My Thoughts on the Toyota Prius Part 3– Interior Space and Cargo Room

I bought the Prius because we needed an extra car since both my children now have drivers licenses. One criteria the car had to meet was that it had to be able to carry my son’s upright double bass and a front seat passenger. My Impala can carry the double base in the passenger compartment along with a passenger. However, the passenger has to sit in the rear seat behind the driver.

Not only can the Prius carry the upright bass, it can carry two passengers. Beside the front seat passenger, there is actually plenty of room in the back seat for a passenger. The bass takes up about have of the back seat and the cargo area. In fact, we took a summer road trip to take my son and his bass a to jazz camp in Louisville. It was an 800 mile trip one way. My wife, son and I piled in the Prius, along with the bass and all our luggage for a week trip. Everyone had plenty of room and everyone was comfortably.

My two boys often use the Prius to carry themselves and music gear to their jazz gigs around town. They carry the upright bass, a couple of amps, a guitar, music stands and other miscellaneous equipment. At one gig when they were unloading, a bystander was amazed at all the gear they carried. He said to them “you got all that in a Prius?”.

The Prius has a deceptively roomy interior for a compact car. The rear seat leg room in the Prius is as good as in most full size cars. It has equivalent rear leg room to my Chevy Impala. The interior space in the Prius is much better than the typically compact car. The Prius is a few inches than most compacts which makes it feel much roomier.