Small SUV to Prius

I would suggest that the Prius v would be a perfect replacement for one of those small SUVs. In my case, I downsized from a Sienna to a Prius v and find it to work perfectly for my needs.

 

We were going to purchase a CRV, but the Prius v changed our mind.

 

It may be a hard sell if he/she is outdoorsy and going skiing and camping often. Not as much in space but it is a tall order to beat Forester on snow and in off-road conditions.

Put it on-road and if you don't need to deal with climbing I-17 from Camp Verde to Flagstaff too often then yes, it is a match. Also Prius in OEM trim does not handle that well, you'd need either Prius Plus package, or rear stabilizer/strut tower brace to help it good luck

 

Welcome, Happs - I'd say we're outdoorsy. Our 2nd home is near the mouth of Glacier National Park, and I've posted different kayaking pic's from up there, now & then. We've driven 1,000's of Prius miles in snow. No big deal. Our Prius certainly can't out-perform our RX-400h AWD (especially with 4 studded tires), but as the old adage goes, AWD lets you get stuck 10% farther out than 2wd.

Btw, our neighbor 5 doors down has the little SUV escape hybrid. It's a SULEV, gets great mpg's, AND extra room. I'd guess it's got one of THE highest cubic foot capacity versus mpg ratings, though I haven't checked that exact ratio out yet. We came from a 2 SUV family. Both 4x4's. Ford Exploader, and the even more fuel glutinous Range Rover. We never looked back.

 

I went from an 07 Subaru Outback to an 11 Prius. The Prius offers about double the MPGs; much more driver and passenger space and comfort; and acceptable (but a bit less) cargo space. The Gen III Prius actually has slighter better acceleration than the last generation 4-cyl non-turbo Outback. I will say that the Outback was awesome in snow and ice. I'm looking forward to seeing how the Prius with good winter tires does in that respect.

 

I saw a guy who was trying to convince his wife to go from a Honda Pilot to a Prius v. Poor guy lost out. She got him looking at Sienna minivans. Ah well.

 

I went from a Saturn Vue to the Gen III and the only time I needed to use the suv in a whole year's time was when I had to pick up 125+ cases of Girl Scout cookies.

I'm now 100% convinced we no longer have to have an suv for cargo because the occasional need is nearly nil. That's what friends with minivans are for.

 

I went from a 2001 Forester to a 2009 Prius. Everything fits.

 

We got rid of our station wagon for the Prius. We loved the Magnum, but the 13mpg was horrible.. Our small SUV (Trailblazer) went 2nd later on in the year for the Volt.. The Prius is certaintly very roomy, and has a lot of tech features. Personally I think the Volt is a better replacement for a small SUV than a Prius because it is wider and has more room on the center console (me and my wife don't bump elbows like in the Prius). It all just depends on what you want though. Sometimes you just cannot convince people. I get asked all the time on both cars about the batteries, what am I going to do when they die, etc.. Eventually they will come around though, or wallow in their sorrows when they can't go anywhere cause it costs $100 to fill up.

 

We've had a 1 gen Rav4 (2wd) and a Nissan Quest mini-van. The prius can haul pretty much anything the Rav could but not the Quest (22 cu ft fridge, two dirt bikes,).

 

We have a GenII Prius and a 2006 Rav4. The cargo room is greater in the Rav4 but in most circumstances the Prius does the job but when we have the two 19yr old kids, the dog and luggage the Prius just doesn't cut it anymore. Otherwise the Prius does everything we need.

If these people do a lot of off-road excursions then it is hard to beat the Rav4. If they don't then the Prius will work great and gets double the MPG easily and even more if they are not maniacs behind the wheel. Our 2006 Rav4 4cyl only gets 22mpg to a tank.

 

Rav4 is somewhat taller, so you can bring the new dryer home in box in a Rav4 whereas in Prius v, it's probably not going to fit.

If you need to haul dryers a lot, get the Rav4 and keep twice the money in hand for gas

 

Or just wait for the new Rav4 EV to hit the streets. It is looking to be a good vehicle. Depends on how willing you are to jump from gas to full EV though... If you are determined to get a hybrid the Highlander is hard to beat for cargo & fuel mileage. It gets over 30mpg's in a full size SUV with third row seating (barely big enough for small kids, but hey it is there when you need it). It gets above 30mpgs with the actual rating being 35 on the window sticker for city driving. I test drove one and it was extremely nice. Depends on how much money you are looking to spend though. That is double the price of a Prius. Although you can get decent used ones for the high 20's.

 

Sort of - I went from a CR-V to a Passat wagon to my Prius.

I had the original CR-V and it was a car that I really did not like - ride and handling were unrefined at best and it was way under powered.

Going to the Passat was great - the car drove unbelievably well and it had most of the utility of the CR-V.

In going to the Prius I did give up a bit of space - the sloping roof line in the back was the biggest loss but still the car has a lot of usable space - the designers at Toyota did a great job with that. Even though my wife has a small/mid size SUV (Acura RDX) we take the Prius on most of the family trips - there are 4 of us - and rarely have an issue with room.

As for comparing it size-wise to the Forester do they have an older one or a newer one from the redesign about 4 years ago? The newer one is quite a bit larger than the older version. I think that with the older one you could stack it up against the OP (original Prius), the newer one would probably stack up more against the new Prius v.

 

Or, rent a dinky trailer for that once every 8 year experience.

 

I went from a 2007' Pathfinder to a 2010 Prius III and my pet is a Great Dane........ Absolutly no regrets!!!! You have to be commited to the change. Just know that there will be situations where you will need the SUV but you can find ways around it. This past weekend I visited the lumber yard and brought home 10- 8 ft 2x4s in my Prius with no hasssle.... Buying the Prius has been the best decision I have made in a long time.