Anybody Got A Prius + (Plus) Yet? What's It Like?

[rob the bank]

I see the Prius + 7 seater is now being delivered, does anybody have one yet?

If so, these are my top 3 questions:

1, Whats the real world MPG?

2, Does it have a parcel shelf / Retractable luggage cover?

3, How do you find it compares to the standard Prius?

I have about 3 weeks to order my next company car and after many test drives and days reading test reviews i have got down to my final two, Prius or Prius +.

So i would love to know what its really like, cheers!

[rob the bank]

Well after a couple of hr's searching i have found this:

http://www.toyota.com.au/prius-v/features/versatility/storage

It shows a R/H drive so i guess thats the UK spec with a "Tonneau cover".

[johalareewi]

No prius+ on fuelly yet but there are some prius v,

http://www.fuelly.com/car/

[rob the bank]

Well after a recent test driving week I can now answer the question myself.

Hope this helps anybody else with the same dilemma.

Basics:

Prius had for 4 days covered 468miles @ average of 63.5mpg and 37mph (came with 3000 miles on the clock).

60% motorway 20% fast A road 20% 30mph and city.

It was two weeks ago so 25 deg c+ most days so 50% of the time with aircon and car in Eco mode

Prius + (Plus) had for 24hrs and covered 290miles @ average of 56.6mpg and 46mph (came with 150 miles on the closk)

75% motorway 15% fast A road 10% 30mph and city.

Aircon and Eco as above, but in a rush so faster on the motorway.

My gut feeling is the + is 10% thirstier then the std Prius if driven in the same manner.

So if you can get 60mpg form your Prius you would get around 54mpg from the +

Difference:

For the eye I think the standard car looks better especially from the front, but there’s not much in it.

The inside is much nicer in the +, dash layout and material is better, although I still think the HUD is a waste of effort. Toyota should just put the "clocks" in front of the driver and then they wouldn't need it.

Much more space in the + I am Mr average at 5"10 and 11 stone, with the driver seat adjusted for me, and then me siting in the middle row, there was still room for my 10 year old son in the third row, so can easily swallow 5 adults and 2 kids in comfort.

In 5 seat mode all seats have more room then the std car, so rear 3 have better shoulder and leg room.

Plus has door pockets in all doors and pocket on the back of the front seats, this is really useful for kids and a real weakness of the standard car.

Driving the + felt better, more steering feel and the steering wheel is either further forward or has more adjustment, either way I found the driving position much better.

The windscreen is closer to you, I found this much better as I use a suction hands free kit for my phone.

If you are using as a company car this makes life easier for your calls, email and sat nav. (once you have used tom-tom or co-pilot on a smart phone a cars built in system just seems archaic).

So in short if you have a couple of kids or more, or need to carry lots of gear and are trying to decide between the Prius or the +, then for me go for the +.

Especially if it’s a company car.

For me my descion was between a Prius T Spirit and a Prius + (Plus) T4

[DaveHomeBrew]

I applied for a test drive early in July - no response. I tried again more than a week ago through the online chat on the Toyota website, and was told someone would contact me. No-one has. I am beginning to think there aren't any in this country yet!

[rob the bank]

I would just call your local dealer, the bigger they are the more chance of having one on the demo fleet, i went to Wolverhampton, but i also spotted the same spec at Derby and Leicester (i get around a lot).

I am in Norway this week and have seen 3 as Taxis in Oslo.

[DaveHomeBrew]

I finally got a reply from the dealer, and had a test drive. Having driven a Prius for the last 6 years, which I find very comfortable and a rewarding experience to drive, I was keen to make comparisons. This is my take on the Plus:

