The Prius has gone plural, and the 2012 Toyota Prius V we have before us is the first model variant to hit the streets. Essentially, the Prius V is a Prius wagon, but for some reason that perfectly descriptive term is marketing kryptonite. Cue the silliness and copy editor headaches.
Our wagonesque Prius hybrid test car wears nothing but a diminutive "V" for a model name, intentionally lowercase and italicized in Toyota's press information as if it should be whispered conspiratorially so as to detract less attention from the hallowed Prius brandwagon. Officially it stands for "versatile," which seems fair enough.
Another reason why that "V" is intentionally tiny and tilted is to keep us from mistaking it for the Roman numeral V because, well, this is most definitely not a Prius Five. That would be dumb.
On the other hand our test car is a 2012 Prius V Three, in which the Three is the name of the specific midgrade trim level we're testing. The groundwork for this plan was laid months ago, when Toyota quietly eliminated Roman numerals from the regular Prius' trim level nomenclature, changing 2010 Prius III to Prius Three for the 2011 model year.
Confused? You have every right to be, because what Toyota has whipped up here is a heaping helping of marketing "huh?"
Oh Yeah, the Car
As for the vehicle itself, the 2012 Toyota Prius V (wagon) truly is more versatile than your garden-variety Prius (hatchback). And by versatile we mean bigger.
In a more or less proportional upsizing, our Prius V is 6 full inches longer than a Prius and it rides on front and rear axles that stand 3 inches farther apart from one another. It's also 3.3 inches taller and 1.1 inches wider than a V-less Prius.
Dimensionally, the new Prius V casts about the same shadow as a 2012 Mazda 5, Mazda's small minivan.
Cargo volume benefits most dramatically, owing to a cargo compartment that's 3 inches wider, more than 4 inches longer and more than a couple inches taller beneath a more vanlike roof line. Seats-down maximum capacity jumps by a massive 70 percent, from 39.6 to 67.3 cubic feet.
It's much the same story with the rear seats in use, where a 59 percent increase in space results in 34.3 cubic feet instead of the regular Prius' 21.6 cubes. In pure luggage terms the 2012 Toyota Prius V Wagon holds six of our well-stuffed carry-on test suitcases behind and below its rear headrests instead of four.
A Better Taxi
Anyone who's ever sat in the back of a regular Prius knows it has a serious amount of rear legroom — enough that Prii make decent taxis. But that distinctive sloping rear roof line always made rear-seat access a little iffy and, once you got in, cozy three-across seating waited for you in a narrow backseat cabin.
We averaged 40.1 mpg in our Prius V during our test regimen.
Here in the V, that flatter vannish roof line hikes the rear corners of the rear doors way up. Our own measurements tell us the tops of those rear doors stand 4.8 inches higher than those of a Prius. Ducking and head protection are no longer recommended.
Things are far more comfortable inside, too, where 2.1 inches of extra rear shoulder room make the backseat a far more platonic environment for three-across passengers. And unlike in a regular Prius, the V's 60/40 rear seats recline. They'll even slide forward to turn excess rear legroom into even more luggage space.
Our scales tell us that the V's extra size amounts to 244 pounds of extra Prius to cart around — not all that much, but impossible to ignore. What's more, the additional height and width require the powertrain to punch a bigger hole in the air as the V rolls down the highway.
Motivation
But there's no beefed-up engine here, no larger electric motor and no bigger battery to make up the difference. The 2012 Prius V motivates itself with the same 1.8-liter Atkinson-cycle gas engine and Hybrid Synergy Drive system as a regular Prius, which is why the V's peak blended horsepower comes in at the same 134 horses.
Thing is, measured performance doesn't suffer much. The last regular 2010 Prius we tested got to 60 mph in 10.1 seconds and finished the quarter-mile in 17.3 seconds: no speed demon, but enough to hold its own in traffic. Our 2012 Toyota Prius V reaches those milestones in 10.3 (10.0 with a foot of rollout as on a drag strip) and 17.4 seconds — pretty much the same story.
How is this possible? Gearing. Yes, the Prius V is regulated by the same planetary CVT hybrid transmission, but as in all vehicles there's a final-drive ratio between the transmission and the drive axles. That ratio is 3.27:1 in a garden-variety Prius. The Prius V uses a more aggressive 3.70:1 final drive gear.
Of course nothing is free, so the gearing, the weight and the aero conspire to take a chunk out of the Prius V's fuel economy. Toyota reckons the Prius wagon will return 44 mpg in the city and 40 mpg on the highway for a still-impressive combined rating of 42 mpg. Sure, a regular Prius can do 50 mpg, but a same-sized Mazda 5 is good for just 24 mpg combined. We averaged 40.1 mpg in our Prius V during our test regimen.
Driving
More déjà vu resides within the fenders, as the V also rides on a MacPherson strut suspension in front and a twist-beam axle out back. It's all suitably upsized, of course, including the slightly larger 205/60R16 Yokohama low-rolling-resistance tires.
Physics nonetheless dulls the edge off track performance that was never razor-sharp to begin with. Our Prius V requires 131 feet to stop from 60 mph instead of 118 feet. It circulates the skid pad to the tune of 0.75 lateral g instead of 0.78g.
Slalom performance, such as it is, is curiously better, albeit by a miniscule degree. Our V dodges the cones at 59.3 mph, 0.2 mph faster than the last 2010 Prius that visited. Here the V's extra width may be paying off, as its tire contact patches are separated by an additional 0.6 inch up front and a full inch out back.
On real roads our 2012 Toyota Prius V still feels like a Prius. Its electronic power steering and computer-regulated braking system both exhibit that familiar Prius feel in that they simulate rather than stimulate. Neither precisely translates what's going on into the native tongue of our hands and feet — kind of like a dubbed kung fu movie.
But there are also subtle differences. On the one hand the Prius V's chassis feels a bit heavier and a slightly higher seating position alters the driver's sensation of roll. On the other hand the extra weight makes the V feel a little calmer, a bit less up on tiptoes. There's also a unique pitch and bounce control system that uses rapid-fire computer-induced throttle tweaks to counteract cabin motions.
At the Helm
Our V persists with the Prius' signature centrally located instruments, high on the dash. The layout is cleaned up and a generous overhanging hood does a better job of shading them, but we still find it odd to glance through the steering wheel spokes and see nothing.
The best part of the V's unique and simplified center stack design is a new central climate-control knob that can be spun, poked and shuffled side to side to make a number of setting adjustments without hunting around with our hand.
And then there's Entune, Toyota's brand-new cloud-based data system. It uses an easily downloaded app on your iPhone, Android or RIM smartphone to feed Pandora and iHeartRadio to the audio system and Bing location data and a suite of reservation services to bolster the functionality of the touchscreen navigation system.
It all works pretty seamlessly with an Android phone paired to our test car, but in true Toyota fashion our ability to use certain aspects of Entune requires either voice commands or a full stop at the curb. App load times and Pandora sound quality are supposed to improve once the car goes on sale and the Entune system moves from prototype test servers to the permanent ones. Fingers crossed.
What'll It Cost?
Pricing has not yet been released, but should come soon, as the 2012 Toyota Prius V is slated to go on sale in October 2011. Unlike a regular Prius, the base Prius V is the Prius V Two, not the One.
We're estimating a starting price of $26,000 or thereabouts for the V Two, which has touchscreen audio with Bluetooth, USB and iPod connectivity. It has alloy wheels, a power driver seat and push-button start. Our Prius V Three has all that plus navigation and Entune and should cost about $27,500 or so.
Curiously, there is no Prius V Four. The next one up is the Prius V Five, and it sports 17-inch wheels, LED headlights and premium seats. The only option is the fancy-pants Advanced Technology package and it's only available on the Five. It contains adaptive cruise control, parallel parking assist, a panorama moonroof, premium audio and nav and other doodads.
With no Prius V Four, it seems to us the Five should be the Four, and the Advanced Technology package should become the Prius V Five. But that would make a kind of sense that doesn't exist in the quirky nomenclature of the 2012 Toyota Prius V.
What makes a lot of sense is the car itself. The 2012 Toyota Prius V is everything a Toyota Prius hatchback is, only bigger. If the only thing holding you back from a regular Prius was the size, the 2012 Prius V is your car. And why don't we just call it a wagon and move on?
The manufacturer provided Edmunds this vehicle for the purposes of evaluation.
Add A Comment »
yulookinatme says:
02:36 PM, 07/18/2011
@bodyshopboy
I was in the same boat. Fresh off a lease return on a BMW M3, I too was looking for a fuel efficient alternative. At first the VW golf TDi was my only option given I enjoy driving and didn't want to drive a space ship. But after a bit of research, I just got caught up in the numbers and started looking at hybrids, from the Altima, to the Fusion, to the Civic and finally, the prius. I figured if I"m going for fuel efficiency, I might as well go for the champ and went with the prius. Next thing I know, I'm driving a car I never thought I'd ever purchase. I think that's what ends up happening to most people and in the end, it's mpg's that trump all else. So much so, that the regular prius will cannibalize all sales of this V.
ctl says:
11:39 AM, 07/14/2011
@northsparrow
There is this thing called globalization. All the "keeping jobs in US" slogans are nothing but lies from the politicians, there is no stopping that. You cannot compete in productivity and cost, you lose. That has been true throughout the human history.
American workers have been getting a good ride, fruits of the efforts of those before us. But now, look around the world and ask yourselves in all honesty, why should we (US workers) get paid more (several times more) doing the same thing? Fight to be competitive, not to be protected.
northsparrow says:
02:27 PM, 07/13/2011
sniperruff and bodyblue
If I follow your line of reasoning the inevitable conclusion I reach is that all auto manufacturing ought to be moved out of the USA as even the transplant factories in the deepest South pay far more than Mexico.
