...and the onlookers were impressed too

That's very interesting. I never realized that the front seat folded all the way flat. I'll have to try that out. Do both front seats go flat (for sleeping)? Or just the passenger seat?

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You have to move it all the way forward and remove the headrest, then it just shoves down past the front of the rear seat. I don't know if the driver's seat does as well. I THINK it is meant more for Tony's use, longer items fitting inside than sleeping so maybe not.

This feature made the switch from '95 Odyssey to Prius easier. I love the abiility to put longer items, such as wood, in my vehicle and drive it home.

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Smart woman I won't print the words I use to describe particle board. More glue than wood, doesn't hold nails or screws as well as real wood and weighs a LOT more than pine, and probably more than hardwoods as well. I can go on but I'm sure you get the idea by now ;-)

In addition it is not really suited for horizontal loads. More than likely your shelves would be sagging unless supported vertically much more frequently than you need with real wood.

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(daniel\";p=\"41665)</div>

I believe it's just the passenger seat.

One of Toyota's Prius Web page Flash animations is trying to fit various things into a Prius, and it shows the passenger seat going flat; I saw it repeated in teh sales brochure as well.

It appears to be one of the things the Prius marketing folks thought would be a strong point of the car.

Way to go, Tony... you didn't have that sports car drive up next to you and the driver yell, "Dude what you got in that thing?"did you??? like the Dodge commercial.... hahaha

thanks for the picture, Bob Andersen

That is really cool. I want to check it out right now. I do want to be able to sleep in the car, in a pinch.

Four years ago I was looking at getting an Avalon. When my wife and I noticed that it only had a small opening behind the rear center arm rest, we quickly switched to getting our second Camry. But the Prius has the fold down rear seats on the Camry beat by a mile for hauling long items.

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Worked on me One of the things I lose going from my Odyssey to the Prius is the ability to slide 8 foot 2x10s straight up the middle and close the rear door. I can still have 4 people in the car. It's shotgun seat doesn't fold flat back so I have to remove it (4 bolts, very easy) if I want to carry a fair bit of lumber. Seeing this feature in the rental Prius makes it a lot easier to accept the change. I can still do the 2x10 thing (after covering the seats), as long as I don't have more than one passenger. I still don't have nearly the total cargo space but for funtionality, the Prius does very well.

Wow, that is really cool! I fit very well, even at 6'5". A little bit of padding would help, but it is nice having your head under the hatch window looking up at the sky, all stretched out with your feet comfortably extending into the front seat area. Also, with the front seat like that it is a nice table for my laptop, which I am planning on hooking up to my auxiliary GPS and the mini-scanner when it is available, to give me black box "flight" recorder capability. As well as mp3 playing, DVD watching and wi-fi sniffing.

Being able to pull into a campground late at night without having to set up, or to get some good sleep at a rest area, is really great. Just need to tint the windows or get curtains that hook up with suction cups or something, for privacy. And travel light enough so that I can stow everything and sleep at the same time. Plenty of room behind the driver seat for the dog to sleep in the car as well.

This is the third *wow* thing I have learned about my car. The first was the DC outlet in the compartment under the driver's right arm, and the second was being able to dim the dashboard to the point where the speedometer and the gas gauge turn off and the screen goes white on black, for late night stealth driving.

Listening to guidance in French is also pretty cool. Then I call her Morticia, after the Addams family character that drives Gomez wild when she speaks French.

Tony... I think you've found the first hybrid SUV... move over Dodge Magnam...... :lol: :lol:

Bob Andersen

Thank you, Tony, for your detailed explanation. I saved it in a text file. I am going to try it tomorrow morning! I had read about it-- but hadn't tried it. Now I will.

So keep a double air bed and a couple of sleeping bags and youve got a camper too!

So it does work for the driver's seat? I tried a bit, but had a hard time. You have to make sure to put the back seats down after putting the front seats down, I've discovered.

I drove out of my map region for the first time over the weekend, CA to AZ. Looking for how to change the map area (manual, what manual?) I discovered how you can change the display color. Learn some thing new all the time.

Lest anyone get the wrong visual image, while the rear seat backs fold forward, they do not end up flush with the fully reclined front seats. They rest on the rear seat cushions. There is then a drop in height matching the front to back width of the rear seat backs. You can see in Tony's second picture they are about level with the top of the center console. I don't think anyone would be very comfortable sleeping with their head under the rear hatch and legs dropping into the front seat However, if there were a cushion of proper dimensions placed on the front seat ......

My 2 cents on putting the front seat back all the way down. I DO keep my hand there, opposite Tony's suggestion. It IS a tight fit and I use my hand to compress the cushion a little so there is less fabric/fabric rubbing. I figure that will keep wear down to a minimum.

I would reccommend to have a small inverter to power the pump thats on an Aero Bed (probably twin sized). Plus, aero beds roll up pretty small, so you could keep it in the hatch area with an inverter if ya want. :mrgreen: