Driving the Toyota Prius Prime PHEV: A Fuel-Efficient Adventure

 All-new Prius design

Today, we're going to drive the all-new generation of the Toyota Prius. Such an important vehicle for Toyota. It started the whole electrification of the brand, and now, for the first time, it's a beautiful vehicle. It was never known for the best design or something, more for its economy, its hybrid or plug-in hybrid. Recently, this one is also the plug-in hybrid version called Prime in the North American market. But, no matter which version you pick, now it has a very cool and fluent design already here in the front. Look at that. Contrasting silver part in the lower end and the headlamp signature. Very dramatic. That looks pretty fancy. So, now you can say you buy one for emotional reasons as well.

Length, wheels, lights

The length is now 4.60m or 181 inches. Actually, it is a little bit shorter than the predecessor, but the wheelbase is now 5cm or 2 inches longer. Hopefully, translates into more legroom. And, I mean, from the outside, it looks really so stunning with this fluent design.

It also has a wider track, lower center of gravity, and stiffer chassis. Hopefully, this will also translate into a better driving experience. And will there be any compromises from this whole layout and design from the interior space? We'll find out soon. Wheels, 17 or here the optional 19-inch wheels, the bigger ones. Looks also quite cool. And you can see here the contrasting design wheel arch in high-gloss black.

Towards the rear, we can see they have this fading-out effect of the light signature in the rear. I get the idea, but I think just a thorough light strip would have been more beautiful even. And the big Prius lettering all the way across. Also, a clean, beautiful design in the rear. And to me, this changes so much because, with this new beauty approach, it's not only that it will say, "Hey, I only consider it against the Honda Civic or maybe internally against the Corolla Hybrid." I think now it can also be considered maybe even to German midsize vehicles like, you know, the Mercedes C-Class, BMW 3 Series, or the Audi A4.

What's your take on that? Would like to hear your comments.

Turning indicators in the front, looks pretty spectacular, doesn't it? Turning indicators at the rear, are not that spectacular, but at least they're wide enough. And that's always a safety thing because recently, we saw this trend from a lot of vehicles, beginning with the Tesla Model 3, that they are so tiny and you can hardly see them, but that way, it's okay. And look at how far the Prius has come design-wise. This is the first-generation Prius. Let's take it that way. Design-wise, it doesn't win too many competitions.

Interior: comfort and materials

And even near the second-generation Prius, what a huge difference to the all-new one, isn't it? The key fob is not that decent, I have to say. Door closing sound. That sounds weird, though. disappointed with that. However, cool is, the inside of the door material, also has a soft touch, a nice structure to feel, and even softer here for your elbow. Seats start with fabric and this is then in a higher grade, the full leatherette with perforation. Also, a seat cooling is available, that combination. Also, in some markets called Softex.

The driving position is really comfortable, both from the seat ergonomics and very soft, these high-grade leatherette materials. Of course, the fabric seat will also be soft in the base version. And then, here, headroom with 6 foot 2 or 189. It's no problem. Also, tall drivers, that's surprising because the roofline is so low, but it works, actually. So, good driving position, low sedan-alike, very happy with that.

Cockpit and user interface

The interior cockpit overview is clean, but also straightforward because a lot of the controls, steering wheel here, still real buttons, even a volume knob, and so on. Soft touch here, good materials, and nice deco elements. You can view the instruments. It's not blocked because here, that steering wheel can be moved very much down. That's, to me, pretty cool and also towards me. So, overall, I really like this first cockpit impression.

Digital instruments are clear to read, and they are indeed in your line of sight. So, that's very well done. And here, you can also deactivate this new EU law thing. It's connected here with the traffic sign assist. It recognizes the speed limit, and when you deactivate that, then you can also activate the acoustic beep when you exceed the speed limit. Yeah, that's the thing we will also discuss in the driving part. The only disadvantage here of this display is you see it collects dust, and when you try to clean it also with microfiber, it doesn't really help.

Kind of a weird surface. The infotainment system is now quicker and also kept relatively basic. This one is the bigger 12.3-inch. It will start in some markets with 8-inch, but here in Europe, for example, you only get this one. You can see this, in the solar roof results so far. So, this is like an entire battery charging that can take like a week when it is in the sun.

It depends on how sunny it is where the car is standing. So, a couple of kilometers or miles per day. So, then you switch either to the car's internal GPS, which is decently responsive. Most of the time, you probably use Apple CarPlay or Android Auto. You reach it here with this hotkey or on the top part, wired or wireless. You can pick that. You can see it also is actually smooth and responsive. So, I'm really happy with the system overall. Not especially branded sound system here, but I think it has good punch and a great sound for this vehicle. I really appreciate this classic climate unit here.

Temperature control and the feedback you get are really good. Vent strength and also here seat heating separate button, seat cooling separate button. Here, the perforated leatherette seat with the seat cooling and this, especially at level three, it's really strong, really cools you down. If the summertime is really hot. Lower middle console, USB-C charging. This is the connector. This is charging only. And then, you have this storage here and underneath, you can just lift it or take this out completely and there is the hidden compartment. Yeah, it even says #hiddencompartment. Cup holders are adaptive and good quality and really hold bottles tight.

Driving and recuperation modes

Middle console here. This is the shifting lever like this to drive and when you put it back, it goes to the B mode. Here in the plug-in hybrid, this is indeed just a stronger recuperation, but not as strong as a one-pedal driving feeling. Here, drive mode to sport mode, for example, for better throttle input or the steering feel, and these buttons here, switch between the predominant EV mode or the Auto mode, vehicle selects itself, and this is then when you want to sustain the battery charge. The middle console is really soft, and nice, but then, just this attachment, this is not that premium-like. Underneath, two more USB-C chargers, some space. Classic back mirror or you can switch it around and you have this camera view.

Rear seats

Pretty cool hidden door handles for the rear doors with electric help and door closing sound. It's actually a little bit better in the rear than the front. Here, this is then a manual fail-safe should everything fail and you have to press it deep in there. That's what I said.

And then, yeah, then, yeah, like this. Then, you can also open it, but of course, usually, this works fine. Then, inside of the doors is a hard pack here in a lighter dark gray color and you have some decent space in the rear the high trim is also a seat heating for the rear seats and so on, USB-C chargers, but can I sit there properly when there's also a tall driver? Remember, this is also frequently used for taxis, Uber, and Lyft drivers because of the economy, also in the hybrid version.

Legroom-wise, no problem even as a tall driver is driving in front of me. Headroom, of course, the entry can be a problem, you know, so you shouldn't hit your head, but then on the inside is here with 189/6'2", it does directly fit. So, you shouldn't be taller than me, but for my size, it works. My hair is slightly touching the ceiling.

So, let's say a little compromise as for design, but for most heights in the rear, it does still work. You can also sit in the middle part, it's reasonably soft. Of course, the outside parts are more comfortable, also here with the legroom and so on, and then you have this cup holder armrest, more basic and also not adaptive.

Overall, I think it still works okay. The only compromise I would say is really like this entry that you have to check or tell your passengers, hey, don't hit your head. I like, by the way, that they have a bright ceiling from the inside here.

Trunk/boot

The trunk capacity is now at 280 liters, 30 liters more than before. It's a classic fastback opening. The only thing I don't like is here this wobbly cover on top, not sure what they thought about that. The trunk is not that high, but however, length is 80 centimeters approximately here in the normal length, so 31 inches, and the width here are about 90 centimeters or 36 inches. So here the height is limited here to about like, you know, like just between 30 and 40

centimeters, like 13 to 16 inches. So that's the only limitation, but of course, you could take this one out and then go a little bit higher here, and you can also grab over from here and then just push everything through for the full loading length.

