Featured 2023 driving review by Kelly Blue Book

they've done a pretty good job on the surface, but a lot of questions remain unanswered.

time will tell

 

Does he mention his height (I skimmed some)? He’s not impressed by rear seat head and knee room. It’s a sunroof model IIRC (which is all we can get in Canada).

I was just in the garage, dealing with recycling/compost/garbage, and our 2010 garage Queen Touring is looking pretty good at 96K…., kilometres.

 

6'4"

 

Yes he mentions his height - which is the same as my height. And as this screenshot from the video shows;



a younger person can easily bend their neck down further on a lower roofline, as well as enter by putting all of one's weight on just one leg. That's not exactly something that's easily accomplished by most of us over 60-years-old folks.

Notice also what most of us 6½ft people will do .... the seat is all the way back to where the roof line is highest. If the seat is mostly forward? The entrance is moved forward - and forward placed seat entry gymnastics increase exponentially for us older folks when the roof line is lowered up front.

The Prius V was on our shopping list until my better ½ found it difficult to enter it, due to its significantly sloped windshield
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I’m only 5’-11 and change, but one of our sons is 6’-7…

 

I'm 6'4", and after the second generation Prius, the back seat has become less and less friendly (and safe) for tall people.

 

i'm 5'-7", maybe they'll give me a discount

 

I think our 3rd gen was officially termed "mid-sized". Wonder if that's still the case with 5th gen. Probably, due to plan dimensions, wheel base or whatever, but it's getting to be a squeaker.

 

For the EPA, it is based on total volume of passenger and cargo space.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vehicle_size_class

 

Agree with this, though my 3rd Gen is pretty close too.

Rear headroom is one of the few* concerns I have with the 5th Gen, as I am fairly tall (6’2”), and I have two boys - one teenager (15) and a nearly-teen (11) who are trending to take after my height… so I will be checking out the headroom closely when I see one in person at the Toronto Autoshow next week.

* the oddball tire sizes is another primary annoying concern, but I have to think that Toyota has a plan for this (or knows something we don’t) and this size will become more commonplace in the near future… I hope. But I digress…

 

If the bolt & wheel offset are similar to other toyotas, one could always sell off the OEM set of 4. That would get expensive for someone that just paid $5,000 over MSRP.
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This was one of our main reasons for getting a hybrid Avalon. I'm 6'1" and can move the front seat to where I'm comfortable and then get in the rear seat and still have plenty of room.

I know the RAV4 may be easier to get in and out of. But man! I've never sat in the rear of a RAV4 without having the circulation cut to my calves and feet from having the front seats smashed back up against my shins.

 

I think everything in life is a compromise. You're not going to get a Prius as long as a bus doing 70mpg. I think the new Prius is leaps forward as it's faster AND more efficient. Amazing.

 

But if the compromise favors someone else's preference over yours? I don't floor the 200hp Avalon as is, nor would I have any need to have more power in a Prius.

A longer Prius may not get as good as mileage as a normal Prius, but with the laws of physics in mind, it's better aerodynamically to make a vehicle longer than it is to make it taller if what you want is more interior space.

 

A longer Prius could have a better Cd, as the length allows the design to have cleaner separation of the air at the back.

Got curious. The Avalon hybrid Cd is 0.27. I suspect it has a larger frontal area than the Prius.
First-Ever Toyota Avalon XSE Hybrid Nightshade Edition Highlights Changes for 2022 - Toyota USA Newsroom

 

Yes, longer means less agressive angles. My dream car would be an Aptera station wagon...

The Avalon trys harder at looking like a sedan with a noticeable hood and trunk with a passenger area bump in the middle. That's not as good as the Prius which has the passenger area slope all the way to the end of the hatch.