I don't think the Prius is a good long range daily driver

Did you release the lever under the steering wheel before you tried to telescope it?

 

I bought my Prius with 76, 000 miles last May. I now have 98, 000 miles on it. My daily commute is 75 miles round trip, but at times can be 200 miles a day. The seat fits me very well and have had no issues with long drives. My longest has been about 600 miles. I do wonder if Toyota intentionally made the seats firm when new so that as the car ages the seats wouldn't be too soft or dead at 10 years or 200,000 miles? In my case, buying it with 76,000 miles, apparently the previous owner broke the seat in a way that's compatible with the way I sit.
Also, my fiancee bought an identical 2010 red Prius and now has a daily round trip commute of 100 miles. She is very glad she bought the Prius and comfort has never been an issue. Now blizzard whiteout conditions that required her to to drive with her window open to see the edge of the road wasn't all that comfortable for her..... But she praised her Prius ad Michelin Xice 3 tires for getting her home, even though it took her 2 hours instead of 1 hour. We are both very happy with our purchases.

 

Yes of course.

I had a 2nd Gen Prius the day the all new 2010 3rd Gen Prius arrived about May 20th, 2009 at Piercey Toyota in Milpitas, CA .....

Being 6'2" tall, I jumped in the driver's seat slid it all the way back, lowered it down .... cool, they fixed that right up (from the 2nd Gen).....

(released the steering wheel lever), pulled the wheel all the way towards me .......

uh oh, uh oh, uh oh ..... oh no, crap, they didn't .... yes, they did: skimped on telescope range towards tall drivers.

 

Consider myself lucky not to have discomfort issues on long distance drives in our 2011 Four. Maybe the seats are really different between models? I was all for the Three, but my wife saw the Four in the showroom and that was that. Glad she forced the issue, even if it is "Bar-Thelona" Red Metallic.

As noted before on other posts on this subject, I've made a few 1,500+ mile treks down the east coast from Maine to Florida and back in the past couple of years in this car, and feel duty to report once again that it's a very good car to drive on these long trips. Not a BMW, not a Lincoln MKZ, not a Lexus LS, and not even a Ford Fusion or Toyota Camry. But it's still comfortable and just try to be as efficient in any one of those cars or any car for that matter. Can't be done.

Autoblog had more pictures of a heavily camouflaged 2015 Prius mule with an interior shot of a half completed dash. I hope those who decide to trade, buy, steal or lease the new upcoming Prius will spend a little more time in the car before committing to it, to make certain it fits them better than the present car. The seats in the new model should be better after all the negative noise made about the present design in this forum. Squeaky wheel rule, right?

 

I just got through seeing my friend's brand new 2013 Civic Hybrid in a pretty white Blizzard type color....

the interior materials in Civic Hybrid handily blow the Prius away. Honda used soft touch type materials and textures that won't scratch at the drop of a hat like the vertically grained hard plastic all over the doors and glove boxes in Prius.

I also looked at the Civic steering column to find it dead on straight and inline with the seat, unlike the 'all-new' Corolla's steering column which comes out of the dash from the right and is so NOT inline with the seat.

 

That new Honda is a beautiful car. Unfortunately they are in short demand so the dealers are naturally going to screw people over on the price. That is, if you can get one.

 

I have not read the previous replies but I had some thoughts on overall comfort.

My commute is 40-60 minutes one way and I take weekly trips up to the mountains which takes about 105-120 minutes one way.

I am 5'7 with a wider frame and the seat fits me fine. There could be more lumbar support and a more comfortable head rest, but I have no complaints.

One thing that is not comfortable is there is no place for your left elbow. The trim by the driver's window is too narrow to rest your arm and the arm rest on the door is too low. I generally will lean to my right and place my right elbow on the center console.

 

And for me the steering wheel is so far away, I use a 4 inch block of foam on door armrest to be able to grip the steering wheel at 9 o'clock -

 

Gee, I thought mine was ugly!I

 

Ok. Contest on. Let's see someone else create and install a 4 inch high armrest pad that has been in place solidly for nearly two months.

 

Ok! Let's see if I can get you a picture of mine. I don't know if this file is going to be too big.

 

Faux suede, dude!

 

Nice! Good job!

 

Thanks. I tried to find the same material as the door panel to no avail. It's very proprietary stuff. So, I used this substitute.

 

What kind of foam (and from where?) did you use?

 

Curious. How are you attaching it to the OEM armrest? Is it Neoprene foam?

One of my requirements was no harm to OEM fabric. 3M Command no-residue strips are best I've found.

 

It 's upholstery foam. Got it at my friends auto upholstery shop. It was just a remnant that you could probably get for the asking at any upholstery shop.

 

Good. How did you attach it to the OEM fabric?

 

I attached it with Velcro tabs. They are heat activated so they are probably going to be permanent. I had the same reservations but I had to do what I had to do. I'm the one that's making the payments after all.

 

I can't recall off-hand if any of my previous cars had armrests so high that it could support my arm for a 9'o clock grip. Do you guys build up the centre console too, to support your right arms for a 2 or 3 o'clock grip?

For me, once I'm in cruising mode, my left hand is at 6 o clock, right arm on the centre console, holding a Starbucks coffee.