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Ironically, Prius is better than Prius v for large rear-facing child car seats.

Discussion in 'Prius v Main Forum' started by Eug, Mar 7, 2015.

  1. rolling

    rolling Junior Member

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    I went from a 2013 prius plug in to a 2015 v (lowercase v for the Prius v wagon). I found i had more room in the prius v (lowercase v for the Prius v wagon) for a rear facing car seat for both the passenger and the car seat. I have a chico 35 car seat and it fits fine. Not sure why you need a large infant seat as its an infant after all. BUT! I did have issues installing the seat in the middle as i did just fine in the plug in. I suspect this will apply to both infant seats and booster seats. There isno realistic way to safely install the seat in the middle in the v (lowercase v for the Prius v wagon). THe shape of the seats in the v (lowercase v for the Prius v wagon) cause the car seat to roll sideways. I installed the seat on the sides and used the normal LATCH connectors. On the sides i had no issues, but i just preferred having the car seat installed in the middle for that extra side impact avoidance. One thing i dont' get is why do not manufacturers provide latch connections at the middle!! Its the safest place in the car for side impacts.
     
  2. mmmodem

    mmmodem Senior Taste Tester

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    Just a quick survey of cars in my work parking lot with child car seats. Besides my own, not a single one has a car seat installed in the middle. Everyone puts it on the side for easier ingress and egress. I've mentioned this to as many as would listen, here so it's not out of ignorance. Go to any supermarket parking lot and you likely will find the same. I don't think there is incentive for Toyota to install middle LATCH anchors.
     
  3. wagonwheel

    wagonwheel Junior Member

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    When we first got the Prius v (lowercase v for the Prius v wagon) for my wife, we were sharing use of a Safety 1st Onboard 35 infant seat and it fit perfectly fine in the Prius. This is one of the larger infant seats, allowing children up to 35 lbs. I still use it today in my Dodge Charger and it fits my 17 month old daughter and will likely continue to do so until we flip her at 2 years to front facing. We now use a Safety 1st Advance SE 65 Air+ convertible seat in the Prius and, again, this is a fairly large seat when reclined for rear-facing toddlers and it fits without issue.

    My only real complaint for children in rear facing seats in the v (lowercase v for the Prius v wagon) is that I wish there were better vents for the A/C back there. We shut the side vents in front and aim the middle ones straight through to the back to alleviate this as best we can. I imagine this is only an issue when rear facing and for the time being we use a clip-on foam stroller fan to blow some of that back toward her on short trips when the car is so hot.
     
  4. Eug

    Eug Swollen Member

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    I am not saying it won't work for anyone. I'm just saying that to my surprise, the Prius v is more cramped than I expected in some regards. I just assumed the Prius v would be bigger in all respects and so anything that fits in a Prius will fit in a Prius v even easier, but that is not the case. There seems to be a 1" loss in combined legroom, and that difference may be enough to matter for some people for some usage.

    Just something to keep in mind, and the design for 3-row seating overseas as the cause makes sense.

    We will also pay close attention to the specs when we order that 2016 RAV4 AWD Hybrid, but by that time it may be less critical, since our oldest will likely be front facing by then. No more kids by the way, so a 4-seater is fine.
     
  5. Eug

    Eug Swollen Member

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    Our 1 year-old of course and our 3 year-old are still both rear facing. We'll likely keep the 3 year-old rear-facing up until at least age 4 as she's is still only 30 lbs.

    The 2016 RAV4 AWD Limited Hybrid has the same legroom specs as the 2015 RAV4 we checked out last year. We ordered the RAV4 Hybrid sight unseen.

    BTW, the RAV4 has almost 3" more combined legroom than the 2015 Prius v. Wow. And I just checked the dimensions for the 2016 Prius v. They still are short.

    2016 Prius v front legroom: 41.3"
    2016 Prius v rear legroom: 35.9"
    Combined legroom: 77.2"

    That means the RAV4 also has almost 3" more combined legroom than the 2016 Prius v. Ouch.
     
