Looking for advice

1) with the seats up and not blocking the view thru the window I would rate the luggage capacities about the same. However if you carry a large stroller check the width. Putting it in at an angle will eat up a lot of space. We carry an unbrella stroller for our grand daughter and it fits nicely towards the rear of the car but would have to go at an angle if pushed back towards the seatback.

2) I like the driving up mode as it corresponds with what you're seeing as you look out of the front window. Change the scale and the map won't move around so much

3) I only have an iPod Touch. It works well with bluetooth but I plan to add the new interface soon when I go in for my first service.

 

By the press of a button, you can switch to North Up Mode, which turns the car, not the map. The map is always displayed with North Up so you do not have that disorienting swing.

My wife prefers the map swing. I hate it and turn it back to North Up when she leaves the car!

 

Wow! That's pretty impressive mileage. That's almost 25% higher than the EPA numbers for a 2005 Corolla (assuming it is a 5-speed stick). I don't think you can rely on getting 25% higher than EPA numbers for a 2010 Prius; that would get you to 62.5MPGs!

There will be nothing better for you than to take items you'll usually pack and move them directly from the Corolla's trunk to the Prius. According to the EPA site, the 2005 Corolla has 14cu.ft. of luggage space, while the 2010 Prius has 22cu.ft. I don't believe this includes the space below the floor of the cargo area, but it may include the space above the tonneau cover. They advertise it as large enough for 3 golf bags, but I'd say they'd have to be 3 very large golf bags to use all of the space. I've noted in another thread that I've packed two large golf bags and one small one, while I've also had two large lawn chairs (folded into their rectangular bags) and other assorted items -- all underneath the tonneau cover.

There is no "streetview" option, but you do not have to have the view so that the direction of your car is always in the "up" position. You can set it that way or with North in the "up" position. I like to use the split screen mode where the left is North "up" with a larger perspective and the right screen has the car's direction "up" and shows only the couple of blocks around the car.

The iPhone works well with the built-in bluetooth handsfree system. Also, I really like the sound quality and convenience of using the bluetooth system for streaming audio. You need to update the operating system to OS 3.0 for this to work. The only shortcoming is that you cannot use the controls on the steering wheel for the audio (excepting volume and choice of source).

 

1. The prius has MUCH more luggage space in the hatch than the corolla has in the trunk. My sister-in-laws corolla can't fit nearly what I fit under the hatch of the prius.
2. Factory nav sucks (please don't flame). Not just on the prius, but on pretty much every car I've ever driven with nav. For the money, a garmin or tomtom is a MUCH better option.
3. I don't have an I-Phone, but my blackberry connects perfectly without nav and I use voice controls for pretty much everything.

P.S. If you average 38mpg in the corolla, then I wouldn't be surprised if you could get close to 65 mpg out of the prius. Go for it!

 

I have a 2003 Corolla and I was really impressed with the space in the 2010 Prius hatch when I had my test drive. I'll be able to compare better once I transfer all of my crap into our new Prius in a few weeks.

 

I'm with you on North Up. I think north up promotes learning your way around local roads without the gps. After driving around an area for long enough you'll have the image of the local map in your head. I don't think that'd be as easy if the map was constantly shifting around. At least for me, I think the shifting map would just make me more dependent on the gps.

 

Regarding the luggage space. We just took a 9 hour (one-way) trip last week with our family of 4. Behind the back seats we had: 2 pieces of luggage (that are maximum carry-on size), a duffle bag, 2 laptop backpacks, a pillow, and a medium sized cooler.

The view out the back was the same as with the cover on, but the luggage was just a bit too high for me to keep the cover attached.

I managed to pack 2 large (12x15) scrapbooks, a box of photos, a bag of scrapbooking supplies, and 2-12 packs of soda in the compartment below!!

My family was amazed at how much my new Prius could carry!!

 

The JBL 6-disc, 8-speaker radio that comes standard in the III, IV, and V trim levels includes bluetooth for your phone (note, however, that it does not include the bluetooth streaming audio feature).

Some advanced functionality is included when upgrading to the Navigation Package.

 

I'm not 100% sure, but I believe that the 15.7 cu.ft. measurement is everything behind the backseat, under the tonneau cover (i.e.: including under the floor, but not blocking visibility). The 22 cu.ft. measurement is everything behind the backseat up to the hatch glass, AFAIK.