Anyone use the Prius for a " Young Family Car?"

Yes!! I do. A mere four weeks ago I traded in my Honda Odyssey Minivan for a Prius (pkg 4). Prior, I spent about three weeks testing driving all the Toyota hybrids and chose the Prius. I Love it!! My two kids (2 and 5yo) fit perfectly in the back and I don't miss the extra space. I was encouraged to go for the Prius by another mother with two kids (4 and 6yo) she has had hers for two years and LOVES it. I used to put ~16 gallons of gas/week in the Odyssey and now I put ~5gallons of gas/week in the Prius!!!

Our other car is a Honda CRV and will will always like something with four-wheel drive. When that car runs out we may go for the Hybrid Highlander.

If I may make some suggestions...make sure you get at least Pkg. 2, that is the lowest cost pkg with vehicle stability control. Also, the backup camera is GREAT and a must have (I'm not sure what pkg that comes with). Also, I bought the silver color as it is the safest (do a google search for the New Zealand study) - it just felt better with the kids riding so often in the car.

Good Luck!

Tracy


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We're thinking of trading in my (beloved) Guzzling SUV for a Prius. Am I crazy? We have 2 kids age 1 & 5 and this would be the main car (with the extra being an Accord - so ever-so-slightly larger). We do lots of commuting around driving with the kids in the car so this would be the one used the most to combat our insane gas prices here.

We did test drive one and "test trunk" it to make sure it would at least fit the essentials and it would. I will have to learn to travel more lightly though.

Thoughts?
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2 kids is no problem. We even take it traveling and camping.

When the kids' friends come is when we want the van.

 

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(GoEco @ Apr 17 2007, 05:25 PM) [snapback]424933[/snapback]</div>

Our family is only three, but we love the Pri. This summer we plan on shifting the car seat to one side, put down the other back seat flat, and load it up. We'll be taking suitcases, baby stuff, and a cello cross country. The Prius replaced my Cavalier, and I was shocked when I realized I traded UP in size!

My 2 cents is that if you're a really young family like ours, and have never bought the minivan/suv, DON'T! You won't miss it.

 

We frequently pack 2 adults, a near two-year-old, the stroller, a bunch of toys, and suitcases comfortably into the Prius very comfortably. This included a winter drive from Madison to Chicago to catch a flight to Florida, which entailed packing two seasons' worth of clothes.

 

We've got a 3.5 year old in a booster seat and a 7 month old in a carseat. The only "problem" is that the rear-facing carseat for the baby doesn't allow the passenger seat directly in front of it to move all the way back. This is only an issue when we're all in the car together and my wife is driving, since it's a little tight for me in the passenger seat that way (not a problem for my wife though if I'm driving). Also in a few months we'll be able to turn the car seat around to forward facing and that will alleviate the problem. Overall it's very spacious in the rear seat. Most adults can fit back there very comfortably. You should have no problems with a 1 and 5 year old. BTW, the Prius has slightly more rear leg room than the Accord. You also get more cargo room in the Prius compared to most any regular car with a trunk.

 

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(GoEco @ Apr 17 2007, 06:25 PM) [snapback]424933[/snapback]</div>

Six year old and 11 year old here, and it works fine. The rear legroom is very good for a small car, and the hatchback configuration is handy. Not even close to running out of legroom in the back. It won't comfortably handle any more adults, though, so 2 parents + 2 kids + grandma was too much of a squeeze for us. And packing for a vacation is a squeeze if you tend to pack a lot of stuff. For running around town, it has worked well for us for the past 2 years.

 

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(efusco @ Apr 17 2007, 08:49 PM) [snapback]425011[/snapback]</div>

My situation mirrors Evan's. Soon after taking delivery of the Prius, we found out #3 was on the way. If you have only 2 kids, then the Prius is a great car. Sure it's got less room than an SUV, but as you said, just learn to pack lighter.

With 3 kids, the Prius is NOT ideal. It does work, but it is much more difficult. We still have an SUV, and even though we can get better mileage on long trips in the Prius, we always take the SUV because everyone fits better and has more room. I consider comfort for mileage a fair trade-off.

So if you plan on staying with only 2 kids, then the Prius will be just fine.