Another detail I didn't really pay attention to is here when you lift this one up, couldn't have at least made that black. Maximum loading length, by the way, is around 175 meters or 68 inches.

Hybrid or PHEV (Prime)

As for engines, you get a 1.8-liter hybrid with 140 horsepower or a 2-liter hybrid with around 200 horsepower. Optionally, they also deliver an electric motor at the rear for this electric all-wheel drive, and then there's the plug-in hybrid model we have or the Prius Prime. This one here is a 2-liter engine with 220 horsepower approximately and with 6.8 seconds in the acceleration figure to 100 kilometers an hour, 62 miles an hour, the the plug-in hybrid version is also the quickest one overall.

They focus on the plug-in hybrid in the European market, so you cannot get the in-build hybrids there. On the Northern American market, for example, there will still be a heavy focus on the in-build hybrid. The battery size for the plug-in hybrid has now been upgraded to 13.6-kilowatt hours. That's the gross figure, however, the buffer is not that large. How much real-world range pure electric driving does it mean for the Prius Prime? We'll find out in the driving part very soon. While on the driver's side, you have the fuel cap, on the passenger's side here, you have the AC charging, 3.3-kilowatt max, not too much, but it's more thought, yeah, you plug it in a Wallbox at home and so on.

Optional solar roof

Not sure how you can see it on camera. This one here is the optional solar roof. If you want to get a fixed glass roof to look through or this one, then you cannot look through, and this solar roof here, sometimes also combined with the highest trim level and so on, it can charge the vehicle actually. That does work, and it directly charges the main battery, so there's no additional battery for that or something, and it is paying off when you are maybe living in a state or country with a lot of sun and you have the car outside.

So, they say a couple of kilometers or miles per day or about a week to charge the battery once completely full. Again, it totally depends on where the car is parked and how much sun you have. So, only pays off when there's a lot of sun and you have the car outside all week.

Driving 2024 Prius Prime PHEV

That's 50 kilometers an hour. Pretty cool. Front-wheel drives only, a combination of electric motor and combustion engine. You heard it went on. Also, you hear some RPM. That was decently quick, and you maybe also heard we had a little bit of wheel spin because I really floored it down. Of course, that doesn't happen too often that you do that, you know, especially like in the surrounding and so on. But even though there was like a little bit of wheel spin, it was actually very well-controllable. You've maybe seen I didn't have to correct anything, you know, much on the steering wheel and so on. Yeah, pretty cool.

That was a lot of fun, and one of the key elements here of driving the all-new Prius is, that counts for all the versions, it really feels sporty.

So, the center of gravity is lower because of the different battery placement, and wider track, and that gives us indeed a very nice and sporty driving experience, and especially if you go here, left, and right like this, it's really a lot of fun. So, it holds what it promises on the exterior.

Now, the exterior design is emotional and sporty, and so is the driving experience. You maybe heard these beeping sounds. This is a new regulation, which this guy is obviously not taking into account, in the European Union, when you exceed the speed limit, even though here at the moment, I'm one, two kilometers an hour over the speed limit, which is like nothing, but even then it gets activated because you need to have like the real threshold, but you know that the tachometer always goes a little bit in advance, that the manufacturer can be sure also for, you know, like suing reasons and so on, that they're not responsible when you go over the speed limit, and say like, hey, the tachometer was like too low or something. However, you can also deactivate it, but in this case here, you have to go deep in this the menu here, switch it, do that while driving, then you deactivate the, here, traffic sign recognition.

Yeah, Mercedes recently created a hotkey in the infotainment system with their new vehicles. The problem is, when you deactivate it, it always gets activated again when you restart the vehicle.

That's the issue, actually. Hmm. Yeah, so I talked to the Toyota guys, and they are also thinking about putting a hotkey somewhere that you can deactivate it in an easier way or something because it is on one hand a good thing, on the other hand, it can also be pretty annoying.