I found the test drive rather disappointing. I suppose I was expecting some dynamic improvement from the Prius, but it didn't feel any different, or at least no better. Not sure about the driver's seat; the back seemed less comfortable. Maybe because the the Prius + seat is a bit wider, so not so snug, but also the back of the seat seemed a little harder. In general, I felt like the materials were cheaper & not so solid. In particular, the tonneau looked cheap and nasty, and the undertray in the boot felt like cardboard. The undertray was probably too small to store our shopping boxes. There was generally a lack of places to store things in the front of the car, like the little tray we have at the bottom of the front armrest, and the door pockets were smaller. No DAB radio option, which was a bit disappointing. There is no auto parking option; I guess Toyota found that wasn't particlarly helpful. The touch screen display panel looks a little smaller than the existing, and it slopes upwards a bit more, which seems to reflect light more, and is not so clear to see. The satnav software was not installed, so I couldn't judge that. Our rep was new to the dealership, and to Toyota, so had limited (a few days only!) experience and knowledge of the car; he had difficulty in answering some of our questions satisfactorily.

There were some positive things. The seat configuration was very good, and I could get into the back row and sit relatively comfortable with someone in the row in front of me (I am about 5' 10"). There was enough head room for me, but no room to move or change position of my legs. The back row would be suitable for any child. The folding door mirrors are a good feature. The sun roofs are nice, and can be covered over, controlled by an electronic switch.

[Phill111]

Picked up Tspirit today and a few thoughts.

The car drives really well. Compared to my outgoing 2.2 Avensis it is no rocket but it is very smooth, quiet and comfortable. Visibility is very good too, better than the Avensis.

There are a few annoying things though. When I ordered the Toyota website clearly stated that this model came with DAB. Frustratingly it does not so not too happy about that. They really should not have stated that on the website.

Minor niggles - I was quite surprised that there is no automatic headlights like the standard Prius or my Avensis. While it is not too much hassle to turn the lights on it has been 6 years since I last had to do that so I am sure to forget for a long time. On a 30k car you would have thought that would have been included. Same goes for the rear view mirror, the much cheaper Avensis has an electro chromatic mirror. I can live without that though and given the green credentials of the Prius I can understand why that is not fitted. Next we have the glove boxes, how much extra would it have cost to line them with felt like almost any other car over 10k? It may not seem like much but the rattle of loose object in the glove boxes could have easily and cheaply been reduced.

Onto the boot. In many of the videos there is shown a deep storage area under the floor. In the UK version that is not the case. Maybe the spec shown for these is for a different locale but there is just a shallow tray with most of the room taken up with the tonneau cover. I was hoping to store stuff in that area but it is not quite big enough for my needs. Underneath is the spare wheel tucked under the rear seats. Nice and easy to get to and at least it is on the inside so not likely to get nicked. I am guessing in some countries there would be no spare but rather an emergency inflation kit allowing for more storage room under the floor. I cannot believe that in this configuration there is the 232litres stated.

Onto the seating. I often carry long objects (windsurf boards) which in many cars is just not an option due to the way they fold. The Avensis was good with the exception of the passenger seat headrest. My Avensis had full electric seats and to fold it flat you had to recline the passenger seat fully and partially remove the headrest. Now I say partially because it was one of the active headrests with wires attached meaning I had to tuck it underneath the seat as it reclined. A little complicated but worked well albeit with the risk of damaging the cables. On the Prius tis is not a problem as the headrest is fully removable and very quickly too. The reclining is a lot faster due to not having all that electric seat nonsense though some may miss the heated seats.

One thing that is really annoying is the revers beeper. I am heading to the dealers later this week to see if they can turn it to single beep mode before I take a hammer to it.

The audio system is very good, almost as good as the 10 speaker system in my outgoing Avensis sound wise but better in other ways. The smaller screen is better organised using the available space in a neater way. However it is nowhere near as easy to read in bright sunlight and currently there seems to be no day night mode in screens other than the sat nav mode. Maybe that is a setting I have yet to find. I am also slightly amazed that given all the tech Toyota put in their cars than the clock has to be manually set rather than set via RDS, most other brands have done this for years so get your act together Toyota.

Niggles aside (well except the lack of DAB), I am very I pressed by the car. The rear seats are usable even for adults of short trips and the middle row has plenty of legroom. There is plenty of space inside and the cabin feels a comfortable place to be. Mileage has yet to bee seen but so far I am getting over 55 average which I am sure will improve when I start driving more sensibly and stop munching about with all the buttons,