Hi All, I've been looking to get a Prius for a long distance US road trip. I was looking at gen iii models and like what I've seen. However, recent posts concerning rebates and tax breaks on the 2017 prime have led me to take a hard look at buying new. There have been comments about the cargo area being smaller so I was wondering about two things: 1. Can you still get a good six feet of space in the back of the 2017 prime for sleeping? 2. Has anybody taken the back seat out of one? Is it worth doing on this model for camping? Is it safe? Thanks.
welcome!the length and width are similar, the hatch area behind the rear seat is raised 3". the thing on all gen 4 prius is the uneven floor when you put all the seats down. you need thick foam in some places to level things out. i think there is at least one thread here, if i'm not mistaken. it isn't hard. not sure what taking out the rear seat would accomplish, the battery is under there. i think the prime would be ideal for camping.
Do I remember right, when the rear seats are folded down, the backs of the folded seats are still 3" lower than the hatch area with a sharp drop off? So if he was going to sleep in the back, he's need to deal with that drop off. Whereas the 3rd gen is relatively flat when the seats are folded down.
that's what i'm thinking. 3rd gen is definitely level. but the fourth gen's are confusing because the non prime come with and without spare tire.
I'm with you. Seems like I saw a photo on here detailing this with the rear seats down. My 2010 is definitely flat, although it is not completely level.
Thanks for the replies. I knew about the drop and don't think it will be a problem to add extra padding to get it level. There are several folks on a facebook group I'm on and some youtube videos of Prius with the rear seat removed and a custom wooden platform installed. This adds more storage space and access to that storage. Not sure I will do this but wondered if it was an option.
The area under the rear seat of the Prime actually has stuff - the battery charger and the jack. The hybrid battery is under the rear seat of the Gen-4 liftback.
I was looking on the internet to see if it was possible to use the huge lithium ion battery we have as an emergency power source by adding an inverter. Looks like there is no readily available inverter that will handle that high of a DC voltage. But then I noticed that the 12V battery on older Prius' could be attached to an inverter and produce 800 to 1000 Watts of 120V AC and the engine would automatically come on to recharge it as needed. They mentioned powering a rice cooker or even a microwave. I looked at the specs of the power outlet in the Prime and the max output is 10 amps or 120 Watts. So for camping purposes, it looks like a previous generation Prius might be the better bet.
You can run an inverter as you describe. You need to connect it directly to the 12v battery, not an accessory outlet. If you do a search, you will find several threads on successful installations.