Drive modes

Here in city traffic, after a while, its first acceleration, the combustion engine calmed down again, now we're in the pure EV mode once again. You can set this preset, like this Auto preset or this forced EV mode. This will be more or less the same. The EV mode will basically have predominantly EV driving, but when you floor it down, and pedal, it will still activate the combustion engine for safety reasons. For example, when you suddenly need more acceleration, want to get on the motorway or something, in the Auto mode, the car will even decide on its own which mode is the best at this given moment. Yeah, I think most of the time you can just leave it in Auto mode, and then you also have this pedal preset here for Normal or Sport mode.

The throttle input then changes a little bit. Let's see about the steering input, Normal mode, and Sport mode. Now the guy behind me thinks I'm totally crazy. Yeah, maybe a little bit, but I don't feel too much difference here in the steering. Yeah, a little bit more resistance, a little bit more. That is actually quite likable, but overall, the steering feeling is great. It is very light to control, so you can easily move this car around also in parking and so on. At the same time, it does give you nice feedback, so I know exactly what I'm doing it, and it's just so much fun to drive the new Prius.

So, this is to me the key thing really about this vehicle, so much more fun than the outgoing generation. Just cruising around in the city at lower speeds is really so much fun. The main difference between driving the hybrid and the plug-in hybrid or Prime called in the North American market will be that here with the plug-in hybrid, we will have definitely more pure electric driving. We will see about the pure electric consumption, and at the end of the review here, the driving part will tell you what is our real-world range estimate of pure electricity here for the Prius Prime or Prius plug-in hybrid, and with the normal hybrid, in-build hybrid, you will have more switching between electric mode and normal combustion engine.

There, once again, the 2-liter hybrid engine will be a little bit more efficient than the 1.8 because it is like, so to speak, a newer generation. Even if you just use the electric drive here, you can significantly accelerate even before the combustion engine hops on, so that's actually fine, also a lot of fun, and the top speed, just EV mode, is 130 kilometers an hour, around 80 miles an hour, whereas the overall top speed then, a motorway with combustion engine on, 180 kilometers an hour or 112 miles per hour. And now we'll also do some motorway driving for you.

Motorway driving

Super silent here in the EV mode, and when we go on the motorway, you will at some point also hear the combustion engine going on once again. I would say that most of the time, you will just leave it in the Normal driving mode here, this preset, and also in the Auto mode, then the vehicle does everything for you. These driving modes, let's say, for some vehicles, have a significant influence on how the car feels.

Here, it doesn't change that much, so you can just as well, this way, like a green arrow, now I could turn, no, I wasn't driving in red light, like the main traffic the light was red, and then there was this green arrow. That's, by the way, also so cool, always when I drive in the US, just live in California again, you can always turn at the intersection, even at red, when you stop and then turn right, that's actually pretty cool. In Germany, just sometimes with, you know, these traffic lights possible, or when there's like a fixed green arrow in certain intersections, that's also possible.

So, now, 80 kilometers an hour. So like 50 miles an hour, something like that. And so far, it's really silent. This car now feels so much more settled on the road overall. So, also here on the motorway, it feels sportier, and in a way, it is sportier, but also more relaxed, because when the car is better to control, actually, then you also feel safer, in a way. Also, with the suspension here, there are the 19-inch wheels we have here, so the bigger ones, but although these are the bigger wheels, the suspension feels absolutely fine. So, that's also cool. Good suspension. When we have some bumps in the road, didn't notice anything bad, or so on, it is more than comfortable enough.

At the same time, when I do some slalom, the car does not significantly shape up. So, like for all the hardware things, steering, suspension, how smooth the car feels, acceleration-wise, both in the pure electric and on the hybrid mode, they're really on top of their game. So, this car has been improved in basically every single aspect, especially for the driving feel. Assistant systems, there is, for example, the adaptive cruise control, and you can see that here on the steering wheel, and increase the speed or decrease. Active lane-keeping assist, can you activate or deactivate here, let's see.

