mini drive and mini review of v Three

Omg I just drove one up to Montecito / Santa Barbara to a client this morning.... A v V with AT package and I look love these seats!!!!! And what a great driving car.

 

I'm looking forward to seeing one in person. The larger cargo area would be a huge plus for me over out 2010 Prius.

I need dog room back there with the back seats up. Right now that means the dog is "under glass" which isn't comfortable. The v's more conventional, squared off, metal roof overhead cargo area would be great.

I don't need it enough to upgrade our 1 year old car, but if anything happened to the one we have, I'd far prefer a v over the standard Prius.

 

They did a fabulous job.
I'd take this comfy, sturdy little car over my previous 400h or a HLH any day of the week.

I loved the rear seat room, the ability to recline and slide the back seats, the huge rear amount of room and the VERY comfortable front seats! I also came to appreciate the NAV once I could tell it an address verbally while moving up the freeway and it will take a lot of reading and experiencing to get the hang of the verbal commands as opposed to the Prii etc I have been selling for the last decade with a different sort of verbal commands...

Also, the playlist/sets for the audio was kinda fun - the Sienna systems already had the presets being interchanged with AM/FM/SAT etc but this was easier to manage with touchscreen. And, being able to watch a DVD with the car in park was priceless... tres cool. And, the nifty way the sunroof lets light in both places... makes it seem huge inside!

Gosh anyone trying to decide between the PHEV and a Prius v will have a helluva time now. If you don't mind the CA/ or LA traffic and want to trade off space for that, as well as fuel economy, this may be a better buy for $31K - 36K...

Maybe that is why there is a delay in PHEV orders! They are matching up dealer sales reports with wagons to see how many PHEV orders they lost to v's! (KIDDING, sorta)

 

Careful what you say, you may lose a few out of state sales! I was already considering the Camry and the CT as alternatives to the PIP. Now I have to go look at this one too?

 

This car suits a different need and in my succinct way, I'll say this...

If you don't care that much about fuel economy being much lower than a phev and you need more room than a regular Prius, then the wagon is da bomb man!!!!

 

It caught me and I never thought I'd be a Prius owner. Test-drove a bunch of different things looking for the best combination of compact + utility + tech integration. This was it. The MPG was a bonus for me.

Bought the Prius v with the level three trim.

Happy so far.

 

My local dealership is having an "event" on the 5th that I'll be attending. They are showing off the v as well as the new Camry. They've already sold both the v's they've received.

 

Lucky you. My salesperson called me early afternoon to tell me one had been delivered (not a special order), and by the time I got there to look at it, it had been sold and was being prepped for the new owner. They let me look at it and sit in it, but that was as far as I got. :-(

I'm waiting for the C anyway, but I really wanted to drive it. Sigh. Oh well.

 

I drove one yesterday. It was a Five because it had DRCC but no sunroof and did have 17 inch wheels. The dealership had 2 available. one was a three that was sold and the other was the five I drove which had been scoffed up by the General Manager.

I agree with Cycledrum about the extra room, better pickup and higher seat position. The seats felt narrow and more rounded but still comfortable. As it was a Five it had a stiff ride similar to my 2010 V/Atp. It had a nice fit...no rattles and seemed quieter on the inside.

Although it was taller in the storage area than a regular Prius, it didn't appear to be longer. I was surprised when the rear seat was down a that there was so much wasted space between the folded seat back and the front seats.

As far as fuel economy, when I got into the vehicle the average MPG was 46.1 and it didn't vary mich when I took it about 5 miles up an interstate and 5 miles back on a side road.

I didn't play with the Entune system much but noticed that the radio buttons for FM/AM/Sat are about 1/4th the size of the ones on my NAV system. Tough to hit while driving. I was able to get the NAV system up and runnung easily and was able to map my way through back roads back to the dealership without any trouble. It's nice that the volume button is now on the map display.

When I got back to the dealrship, did I wish I would have waited instead of trading my Sienna for my wife's Prius IV? Actually, I did. I do think though that I would have talked myself out of it for the extra MPG I get and lack of need for the extra space.

Overall I was way more impressed than I thought I would have been. It's a hell of a deal for the price. I'd be really worried if I was selling Escapes or Equinoxes.

 

Slide the rear seats forward = no wasted space, unless you wanted to use the footwell for storage, but don't do that on the passenger side as that is where the air intake is for battery cooling.

I think I'll be sliding the rear seats forward all the way and storing stuff between the rear seats and the rear deck.

Peter+

 

Nope, it had DRCC because I use it all the time in my Prius V/ATP. It acted the same but the display was different. It allowed me to change how far I could follow but displayed differently and didn't hog the display like the Prius III does. Another surprise was that it did not have LKA. Obviously, the pano roof was there, I just didn't notice it. Too busy playing with all the other stuff.

 

With such limited time, I didn't think to move the seat forward. I take it there's no flap that covers the gap between the rear deck and the rear seat.

 

Test drove a 5 V today........they did an overall nice job and the price with the Softex instead of leather with NAV is 31K......needs a bigger engine though as it labors on inclines a bit, so drive-ability not as smooth as hatchback Prius, thus the lower mileage was showing in the mid to high-30s during our trip in the mountains of NC....not bad for the size vehicle....looks much better in person than photos.....would buy one if I needed the space........