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

Yesterday I went into the dealership to buy a used Prius v. I decided I didn't like the interior of the (Canadian) base model, but more importantly, it was extremely hard to fit my Britax Advocate ClickTight convertible car seat in the back, so I decided against the Prius v.

For my short 170 cm frame, the only way to make the Britax seat fit rear-facing was to push the rear seat all the way back then install the car seat, but with the angle on the car seat changed more for older toddlers (more vertical). This is OK if you have older kids, but this is not appropriate for infants.

It seems the Prius v overemphasized cargo space, which makes no sense to me. For families with infant children and toddlers, rear seat spacing is more important IMO. Indeed, when my friends went shopping for an SUV, they lugged their two big car seats everywhere for testing.

I guess the specs don't lie. This may be old news for some but strangely enough the regular Prius has more combined front and back legroom than the Prius v. Because of this, I was able to fit the same seat in the regular Prius. It was a tight fit, but it did fit, whereas it didn't in the Prius v. Why do I mention front leg room? Because in the regular Prius the front legroom is significantly more according to the specs, so I move my seat up more to compensate, freeing up more space behind for a car seat. (Yes, I did adjust the driver's seat angle for testing, but to make the Prius v fit the car seat, either the seat angle was uncomfortable, or I had to move the seat up far too much.

Prius front legroom: 1080 mm (42.5 inches)
Prius rear legroom: 914 mm (36.0 inches)
Combined: 1994 mm (78.5 inches)

Prius v front legroom: 1049 mm (41.3 inches)
Prius v rear legroom: 911 mm (35.8 inches)
Combined: 1960 mm (77.1 inches)

Tilting the rear seat in the Prius v didn't help at all either. To make it work comfortably for me, I needed about another inch of space in the Prius v. I think part of it though is the relative heights of the seat backs. In the Prius v, the top of this particular child seat happens to touch the top of the driver's seat, forming an upside-down "V".



In the regular Prius, the top of this child car seat is actually higher than the top of the driver's seat so you potentially gain yet another half-inch or so before you hit the headrest. But even without that extra half-inch, it's OK for my 170 cm height.

This was for us a complete deal killer. I couldn't just put the car seat behind the passenger seat either, since we have two young kids. In the end, I bought a Prius PHV instead.

So those of you with young families thinking that the Prius v will be a roomier solution than the Prius, think again. It may be roomier in some respects, but in others it's actually less roomy.

 

1. Our car seats are pretty large. Larger than average.

2. In some cars it is ok to put the car seat in the middle. do not know about the Prius v. The would put the child car seat's longest point between the front bucket seats.

3. Passenger side works if you have one kid. We have two. In some cars though you can put one in the centre and one beside it. With a thinner car seat that would work in the Prius v since it is almost 2" wider than the Prius.

4. The legroom in the Prius v would work for my wife with our car seats because she's only 5'2".

5. Front facing saves a lot of room. However, now many experts are recommending rear-facing until 2 or 3 years of age or later.

6. Car seat tilt also affects length.

Overall, the point here is that you can make it work with some car seats but the situation with the Prius v is not ideal. If you have the choice you might be better off getting something else. Honestly, the regular Prius isn't ideal either but sometimes can work better than the v.

I hope they fix this in the next gen v.

BTW I saw floor anchors in the Prius v, which is helpful for tethering these car seats. I don't remember seeing them in the regular Prius third gen.

 

The car I looked at did not have power seats. It was the base model, which is probably why I didn't like the interior much. It was very utilitarian.

Plus, the fabric in this used model was stained on the back of the rear back seat, visible from the cargo area. Ew.

You know, you're right. That car had a floor anchor attached behind the passenger seat at the base, but looking online it looks like an aftermarket strap that was put there. Something like this:

 

When you use a car seat front facing, the tether is to the back of the rear seat, as you described. However, when you use a car seat rear facing, most cars, even big ones, don't have a tether like the above, so there is risk for the seat to tilt significantly. Some car seats now have an anti-rebound bar at the front of it so in rear-facing mode, the anti-rebound bar braces the car seat against the back of the rear seat. Like this:



Or else like this:



However, for an older kid, that rebound bar kinda gets in the way, and annoys some kids. Another solution is to use the tether, mounted to a floor anchor.



In my old Prius I just attached a strap to the front seat's rails, and tethered to that.

 

I'm not an expert, but I'd have to say no. The seatbelts are often run through the seat at a location that allows some tilting, in the context of a soft rear seat. Same goes for LATCH anchoring.

Take a look at this seat:



Typically, BOTH the shoulder belt and the lap belt portion of the seat belt are run through the car seat at lap level, effectively similar to a LATCH type installation, just stronger. (I think LATCH maxes out at 40 lbs or something like that.) So, the seat can easy tilt front and back.

BTW, AFAIK, that seat may not be installed correctly. It seems to be touching the front passenger seat headrest, and if so, it may be wrong. The passenger seat should be moved forward to accommodate, even if the passenger is a bit uncomfortable although with Britax they say it can just barely touch. It depends on the car manufacturer though. However, either way, the car seat cannot be leaning against the front seat.

After your car seat is securely installed rear-facing, you may move the front vehicle seat back JUST until contact is made with the car seat. The vehicle seat should not be pushed back so that the secure installation of the car seat is reliant on the front vehicle seat (“bracing”). However, some vehicle manufacturers prohibit any contact between a car seat and the front vehicle seat, so be sure to check your vehicle owner’s manual.

 

Yeah, my sales guy and I both played with that lever. In the end I just said forget it, and moved on to the Prius... and then finally settled on a dealer demo Plug-in Prius.

However, it should be noted that my wife will likely be getting a small SUV anyway, like the RAV4. I tried the car seat in a 2011 RAV4 and then later a 2015 RAV4, and it fit very easily.

RAV4 legroom
Front: 1080 mm (42.6")
Rear: 944 mm (37.2")

Combined that's 2025 mm or 79.8", so I'm not surprised the car seat fit so well. I will quote my previous post's legroom spec summary for the Prius and Prius v:

So basically, for rear-facing car seats:

RAV4 > Prius > Prius v

The RAV4 also has the benefit of being taller than the regular Prius so the rear doorway is more open, further making it easier to put kids in and out vs. the Prius. (I didn't mention the Prius v's height because its lack of legroom is a deal killer IMO.)

 

Yes. Rear seats were all the way back.

 

Ah, that makes sense.

Two kids in rear-facing car seats. One age 2.5, and one age 0.5.

So, basically it's about how well the car seat fits AND if she likes it. Luckily she likes the RAV4, and the car seats fit (we tried). She also prefers hybrids, so we're likely going to buy a 2016 RAV4 AWD Limited Hybrid this year.

 

I only reclined the back seat as a last resort to see if it would increase the amount of effective space available for car seat installation, since it didn't fit otherwise. It didn't.

It was just to prove to myself that the Prius v is indeed inappropriate for large rear-facing car seats.

Not sure about what you meant about the reclined child car seat. The recline of the child car seat was appropriate. (The recline of the Prius v's rear seat was not.)