Prius v roadshow in Seattle metro

When I visited very briefly Friday, there was a tonneau cover stored under the back floor, in the same fashion as in mine. But I didn't notice how it gets mounted.

The total under-floor storage space is sharply reduced compared to the 2010.

 

As evnow mentioned, I happened to bump into him there. I also spoke to seatown7 for a bit.

My pictures are nothing earth shattering vs. anything that's floating around out there. I can put them up somewhere when I have a chance.

At least one staffer made the statement along the lines that the interior might not be final and things could change. I really hope they move the instrument cluster (at least the speedo) to the front of the driver, not the center where it is now.

Yeah, I was in the car when we asked about whether we could see Pandora working. I mainly wanted to see the Entune features. Oh well.

It didn't seem like the software or firmware on the unit was final (it might not be done anyway) as there were some weird problems like some screens were really dim, as if you had the headlights on (but they weren't on). The energy monitor screen and some of others seemed like temp placeholders to me. I don't think they'd want to ship w/the energy monitor (power flow display) looking the way it did. It'd be a big step backwards from what's on currently shipping/shipped Toyota hybrids.

Like fuzzy1, I didn't see how the tonneau cover was mounted. It was already stowed under the rear floor.

One thing that I didn't expect or know about (I haven't followed the v that closely since I have no interest) is that rear seats can slide forward and back. I knew about the recline but not the sliding.

The Prius v they had there didn't have any sunroof.

IIRC, the top glove box door had soft touch plastic for its cover but the bottom door wasn't that way. I don't recall if this is any different than the 3rd gen.

At the event, you could test drive the 3rd gen Prius, HyHi and TCH. They were also giving out free "prius goes plural" t-shirts. For test driving, you'd receive a $10 Amex gift card when you check out. The test drive route was quite short and unfortunately, the traffic was crazy busy around the mall. I've never seen the traffic at that mall so bad before (but I avoid it during Christmas).

I was a bit surprised that it seemed like a tough crowd to get people to test drive, even though they're being given a $10 gift card. Some of the staffers told passers by about this test drive and gift card and IIRC, mentioning there's no obligation. More than once, the reply was "no thanks".

Some of the staffers were the same folks that were at a Redmond, WA Whole Foods test drive event and another at the Seattle auto show. One of them recognized me from the Whole Foods event.

 

Re: underfloor storage compartment

My uncalibrated memory would say that compared to Gen3, it is a little deeper, and about half the length.

 

Re: Prius v roadshow in Albuquerque

The show was in Albuquerque over this weekend. I got an email invite from Toyota so I went over Saturday. Was great to see the Prius V and the plug in on display. They had a 2011, the Highlander and a Camry and were letting people drive around the shopping mall parking lot. Scored a tee shirt and a $15 mall gift card. Seemed like a lot of folks were doing the test drive who'd never been in a Prius before. Nice folks from Toyota. They were impressed at the number of Gen 1 they had seen.
Ed

 

The only Prius Vs that have been on display in the US so far are pre-production models (with fiberglass roofs, etc) so trim could change a lot.

 

The Prius v is back in the Seattle area again but this time at Redmond Town Center. Unlike before, this time they had the PHV Prius on display. One could get inside and poke around in both the v and PHV. No test drives of either though.

As before, they had a regular Prius, HyCam and HyHi also available for test drivse and you receive a $10 gift card for taking a test drive then checking out.

 

It looks like a hatchback. It actually doesn't look that bad. I wouldn't consider it a mini van of any kind.