    #25 Eug, Jan 24, 2016
    Last edited: Jan 24, 2016
    TonyWilkey likes this.
  6. Quentin

    Quentin Member

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    I've owned a 2012 Prius v, 2014 Rav4, and 2016 4Runner. The Rav4 was best rear facing, but it was vastly better than the v. The 4Runner is the tightest, but my 38lb, 3.5year old is front facing in a Chicco Nextfit and we aren't having more children, so it isn't a big concern these days.


    Tandy 400
     
  7. Eug

    Eug Swollen Member

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    Thanks for the confirmation. It's too bad that the Prius v design sacrificed (young) family friendliness in North America for that 3rd row overseas. It would have been nice if the rear seats in the Prius v could have been pushed back by a couple of inches somehow in North America. That would sacrifice cargo space, but would make the rear seats much more roomy and car seat friendly.
     
  8. Lexcyn

    Lexcyn Junior Member

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    I have 2 giant car seats in my v and have had both rear facing and have had no issues. I find the v has a ton of room in the rear seats - seems to be even more than the CRV we have as well.
     
  9. mmmodem

    mmmodem Senior Taste Tester

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    This is the part I don't understand about young families. All cars and all car seats are sized differently. Regardless of size, some seats will just fit better or worse. It's a fact that the v (as in the posts above, lowercase v for the Prius v wagon) has more space than the hatchback.

    A car seat costs some $300 for the expensive ones. Cars cost around $20,000. It just doesn't make sense to me to buy a car based on how well car seats fit. If you want more space, get the v (lowercase v for the Prius v wagon). If you want better fuel economy, get the hatchback. If your current car works just fine, don't buy anything. Choose the car seat that fits your car not the car to fit your car seats. Even if you throw out your old seat and buy a new once, it's $600 combined. That's a lot less than a new car. My $0.02 and watching a lot of young families purchasing SUV's.
     
    stephane likes this.
  10. Lexcyn

    Lexcyn Junior Member

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    Exactly - plus I like to choose the car seats on which one's looks more comfortable for my kids. Last thing I want is them screaming because their seat is like sitting in a rock. I ended up getting expensive one's ($300+) because they were the more comfortable looking one's. And they don't scream whilst on long trips so I guess my sanity was worth it!!
     
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  11. PanthersFan

    PanthersFan Junior Member

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    Wow, really?! We just bought a 2013 Prius v and use a larger rear-facing car seat for our daughter (2.5 years old). We use a Chicco NextFit convertible car seat. No problem at all with space. In fact, there's MORE space between the front passenger seat and our daughter's car seat than there was in our previous car (2014 Mazda CX-5)! I'm very happy with how spacious the Prius v is.
     
  12. Air_Boss

    Air_Boss Senior Member

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    I'd like to see this "less room" scenario since the numbers on the two vehicles simply don't support it.
     
  13. Quentin

    Quentin Member

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    The NextFit is a great seat. We have one in our 4Runner and our MINI. It had loads of space behind the passenger in the v when we still had the v.

    Just for fun, here is my wife buckling our daughter into the back of her MINI.

    Image1459172513.431626.jpg
     
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  14. PanthersFan

    PanthersFan Junior Member

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    Haha, nice pic! Yup, I'm very happy with the NextFit. We're happy Chicco customers. We started with the KeyFit 30 for our daughter and moved up to the NextFit when she outgrew it.
     
  15. Steve Lee

    Steve Lee Member

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    I have two recaro sport children seat ( Performance SPORT ) that I interchange between Prius 3 Gen 3 and Prius v, Prius v has approximately 8 inches length compared to Prius 3 Gen3. Width is slightly more, about 1.5 inches which is negligible in my view, but still more compared to Prius 3 gen 3.
     
  16. Quentin

    Quentin Member

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    We did the same. Very happy.
     
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