Cargo Capacity Calculation

Presumably the missing Prius Gen4 Level Four/3 Eco is in the 3 big bag territory

 

would those be like the popcorn bag sizes at the movie theatre?

 

you're a doctor!

 

Who, CR or the EPA? I've read the standard for the EPA uses standard sized boxes like the European standards do.

Do they state the approximate sizes for the bags?

GM's specs for cargo space are the same for the two years. The 2015 appears to have a higher deck lid to the hatch.That may allow CR to put in the two bags and meet their criteria for this test.
2015

2016


Or the guy that did the 2015 was just a better car packer

 

maybe the same issue we're going through with prime.

 

Finally got that PhD! Thank you!

 

Professor of hybrid Drive?

 

Ooooo ...I like that

 

Just read all 127 pages of SAE J1100
Cargo and luggage space are 2 very different measurements.
Tideland not far off in his methods of measurement.

For educational purposes see the attached images.

 

The only thing I see is no more "open luggage area". The luggage area needs to be partitioned and hidden. So for a hatchback the area is with rear seats up and under a tonneau like cover. Still lots of room to play games with this measurement as a 1 inch change in height over 9 sqft equals 0.75 cuft. The rest are mostly Buster the Dummy related.

 

Thanks for the info.

In regards to the EPA requirement, the luggage measurement is only used for cars with actual trunks. Would be great if CR, or somebody else, used this in all their reviews. Using actual luggage pieces runs into questions of whether they are empty, and if not, then how full. anybody that has actually stuffed a trunk knows that makes a difference.

I had posted the article @Tideland Prius mentioned in at least one of these cargo space threads. The article's main focus on the difference between SUV cargo spaces, which are values not posted on Fueleconomy.gov. The J1100 required for the EPA is the one from the late '70s or early '80s. Toyota used that one for marketing materials at the time of the article. At least some of the big '3' used later revisions, which were reported to be mostly clarifications over things like the seat positions.

 

I would just like to know the actual total cargo volume, and they can let me figure out the fact that my actual luggage will have some air spaces and gaps.

I happen to be a good gap filler.

 

i would like actual dimensions. that's enough for me to take my tape measure out to the garage...

 

sorry, i meant prime. thanks!

 

One thing I'll mention is useable cargo space, not sure if that was brought up in the thread...just skimming along. Had a Dodge Challenger before the Prius. The trunk was huge. I could hop in and close the lid, but...

Due to the trunk being a bit on the shallow side and the rear seats not folding flat it was nearly impossible to get oversized items in the car. Not sure off hand what the cargo space actually was but the Challenger was definitely a bigger car. Now we're talking impractical vs practical but you can see that cubic feet alone doesn't reflect how much stuff you can actually stuff in the car. There no doubt in my mind I can get way more stuff in the Prius than I ever could in the Challenger, just as there is no thinking when it comes to practicality.

 

The Challenger has an EPA trunk space of 16ft^3, which is a little more than a Camry's 15ft^3. The measurement standard for trunks actually uses a faux luggage set; one that isn't squishy as most luggage pieces. So those measurements are a conservative one of the space.

Hatchbacks like the Prius are going to be more flexible than a sedan in stuffing things into them by their nature. The measurement standard for their cargo space relies on taking actual measurements. Since these are irregular spaces, the wiggle room in where the actual measurement is taken can lead to over or under reporting of the usable space.

Something like what the EPA uses for trunks is used in Europe for all car types.