This is a narrow construction lane side, and the car doesn't have too many lines available, so here, sometimes it reacts, like, notably, but so far, actually quite smooth, and this is also something that they did here in the new generation, they really worked on all the assistant systems and upgraded everything, so a more elaborated assistant systems pack. There's also a blind spot monitor available, you have the visual warning, plus an acoustic warning when you, for example, set the turning indicator, it also gives you this additional acoustic warning. So, assistance systems-wise, also a very nice upgrade, and I always appreciate that while driving, I can still easily access the climate unit and control that, so, I think a very good user interface, I can have my modern Apple CarPlay, Android Auto connection right there, still, access everything manually with pressing a button, also steering wheel heating left next to the steering wheel, that's actually fine, and looking to the instruments, I really don't need a head-up display here, because they are placed relatively high, and here, it's also possible to put the steering wheel quite low, in the Peugeot models, for example, there, we often had that something was blocking this instrument cluster view, it's not the case here, I think, very well placed, also high up above, that you can always see that while driving.

In comparison to the BZ4X, the pure electric model, some things feel quite similar, because you have the same stock column here, the whole steering wheel, and so on, they have that all in common, and then again, you sit really, really lower, BZ4X model is crossover SUV concept, here, of course, you get the sportier feeling, but you might think at some point, why didn't they also go for pure EV version with the Prius here, it would have definitely fit it, because here with the plug-in hybrid at the moment, driving pure EV all the time, and it's actually quite cool, you know, really enjoying driving with the Max.

Speed Autobahn tests pure EV mode here. And now, what about going faster from, let's see, put to Sport mode from 90 kilometers an hour, see with the combustion engine on, let's go. 120. Oh, there we go. 150. Now, we hear something on that engine, and let's get to top speed. Now, approaching 180. So, that's 183, yeah, that is top speed.

So, yeah, of course, it's on the performance vehicle, but then you can also see the top speed, which we can show it here to you on the German Autobahn, where is unlimited speed. So far, also feels really planted at these higher speeds, the only thing I do notice and criticism is 100 kilometers an hour, 60 miles an hour, and you don't have any additional noise from other vehicles around, then you tend to notice here some wind noise coming here from an area from the side mirror.

That is not ideal, didn't expect that, and the second thing I do criticize is this steering wheel column when the steering wheel is basically straight like this, it's more that you steer a little bit to the right, you know, so, yes, as you drive straight when it's more or less straight, but then it's not aligned with the steering column, so I have to feel like this, and I would drive a little bit more to the right, maybe just a little notch, but, yeah, I notice these kinds of things, also notice that in the city traffic, for example, but overall, also very good driving behavior here when we're at higher speed, also do a lane change on the Autobahn, that actually feels pretty cool, so, yeah, from all the driving features here, really, really like it.

Let's get off here, one more, dynamic driving, still really fast, and now in the corner, let's see if it pushes me in any way, now on the brakes, good brake landing also from recuperation to rear brakes, yeah, it feels so nice and planted in the corner, so much sporty fun, yeah, really so positively surprised by the new driving behavior here of the Prius.

Efficiency and electric range

The efficiency results here for the plug-in hybrid, Prime test drive, are really impressive, have around 12 kilowatt hours on 100 kilometers, so that's more than 5 miles per kilowatt hour, that's really super efficient, yeah, of course, in this case, mild temperatures, and you've, or maybe also seen here, we drove around 70 kilometers,  pure electric, and still 18% of battery left, we start at the full battery, so you can, like, almost easily, like, go like 100 kilometers or 60 miles pure electric in ideal conditions with that one here, that is really very, very efficient indeed. And then you have to think about that even if that is all depleted, you still get the combustion engine from the fuel tank range, yeah, so, overall, that's really hard to beat, maybe by the small internal competitor, the Toyota Corolla Hybrid.