[Hands-On] Prius+ (Plus) or Prius V, Toyota’s first Hybrid MPV and CNBC video.

The Prius v is scheduled to hit the Japanese roadways in April, a few months earlier than here in the US, but thankfully that means we can read about the first driving impressions from various journalists who were invited to Japan to drive the car. Below are a few excerpts and links to some quick reviews, and we'll continue to update this story as more reviews hit the web. Edmunds Inside Line

For all its technical edge, the regular Prius can feel numb behind the wheel at times, almost sterile. In contrast, this JDM van rides, steers and brakes far more assuredly. With decent feedback, weighting and accuracy at the helm, the front wheels actually now feel as if they're going where you point them and overall, the car feels far better balanced, cohesive and adept than you might expect… Toyota claims that for the first 70 percent of throttle pedal travel, performance is on a par with the current Prius. First time out, this seems to bear out, as the van picks up well from low speed and feels decently and encouragingly brisk, especially in Power mode. Once over 50-60 mph, acceleration trails off noticeably. Fully laden, it'll likely feel pretty sluggish.​

Full article Akihabaranews.com

...The last but not the least is the Prius+ [v] adoption of a new chassis design suppressing up to 10dB the engine noise at over 3000rpm compared to the actual Prius, making the Prius+ [v] among the most quiets hybrid car built by Toyota so far. ...the driving position of this Prius+ [v] and the actual Prius is rather different, with both the driver’s seat and front passenger’s seat adjusted slightly higher than its predecessor.​

Full article

 

[Hands-On] Prius+ (Plus) or Prius V, Toyota’s first Hybrid MPV. « Akihabara News

Not much new info in this article except for a few pics of the li-ion battery and confirmation that the battery is located under the center console on the 7-seater version. What's up with these guys not even taking pictures of the 3rd row?

I guess a media embargo got lifted or there wasn't one. I briefly caught a glimpse of what looked like the same event on CNBC TV (video online at News Headlines). It has fleeting glimpses of the head restraints of the 3rd row. Those seats do face forward unlike station wagons from ages ago.

The power flow display looked a lot more like final graphics than what I saw at the Prius v event in Lynnwood, WA. As I mentioned in that thread, that one had what looked like non-final placeholder graphics.

 

Yeah, that last row of seats looks like it'd be only suitable for kids or small adults for a very short time.

Now it makes sense to me why the Prius v I saw had rear seats that could slide forward and back. I'm sure it was intended to be able to give more room to the 3rd row (which the US isn't getting) and to allow for easier entry/exit from that 3rd row.

Hats off to the Car Watch site for actually taking pictures of things of interest.