Looking at Prius for the first time.

The five will have 3 door sks, the driver,passemher, and hatch doors will unlock if the fob is nearby, very nice. The Three will only do so with the drivers door, mot as nice. Read the chapter on customizations with the sales giy, and make getting your customixations a condition of sale.

 

Welcome to PriusChat! You've come to the very best place to have all your questions answered, and to learn all you'll ever need to know about Prii. I have a Gen II, and I realize that this might not answer your question, but I can say that friends who have ridden in the back of mine, have been mightily impressed by the head-room, and the incredible amount of useful space when the rear seats are folded flat (so easy to do - takes all of 10 secs at most). I can carry more stuff in my Prius than I could in my previous Toyota (1993 Corolla DX Wagon) - Good luck! …and I think you'll be happy with any Prius you buy! - Wil

 

Well I don't want to "incite" any problems, but my "insight" would suggest the back seats are excellent in the Prius v, lots of room with a sliding and reclining mechanism (like the front except the backs are 2 wide and 1 wide). If I had dogs I would probably buy seat covers but the factory covers can be replaced pretty easily and are on ebay. So you could just replace them if they were ripped. I would scotchguard or similar to avoid most stains. You can also fold the back seats forward for an almost flat surface as well as folding the front passenger all the way back. Just go down to the dealer and look at these features.

Concerning the v5 for three door keyfree opening, I just set my v3 to open all 5 doors with the driver's keyfree mode or use the remote to open all doors. (With the car off, Press and Hold "Lock" and "Unlock" keyfob for 5 seconds to change the keyfree mode). I would consider the better navigation you can get on a v5 IF you really needed the best, although the middle range navigation of the v3 gets the job done.

 

…the SKS on my Gen II is configurable for all combos.

 

Rear seating for adults in our v Five is more comfortable than our old Grand Caravan with Captain's Chairs.

 

My 2 kids are 6'5" 300 and 6'6" 170 and they fit in the back of the v with the front seats back as far as they will go.

I bought a three and had the Softex armrests and seat-covers added as dealer installed (they farmed it out to an auto upholstery shop but the kit they used has a Toyota part number). Fives weren't available when I was buying.

Weathertech "rubber" mats for the rear luggage compartment would be good for the dogs. Add a bit of sound reduction too.

I can't say that the car is more comfortable than a Grand Caravan. Nor is it going to have the cargo capacity one of those monsters had. But then it probably won't need the transmission and engine replacements my Grand Caravan needed either.

 

I've seen many full sized sedans with less leg room in the back than the v has. Its an impressively roomy back seat.

 

Downsizing from an Expedition to a Prius is going to be quite a change. Are you sure that's necessary? I see you live in Las Vegas and the city is not all that big, what type of mileage do you put on your cars?

I like the idea of having a Prius but in your case, with 2 GROWING teens and 2 dogs, you might need a bigger car. Even if you bought a small SUV (Rav4 or CRV), that would be downsizing quite a big in mpg. And being in Vegas, I don't really know how much driving you can do in that city (unless you are a traveling salesperson)

 

Ditto the "Welcome to Prius-chat"!
I bought the Standard Prius, with the option pack 3, for the sun roof! My wife loves the sun roof, and had to have it! The solar powered vent is nice too as it does bring in cool air to the car while it is parked outside. As far as the sunroof itself, its better than most these days as the last two cars we had, had pop up wind deflectors that would rise, as you fully open the sun roof. On our 2013 Dodge Dart, the pop up wind deflector was like a 3" high black metal screen on a metal frame, and sure enough, it did catch LOTS of bugs! (Splat!) On our 2010 Honda Accord, it was this plastic castle roof looking thing, but both wind deflectors were designed to stop that "helicopter concussion" sound you can get inside the car from wind turbulence. The nice thing about the Toy wind deflector, is it is smooth, it slant rises up before the sun roof, and it does not catch bugs, or sound like a screen or plastic castle roof sticking straight up into the wind. My wife drives everywhere with it open, and loves it, and I do not miss all the complaints about the other sun roof's we had that were "buggy and noisy". (She does have to close it to talk on the hands free phone).

As far as the Toy Nav that you get with the 3 or 5,, well,, it works---> OK,, and it will get you there, but its no Garmin. I wish Toy would let you get the sun roof, without the Nav as I have bought a portable Garmin to use, in place of our Toy Nav, as I no longer trust the Toy nav for the "best" directions. You can see my thread as to why, here:

2014 Toyota Nav, who is it made by? Any updates? | PriusChat

I have not done any long distance driving comparisons between the Toy Nav, and the Garmin I bought to replace it yet, but I had Garmin in the Dodge Dart, and it was really good, (Best nav I ever had), until the car had multiple computer problems. I am 6'2" and my wife is 5"8" but she LOVES to sit way forward, near on top of the steering wheel. Any option pack above the 3 added electric power drivers seat, and I cant stand power seats. They take way to long to motor the seat from my wifes favored position, to fully back, where I need it, where the manual seat is grab the bar, slide it back, & sit down out of the rain! Good luck deciding on 3 Vs. 5. Prius is the best MPG we have ever seen in a car!

 

In LV, after break-in and a learning curve you can expect to see 45 MPG easily if you stay off the freeway. Just be aware that driving a hybrid is very different from anything else and there's an adjustment period. I switched from a Tacoma 4x4 double cab and don't miss it at all. Neither do my 2 dogs, since now they get to drool on my shoulder instead of riding in the back of a PU.

So you will need to do a lot of adjusting, but when you leave the gas station you'll have a BIG smile. Resist the temptation to buy an extended warranty. The only time you'll see the inside of a repair shop is for scheduled maintenance.

 

If the "bells and whistles" that the 5 series offers is something as you say " I don't need all of the stuff that comes with the 5"
then the 3 series is the choice and investigating the upholstery upgrades that may meet your needs with your dogs..

We personally liked the upgrades that the 5 series offered...

 

Whem you yalk to sales, have two copis of a paper that says that one time user customizations is included in the sale.

Especially on the Two.

 

On the v Five, there is the generic and the Advanced Technology Package, which adds $$$$ thousands more and has all the radar and upgraded gee-gaws. I would have enjoyed the panoramic roof, but it wasn't worth the dollars or complexity of the ATP package.
.

 

The Softex is a BIG plus with dogs and teenagers in the car. Everything just washes right off. Personally I think the ATP is a fair deal considering all that comes with it. The stereo is a considerable improvement, 7" HD screen, all the technology for speed control and parking, and of course the moon roof. I was resistant to the radar controlled cruise control at first, but now I use it all the time. The $5K extra is a big bite, but seems less so the longer you use it.

Oh, and good luck with the "negotiating" price part.

 

I can imagine, but then I enjoy actively participating in the driving.... ;-)

 

A Prius-v Five with ATP is rare enough for dealers to just say no to haggling. I think you can still get 0% financing on it, which is worth more than several thousand off the price. A regular Five is a lot easier to get. If you get an on-line price quote, expect to get about that and nothing more. You should also be getting 2 years of free maintenance, and 1 year of free SOS emergency coverage (with the ATP package).