We're 1 1/2 years into our Prius and love it.

 

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(DocVijay @ Apr 18 2007, 12:26 AM) [snapback]425097[/snapback]</div>

Au contrair. We bought the Pri to drag our 11- year old triplets to school and activities every day, and they fit fine in the back seat. We're in the Pri about an hour total weekdays, no trouble or fisticuffs so far. It did take an adjustment to get used to loading all the backpacks, cello (small child sized cello), viola and clarinet into the back area, but otherwise a smooth transition.

When they start driving in 4 years, the Pri will be theirs.

Do still have the honking big SUV for dragging lots of kids or to pull the camping trailer, but usually only drive it once a week now.

 

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(screaming red @ Apr 17 2007, 11:56 PM) [snapback]425120[/snapback]</div>

And therein lies the key. If you have kids that are not in car seats or booster seats then yes, you can easily fit them in the back. But try and fit three car seats in the back. Evan (efusco) did it, but I could not. I tried to get it to work, but I was never able to get them to fit properly and still close the door.

 

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(DocVijay @ Apr 18 2007, 12:09 AM) [snapback]425130[/snapback]</div>

How long are they in the car seats? (I don't have kids and we didn't have car seats when I was little. At least nothing beyond the baby stage.)

 

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(GoEco @ Apr 18 2007, 02:48 AM) [snapback]425194[/snapback]</div>

Rent. We went without a second car for a few months. The weekend rates at our local rent-a-car seemed really reasonable to me. I joined flexcar (Washington DC area) for another option but never used it. I seemed to "need" a larger vehicle about once a week, and finally broke down and bought a Mazda5 for hauling more than four people at a time.

That said, the economics of rent versus own are good. Just the fixed costs of owning a lightly used ("spare") $20K auto (interest depreciation tax registration insurance) would have paid for 18 full weekend rentals (Friday PM to Monday AM) or 36 one-day rentals of a minivan at my local car rental place. And that's the most expensive thing they rent. If you only needed a full-sized sedan, you'd get twice as many days. Flexcar, by contrast, rents by the hour, so if you only need it for occasional errands, that's very cost effective.

But it's not instantly available and car seats would be a major hassle and so on. So I took the lazy route and bought another car. But if you really only need a hauler a few times a year, it would be vastly cheaper and greener. Greener not just because it means not building another car, but mainly because if you have the big car there, you'll use it. Just because it's convenient.

 

Nah, it sucks.

We had the Prius for a year, just the two of us. It's ok, small on the bigger trips and we seemingly only get 45mpg or so on open road like that when I get closer to 52-53mpg in daily commuter traffic.

Then, add a baby and it's just not that great. Got the car seat in the middle in the back. One of us shoehorned into the seat on either side of that. The other side of the back seat with diaper bag, camera bag, stufff.... Back has some luggage, couple pillows, it's not that big. Front passenger side is the stroller in it's folded up position since there is no way this fits with the luggage in the back.

Now that we're all compressed in the car, we're getting terrible mileage by my Pruis standards and it's absolutely not comfortable. It's doable, but in no way comfortable. At this point, the prius also feels 'loaded'

And, so we're looking into Odyssey or Sienna in the next few months. As gas goes to $3.50 and we're the only ones in America looking to buy a minivan, I'm hoping to get a good deal.

 

The Prius is a great family car. We have a 13 and 14 year old. This summer we plan on taking it to the west coast and back, camping. The roof rack will likely drop our mileage from the mid-50's to the low 40's, but it sure beats an RV!

PA P

 

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(GoEco @ Apr 17 2007, 02:25 PM) [snapback]424933[/snapback]</div>

Well, we're not young (i.e., my wife and I), but I've had both of us, my son, my older daughter, and one of our grandsons all in the car at the same time. My daughter wasn't with us for the longer part of the trip. We've picked her up at SeaTac and drove her with us to Olympia. No problems, including all of our luggage. All of our luggage wasn't that much because it was only a 650 mile round trip for us. My wife, the same grandson, and I went to California a few weeks ago. Anyway, again no problems.

Two kids shouldn't be a problem, other than the normal keeping them entertained while traveling. I bought a 12V DVD player with screen from Radio Shack for $130. That helps some.

Dave M.