I'd like to get some opinions from my fellow shorties (I'm a five foot woman) as to how good the slight lines are in the new Prius. I currently drive a 2007 Hyundai Elantra, which is a good car for shorties because the driver's seat sits very high for a compact and the rear seat head rests are very low. Thanks in advance.
The driver's seat does jack up a bit. However, line-of-sight in the Gen III is limited. I strongly advise a test drive to see for yourself. Moreover, blind spot familiarity and visualization of the 4 corners do come more apparent the more you drive. I guess I'm saying--It takes practice no matter how tall you are to become accustom to your placing between the white lines.
It does jack up quite a bit, though. "Jack" is the operative word. To raise the seat, you repeatedly pull UP on the handle. Each pull gains you a skosh. To lower it, push DOWN on the handle. Each push yields a small descent.
The rear spoiler might be an issue for shorter folks in terms of rear view visibility. I'm tall so the spoiler doesn't bother me. If it does bother you, then perhaps consider a backup camera. (unfortunately it is bundled with the nav in the US)
I'm not too short (5'10") but i'm currently driving an s60 volvo, the GenIII has a great field of visibility everywhere except I wasn't quite used to how long the front end felt.
I'm only 5'2" and I did have trouble seeing all around for a while - until I put a chair cushion on the seat. (I had already raised the seat but it still wasn't high enough.) Didn't have this problem in my 2004 Prius.
