My Prius is a compact car?

We just recently bought our Prius, after having to lemon law our 13 Dodge Dart. When we looked around, (at Mazda 3, Hyundai Elantra GT, etc.), i was so surprised at what I saw when I looked at a Prius! The amount of space in one is truly amazing! I was thinking it WAS a mid size car, albeit with GREAT MPG so it did not matter that it "was a big car". Yet when we parked it next to the Dart on our drive way, (we had not turned the Dart in yet), I was even more shocked to see it was about the same length as the Dart! So its like it has the interior of a mid size in cargo space, yet, on the outside, more like a compact! (Reminds me of a Doctor Who Tardis a bit!) Then throw in the great engineers who designed the back seat to fold down FLAT,, with folding headrests that you do not have to remove! What a winner! We were SOLD!

 

Agreed. We went out with some friends last Saturday night. They are not Prius fans. However, they both drive coupes and asked if I could drive, one hour each way. On the way home they were commenting on how much room they had in the back and how comfortable the ride was. Then they started asking all the questions about how it charges, blah blah blah. By the end of the night, they were thinking about getting a Prius...

 

According to fueleconomy.gov, the Prius is listed as a midsize vehicle with Passenger volume of 94 ft^3 and Luggage volume of 22 ft^3. Total would then be 116 ft^3 which puts it comfortably into the midsize ranking.

Compare Side-by-Side

 

The Prius sits in a unique position here. The EPA ranks based on interior space, so it ranks the Prius as mid-size. Generally the automotive media looks at length or wheelbase to classify the car, which puts the Prius as a compact.

 

I occasionally still get to wash our previous '06 Civic (my son never does, lol). Washing the roof is an easy reach for me. With the Prius, doing the same thing, I'm on my toes and stretching, to reach the middle of the roof. When you see the two side-by-side the Prius is definitely a bigger car.

 

Recently went to the Duesenberg museum in Auburn Indiana and I can tell you that my Prius has more interior room than 90% of the cars in the museum. People back then must have been skinny and liked sitting shoulder to shoulder in the front seat. Awesome museum even if you aren't in to cars. The couple of cars with more room were meant for chauffeurs and their front seat wasn't that roomy. I guess it's all relative.

 

Maybe Prius is more of a tweener, between compact and midsize. In the Toyota line, maybe ...

Avalon is full size
Camry is mid-size
Prius is in between
Corolla is compact
Yaris is sub-compact

Prius does not have the width or rear seat legroom or headroom of a Camry, but it has more cargo room than Corolla.

Car rental companies would call corolla a midsize, Camry a fullsize and Avalon a luxury, methinks.