Third Date: 2015 Toyota Prius V

With more interior room and a garage-friendly footprint that’s not too much bigger than the standard Prius, the 2015 Toyota Prius V is winning us over pretty quickly. Would the extra cargo-hauling capacity punish us at the pump, though?

How Was It?

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In many ways, driving the larger Toyota Prius V was a lot like driving a regular Prius, but better. Whilethe standard Prius reminds you, constantly, that its 1.8 liter Hybrid Synergy Drive power plant was not taken out of a performance car, the Prius V somehow manages to feel capable of smoothly accelerating up to highway speeds. It’s a bit of a mystery, considering both the “regular” Prius andPrius V carry on with the same drive train- and the difference is noticeable enough that I actually went to Toyota’s site to compare the power outputs of the two models.

I suspect there is some software trickery afoot that’s giving the Toyota Prius V a more aggressive throttle tip-in than its more tightly-packed siblings, but I can’t prove it. Instead, I’ll simply say that “it was better than the regular Prius.”

The interior of the 2015 Prius V, also, felt bigger and more open than I expected a “Prius wagon” to feel. I was also impressed that Toyota went to the effort of designing a whole new interior for the car, instead of just re-using the standard Prius’ bits. GM and Mercedes could learn a lot on that point.

What Do I Expect Now?

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  Plenty of leg room.

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One thing I’ll say about the folding rear seats of the Prius V that I definitely can’t say about, for example, the Chevy Trax, is that this could easily be a multi-kid car. Even with one of the 60/40 rear bench seats folded down, you could reasonably fit 2 kids back there (albeit, snugly). With the rear seats up, there is plenty of cargo room in the back of the Prius V for groceries, strollers, diaper bags … I even got a set of drag wheels to fit back there!

Add in better than expected fuel economy and, well- we’ll see how I feel by the end of the week, I guess. So far, though, the 2015 Toyota Prius V seems like a winner!