PRIME TRUNK SPACE

Keep in mind, with rear seats down, there is ~6 inch slope down from the hatch floor to the seat level. So you have ample vertical space to the roof on top of the seat backs in their down position.

 

I have a photo in this thread ... 1 bike with front wheel off, no problem ... i'm guessing 2 bikes with front wheels off might fit, i wouldn't do it personally ...
Cyclists - Roof Rack or Install a Hitch & Thule Rack? | Page 2 | PriusChat

 

can you be more specific? where is there a slope?
either way, i'm not interested in putting the seats down just to go to the recycling center. i often have stuff on the back seat, so it's more work than i care to do. everything fits perfectly in the back of the pip, with seats up.

 

Fortunately, I have curb-side recycling pickup. However, there have been times when I've missed the pickup (i.e. due to being out of town) and had to take my smaller bins (the pickup is with one of those enormous ones) to the recycling center. I've done this perhaps five times in my 2004. Every single time I had to put the seats down because there's no way three of those bins are fitting in the back of a Prius (and three bins hold about half as much as the one large one). Fortunately, putting the seats down takes about 2 seconds a seat, 5 seconds if you include moving the booster seats off the chairs.

 

agreed, i only have two bins. one tall one, and one shorter, that sits perfectly on top of the spare tire that i had to add, because toyota cheaped out on it.

 

If you've got full child seats in there that would become a real hassle.

 

True, but fortunately there are mitigating circumstances.

First, true car seats are only necessary for about 4 years.
Second, the latch system makes them much easier to remove than they used to be - 30 seconds instead of 3-5 minutes.

 

You mean those gizmos that look like lighters, with a latch on the end, push through the gap between seat and gap, snap onto the U-bolts in there? I liked those.

We went through car seats with our kids, than went through it again with grandkids, lol. I was really out-of-touch the first time with grandkids, trying to put 3 seats in, at the airport, as fast as possible.

 

There are pictures posted somewhere.
You know,
Gen4 with spare has level floor with seats down
Gen4 without spare has back hatch floor ~ 2.5 in lower than the seats when down (step change down from seats)
Prime no spare has back hatch floor ~4-6 inch higher than seats when down (slanty slope up from seats)

 

Diagonal distance closed and open, and vertical distance.

 

Or you just leave the seats up, and put the bins on the seats.

 

Don't let 'em kid you; the Prime has plenty of trunk space. Note that all my band equipment, including my big stool with backrest, little stool for my amp, big guitar, boom stand, mic & cable, amp, tip jar, a bunch of CD's to sell, small PA amp, banner, guitar stand, and I've still got tons of room for another passenger AND contraband!! .


Wish me luck, we're playing in Pomona at the Shaun Diamond Plaza, 6-9pm

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Yup, first large load you confirm all fits just fine.

 

Amazing all that stuff does not fall to one side.

 

Great gig last night; got to play with our first drummer again after about 8 years absence. Audience was fantastic; little kids were throwing money into the tip jar! Lots of applause! Old age made it a little rough after 3rd hour; bass player and I were freezing our fingers (we were playing outside in Pomona), but we made it, and got our check!
Prime EV dropped to 35 this morning on Entune, because drive was all freeway, about 80 mile round trip. HOWEVER! nice helper at the gig helped me find empty parking lot with "open" 110V outlets. Popped her in and got me 25.3 EV charge in just under 4 hours!. All in all, a great night!

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My wife and I picked up our new Prius Prime this weekend (Classic Silver, purchased in Portland OR at dealer invoice price before the $1,000 Toyota rebate) !!! Our previous car was a 2005 Prius, which we bought new in the fall of 2004 (which we are selling to our daughter and son-in-law at a bargain price.)

The Prime trunk space proved to be an immediate problem for us, as well as lots of other diminished space from our '05 Prius!

My wife and I had traveled down from Bremerton WA to Portland to visit family and pick up our new car. We had 2 carry-on size suitcases, lap-top bag, small backpack, and two shoe boxes in the cargo area of our '05 Prius, with the cargo cover pulled over all of it. In the space below the cargo floor we also had a set of tire chains (never used in 10 years, but we sometimes travel over mountain passes where chains can be required in the winter), an emergency road kit and small tool case (often used, always to help some other stranded motorist), a medium first aid kit and a big plastic tarp. We also had some bungee cords, 50 feet of parachute cord, gloves, some cleaning cloths, a bottle of rainX, the cargo net that came with the '05 Prius (often used, but not on this trip), and the small first-aid kit that came with the car, all stashed in the side floor bins of the Prius. And, of course there was also the mini-spare under all of that, but we weren't transferring that to our new car.

We managed to transfer all of these same items (without the spare tire) into our new Prime -- just barely. The Prime cargo area was packed to the gills, with no visibility out the back and no way to pull over the cargo cover the top. ***What a difference in the practical storage between an Gen 2 Prius and a Prius Prime (In a bad way)!!!***

Then there were all the other things stored in our '05 Prius cubbyholes. We quickly found that the side pockets in the doors are **much smaller** in the Prius Prime. The center console storage is also smaller, and much more awkward to use with its side-opening lid. The square box of Kleenex that fits perfectly in the little slide-out draw in the front of our '05 center console would not fit anywhere in the Prime. The two glove boxes in our '05 Prius could hold all sorts of stuff, and the owners manual in its leather case fit in a slot at the back of the lower glove box, taking up almost no space at all. In our new Prime, the owners manual (actually several manuals in a leather case) took up the entire glove box, leaving no space whatsoever for anything else. We ended up having to put most of the odds-and-ends stored in our '05 Prius cubbyholes into a plastic bag on the back seat floorboard. Not very accessible, and not at all practical.

But wait, there's more... We also had two bungee cords we had stretched across the floor in an X pattern in our '05 Prius (not being used on this trip but very often used when carrying smaller items). I went to move those into our new Prius Prime, and discovered there are ***no tie down hooks*** in the Prime! So much for keep smaller, loose items from sliding all over the trunk (and becoming a safety hazard in a sudden stop).

Sure, the Prime trunk space can hold lots of things, but overall, the Prime is a very impractical car for storage space. In my opinion, Toyota engineers 15 years ago were a lot smarter and much more customer-oriented than Toyota engineers are today. Today's Toyota design engineers have made a lot of dumb choices when it comes to practical storage space.

Despite all our gripes about storage space, we sure loved our 200 mile trip back to Bremerton in our new Prime ! It drives much more smoothly and gets much better gas mileage than our '05 Prius on a longer trip, and the smart cruise control became and instant favorite feature!

 

You might consider getting a receiver hitch. This provides multiple 'overflow' options including towing although I've not found a trailer light kit, yet.

GOOD LUCK!
Bob Wilson

 

Obviously, your previous Prius was just too large We went from a Fiat 500e to the Prime, so we are now driving a huge vehicle! Actually, I agree with your comments concerning the cargo space (shape). The Fiat had a better shaped cargo area for grocery bags.

 

Making due with less "cubby" space | PriusChat

 

I found a lot of the same issues you pointed out. I decided to down size. I (unlike you) had never needed 90% of what I packed away. So I figured why carry it anymore. Must be the boy scout in us..."be prepared".