We will be picking up our second Prius on Tuesday. We purchased our 2010 Prius V/ATP in October and we have grown to love it. I was very concerned about how it would perform in snow and how much room there was for luggage on long road trips. Our concerns were allayed by driving around in one of the worst New England winters in years and by taking a 3200 mile roadtrip to 3 different locations in Florida over the last 3 weeks. We were able to carry 2 sets of golf clubs,two collapsible golf carts, two large overstuffed American Tourister suitcases, a cooler, two pillows, a computer bag and a canvas travel bag. Everything fit with relative ease and I was even able to have a clear view of the road behind me. When we got home we decided it was time to look for a Prius for my wife and replace our 18MPG 2006 Sienna XLE. We decided that a Prius IV would work for her as she liked all the ammenities of the V (door locks, seat heater, nav system, leather, etc.) but didn't need the V's ATP. I wasn't planning on moving this quickly but we found a Toyota Certified Pearl white 2010 IV with 12K miles. It was the dealer's loaner/demo/lease unit and it was spotless. We jumped on it and got a great deal since it had been sitting on his lot for over 3 months. As this group had pointed out, the IV provides a smoother ride and better gas mileage than the V. We got 53.5 MPG on our 50 mile test drive. After commiting to the deal there was one last van remorse issue to deal with. When we fly on vacation we take two large suitcases, two hard cases for the golf clubs and carry-on stuff. Would this all fit while opening the 40 back seat to make room for the 2 of us and whoever drives us to the airport? The answer is a resounding YES! The two hard cases fit side by side over the collapsed 60 rear seat. The real big American Tourister fits over the hard cases and the real surprise was that thanks to the collapsible headrest on the rear seat the second large suitcase fits standing up behind the front passenger seat. That leaves all the room behind the 40 seat for carry-on. So much for needing the van. Now all I need to do is remember how to program Homelink to open the garage door. arty:
