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Payne: That’s a Prius? Toyota hybrid goes from nerd to knockout
Posted by Talbot Payne on July 27, 2023
Holly Oaks — The hybrid Toyota Prius — Pious to its detractors — has always been designed to stand out. To be a statement. For its fifth generation, it’s chosen beauty.
Like the goth nerd who blossomed into the prom queen, the 2023 Prius has ditched its polarizing design to become one of the market’s best-looking compact hatchbacks. Green is chic, and Prius now dresses in fashionable, simple wardrobe like a Tesla or a Mercedes EQ sedan.
Pious? Call it Precious.
The beauty is hardly skin deep. The Toyota sits on a much firmer TNGA platform — light years from its original noodle-soft frame — for better handling. Its interior is more mature, too, adopting conventional tablet console screen and ditching the bathroom sink-white console trim.
Signature design cues like the dash-mounted shifter and split rear window are gone. Yes, there’s an instrument display at the base of the windshield, but this is more familiar to the electric bZ4X than to the old middle-mounted display. All this mainstreaming is a recognition that Prius is no longer a freak — it’s been joined by numerous other hybrids, including the Hyundai Elantra, Honda Civic and the Corolla and Corolla Cross Hybrid cousins.
With hatchback and sedan sales out of vogue, Prius takes its battery act upscale where the customers are. This Prius is a big step up on looks, handling and tech while not forgetting its calling card: efficiency.
The base Prius boasts an impressive 52 mpg — but it also comes with a more powerful plug-in option that claims 48 mpg and 44 miles of battery-only driving. My Prius Prime tester’s duality as a hybrid and EV was impressive.
As I eased it out of my driveway on a Saturday morning, the fully charged Prime defaulted to EV mode.
Like a Tesla, my Prius Prime quietly glided around town on electrons. Unlike my big battery, 80 kWh Tesla Model 3, however, the Prime’s 10.9 kWh battery has limited torque. You won’t be out-dragging Bimmers from stoplights.
If it’s acceleration you want, though, the Prime is a big upgrade over the pokey, Pokemon-lookalike model from 2022. Change the EV model selector to HYBRID, and the electric motor and 2.0-liter gas engine combine for an impressive 220 horsepower (100 more than last gen). It will scoot to 60 mph in 6.5 seconds — a serious improvement over the old model’s 10.3 seconds.
But I digress. I was determined to do my urban chores in full-EV mode. Prius accomplished this task with a faint whir of its front-wheel-drive electric motor and no regenerative breaking like most EVs. I eventually drained the battery to just four miles after a morning of errands.
I toggled the EV mode switch to RECHARGE. This mode effectively swapped electric power for gas engine power to recharge the nearly depleted battery — on the fly. So, rather than stop at a charger, I replenished the battery by continuing to drive to my next appointment. Slick.
I barked an order at Android Auto to take me to Holy Oaks, 43 miles up I-75 in north Oakland County (curiously, for such a high-tech tool, the Prius stull requires a wire to hook up Android Auto).
After the liquid-smooth experience of battery power, the Prius’s 2.0-liter gas engine sounded coarse, buzzing away at 80 mpg up I-75. But it did its job, adding 20 miles of battery charge during my 86-mile round trip. Had I continued north in hybrid mode, the Prius would have returned a whopping 550 miles of range. Try that in an EV at 80 mpg on a 50-degree day.
On the journey to Holly, I engaged adaptive cruise control — standard on the loaded Prime along with blind-spot assist, auto high-beams and a toaster oven (kidding about that last one) — which proved an excellent driver assist. While the system confidently navigated the interstate’s long curves, I was able to scarf down a few tenders from Uncle Joe’s Chicken for lunch.
At Holly, I met some Ford Bronco friends who were getting dirty at Bronco Fest. With its low profile 19-inch wheels (remember the days when the Prius had small, geeky 15-inchers for optimum mileage?) off-roading is not Prius’s forte. So it remained in the paddock and looked nice while mud-caked Broncos with 11-inch suspension lifts came and went.
Had I added any passengers for my trip back south, they would have noticed Precious’s compromised headroom thanks to its new, sleek design. The A-pillar is so raked it’s practically an extension of the hood line — meaning my 6’5” noggin was inches from the sunroof. Rear-seats passengers are similarly confined by the coupe-like roofline — though legroom is comfy for a compact.
All that battery and tech mean that the Prius is significantly more expensive than the previous generation, with the base model starting at $33K (a $4K increase) — with my XSE tester topping out at $38,299. That compares favorable to an equally stylish all-wheel-drive, loaded-with-standard-safety-features Mazda3 Turbo with 210 horsepower and a $39K sticker price — except the Toyota is FWD only.
As improved as its new chassis is, the Prius still can’t hold a candle to the Mazda’s nimble handling. Competition includes Toyota’s own RAV4 hybrid plug-in, which clocks in at $42K with similar drivetrain efficiencies plus the SUV utility folks crave these days.
But if it’s an attractive hatchback you want, Prius Prime is a looker.
The new recessed instrument panel essentially acts as a head-up display so you never have to take your eyes from the road. It required a lower steering wheel position, but I got comfortable with the arrangement over time. Other ergonomic details are less friendly.
My top-trim Prime XSE came equipped with a vertical phone charger slot that could not accommodate my oversized Samsung phone, wasting console space. Other manufacturers use the more flexible, horizontal flat space at the fore of the console for phone chargers. And the Prius’s steering wheel controls lacked raised surfaces like, say, Chevrolet’s clever controls, so I often had to take my eyes off the road to adjust adaptive cruise control.
Still, it’s a testimony to the new Prius’s handling that you want to keep your eyes on the road. Exiting Holly Oaks, I toggled SPORT mode — accessing all 220 horses hybrid horses — and launched into a 180-degree clover leaf.
Exiting on power, I merged with authority into traffic ahead of a Jeep Wrangler and BMW 3-series. Precious.
Next week: 2024 Ford Mustang Dark Horse
2023 Toyota Prius Prime
Vehicle type: Front-engine, front-wheel-drive, five-passenger hybrid hatchback
Price: $33,445 base, including $1,095 destination ($38,299 XSE as tested)
Power plant: 2.0-liter, inline-4 mated to electric motor and 13.6 kWh lithium-ion battery pack
Power: 220 horsepower
Transmission: Continuously variable
Performance: 0-60 mph, 6.5 seconds (Car and Driver est.); top speed, 112 mph
Weight: 3,516 pounds (as tested)
Fuel economy: EPA 50 mpg city/47 mpg highway/48 mpg combined; 39-44 miles pure-battery range
Report card
Highs: Stylish exterior; regenerated battery range on the fly
Lows: No wireless Android Auto/Apple CarPlay; clumsy switchgear
Overall: 4 stars
Henry Payne is auto critic for The Detroit News. Find him at hpayne@detroitnews.com or Twitter @HenryEPayne.