances are greater and so are the velocities?

If your primary goal in life is to use as little fuel as possible, then possibly yes. During an 800 km road trip that featured mostly highway driving (much of it at speeds above the posted limit), the Prius c delivered an observed consumption average of 5.3 L/100 km. This is higher than Toyota’s estimate of 5.1L, but given the speed and the fact that the press car was rolling on less efficient winter rubber, it’s a pretty awesome achievement.

Be that as it may, Clementine never seems to enjoy itself when out for a run at highway speeds. The CVT transmission forces the little engine to moan and shout coarsely every time an extra km/h or two is requested. What’s more, you’ve not experienced true terror until you’ve tried to pass slightly slower moving traffic on a narrow two-lane highway in a Prius c. That speck on the horizon when you initiated the pass quickly looms large in your face as you’re urging Clementine to eke out every last one of those 99 (combined) horsepower before darting in front of Ethel and Ernie on their Sunday country drive.

There are a number of really good subcompact cars on the market today that can achieve nearly the same highway efficiency as the Prius c, most of which are far more engaging to drive. Clementine’s fuel tank space is largely absorbed by batteries, leaving only 36L of volume for go-juice. This still gives a range of 650-700 km per tank, but that’s far less than you’d get in a Volkswagen Golf TDI.

With fuel costs what they are today, it could still take upwards of four or more years for the average driver to cover the additional cost of buying this Prius c over a comparably equipped Toyota Yaris SE. The Yaris is a car of nearly equal proportions inside and out and one that should provide owners with the same expectation for years of trouble-free motoring. While we complained about some of the Yaris’s road manners in a recent comparison test, it (along with many of its contemporaries from other companies) is still more enjoyable and spritely to drive than the Prius c.

“Who cares?” a likely Prius c buyer will ask. After all, driving is about necessity, not enjoyment, right? Maybe so.

But there are other complaints to be levied against Clementine. This Prius c tester is loaded up with the Technology package that includes a navigation system displayed on a 6.1-inch touchscreen, and features a back-up camera and email-to-speech capability. The system works well enough, but the screen is small, dull and low-res by modern standards. Still, its ease of use and the stereo’s decent sound quality make it a worthwhile component.

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