In case you were unaware, the USA is about 14.1 million jobs short of a full load at the moment .
While a percentage of those have migrated to our Southern partner in free trade many more are in Asian countries that make Mexican wages seem excessive.
According to your self-loathing philosophy American workers should build prosperity by accepting less and less. For the last 40 years the widespread acceptance of that bizarre philosophy has been digging the USA into the economic abyss where it finds itself today.
When you find yourself in a hole the first solution to try is to stop digging or in this case stop exporting jobs and stop cutting standards.
Auto workers have a tough job, generally create huge profits for their employers and pay lots of taxes. Therefore they should receive commensurate pay from their employers and a modicum of respect from the people who use the products they toiled to create.
As for the Sonic being built by 50% discount UAW members , I can only say with friends like that in the UAW leadership who needs enemies. How the leadership of the UAW could ever agree to accept wages
lower than those paid in most non-union car factories is beyond belief.
As for the Fiesta, do your research and discover that the Mexican workers had to agree to pay cuts to get that vehicle into their factory.
Somebody needs to start a DVD series called "Capitalists Gone Wild" so we can all be entertained by
this orgy of economic stupidity that the mainstream media is unable and unwilling to report.
Finally, my NUMMI built car is A-OK but I would not touch another product that had anything to do with Toyota. In this war I am damn sure whose side I am on and it is definitely not theirs.
bodyshopboy says:
10:08 AM, 07/13/2011
@ qdp.
I disagree. I came out of an '04 Acura TL and wanted to vastly improve my fuel efficiency and did a ton or research about Hybrid versus Diesels.
At the time I was not clear that the environmental impact of a Hybrid over the entire life cycle (From mining the rare earth metals for the batteries, to producing and shipping the car, to maintaining the vehicle, including a battery replacement, and fueling it) was better than a Diesel.
I still haven't seen a real comprehensive cradle-to-grave analysis of hybrid versus diesel, but in the year that I've owned my TDI several organizations, including the Union of Concerned scientists have endorsed Hybrids as the best option strictly from an environmental perspective.
But, at the end of the day it comes down to styling, driving dynamics, and flexibility (66 feet of cargo space!) in addition to fuel consumption that influenced me to buy the TDI. I was willing to take a risk on the reliability issue (VW reliability has been harped on enough, no need to quote the latest JD power ranking)
Sure, some folks will make a purchase decision based solely on mpg, but the vast majority will look at other subjective measures.
atomicgas says:
04:43 PM, 07/12/2011
are you able to play Angry Birds on the nav system? that question would go on any car with internet access
qdp says:
12:39 PM, 07/12/2011
Jetta TDI is not Prius's competitor at all: First DTI MPG is too low to compare with Prius, and second,in stop & run city driving conditions, when at stop or in low speed driving, DTI wastes about a third of gas of normal driving while Prius wastes none.
sniperruff says:
09:27 AM, 07/12/2011
northsparrow:
I say why maintain something that's unsustainable? GM now builds the Sonic in a more efficient factory, with half the labor cost.
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/07/13/business/with-chevrolet-sonic-gm-and-uaw-reinvent-automaking.html?_r=1&hp
"The U.A.W. tried to persuade the Ford Motor Company to build the Fiesta subcompact in the United States. But Ford chose a plant in Mexico, where the combined wages and benefits of a production worker total less than $10 an hour. By contrast, a full-wage union member in the United States costs G.M. close to $60 an hour. Even an entry-level wage employee costs about $30 an hour in wages and benefits."
You'd have to be insane to build cars in the US if the UAW people don't back down on their unrealistic demands. Then again, the UAW has to be pretty stupid to make those demands to begin with.
bodyblue says:
09:10 AM, 07/12/2011
"Within 5 weeks of NUMMI's closure Toyota announced Corolla production would relocate to an empty
factory in Three String Banjo County Mississippi where workers will likely have to accept a far lower standard of compensation than Toyota paid in Fremont"
Good for Toyota and Boo on California and the UAW. CA is the least business friendly state in the US. Why would Toyota want to do business here when there are states that actually want and respect businss? Texas and the South in general are handing CA its ass on a daily basis. And people wonder why the economy sucks out here! Unions and government regulation killed the car assembly business in CA, not Toyota.
frank908 says:
08:47 AM, 07/12/2011
Technology aside, if there was ever any soul left in Toyota's designs, it was years ago. The exterior has about as much appeal as a wheelchair, and I've seen box-truck dashboards with more appeal.
fantastic says:
08:06 AM, 07/12/2011
Bd
Cars are like relationships. The great ones are the most boring ones.
And like relationships, the most exciting cars usually end up crashing and burning.
Say no more brother ...Amen!!!!!