2019 Toyota Prius Prime Hatchback Consumer Reviews
Love the car
Decided to get the Prius prime after 3 years with a 2012 Leaf (Horrible), 2015 Ford CMax (Roomy car with decent Mileage, too bad ford did not improve on it). Have a 80 miles round trip commute from Orange county to LA and prius is turning out to be a solid buy. Electric range could have been better. The fuel economy is stellar. Laser cruise control and automatic breaking is a boon. Want to replace wife's aging GL with something more efficient. (Looking at a PHEV Pacifica in the next year or so, Toyota are you listening?) 18 months and 28K miles later, the Mpg/e for my 80 mile round trip commute with no charging at work is 96 Mpge. Automatic emergency breaking is an amazing co-pilot. Will not think of buying another car without one. Please make improvements to the "autopilot", more ev range please (60 miles would be good). Bring the prius technology to the Sienna!
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Amazing Car, Especially with Tax Credit
Let's start with the worst features: Acceleration is what you'd expect from an EV hybrid, but I've found it adequate to do any merging or passing on both city roads and highways. The Toyota entertainment system is a nightmare, crashing and rebooting as if it were a Windows computer circa 2000, and the car does not support Apple CarPlay unlike other Toyota models. However, the end-around is to use your iPhone or Android apps and bluetooth for a perfectly fine interface. The third disaster feature is navigation which is just like all the other terrible navigation systems ever built into every other car. Just ignore it and use Waze or Google Maps or a Garmin. The screen is nice and big, so I find I can stick my suction-cup Garmin to it for perfect viewing rather than on the windshield. Now the good stuff: I've had my car a month, have yet to gas up, and the gas level is just slightly below "full." That's because most of my driving is under 25 miles round trip and I plug in each trip. So far I'm averaging 100 mpg. The car handles like my old Prius V or any other Prius for that matter. Cargo space is slightly reduced but I find it adequate. As of April 2019 Toyota still has plenty of $4,500 tax credits to give away, unlike many other car manufacturers who have been making EVs or EV hybrids for a while, so that allowed me to get the Advanced model for the price of the basic model (though I won't see that $4,500 until April 2020). Of the Advanced features, I like lane following, lane cross warning, blind-spot warning, near-hazard warning, and watch-out-for-that-car-you-can't-see-zooming-behind-you-as-you-are-backing-up warning. I don't use the auto parking system as I can park the car faster myself. The nicest little touch is the wireless recharger for your cell phone. I just plop my phone in the phone-shaped area and not worry about the battery level. In short, I couldn't be happier with this car unless it had a workable entertainment system that I didn't have to work around. I'm updating the review now that I've had the car half a year. All my driving locally is within 30 miles round-trip and I literally don't gas up until I have to go on a road trip. There was a 2-month period where I stayed local, put no gas in the car and the fuel level didn't do down at all. When I do hit the highway, road noise is acceptable, as is handling, but you won't mistake this Prius for a Lexus. The blind-spot warning feature is really useful on the road for those drivers that like to park in your blind spot while cruising along. I generally fill up the car when I'm at about 1/8 tank, and it costs an average of $25 to do so. For that I get about 4-1/2 hours of driving (a little over 300 miles). The tolls I have to pay on the PA, OH, and IN turnpikes cost me more than the gas. I average around 60 miles/gallon overall, which is also not like a Lexus, but in a good way. This car isn't going to turn any heads, but it exemplifies the advantage of plug-in hybrids. If your local driving is truly local (< 30 miles round trip per day) but you occasionally go on the road, an all-electric vehicle doesn't cut it unless you don't mind waiting 20 minutes for a partial charge-up. An all-gasoline vehicle also doesn't cut it because of poor mileage and spewing carbon into the air. Plug-in hybrids rule, or will once people figure it out.
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"If only"
I own a 2016 Prius 4 and a 2014 Prius 3. The 3 is coming off lease and will be turned in. We love everything about the Prius 4 and we just purchased the 2019 Prius Prime Premium for my wife. Her only complaint is "if only the car had the outside mirror warning sensors to allow me to switch lanes safely". It took my 71 yr. old wife quite some time to locate the Prime she desired but completely missed the description of the outside mirrors. If it was possible to change them out we would do it. This is the last vehicle we are purchasing since we are senior citizens. Now we both drive Blizzard Pearl Prius cars. They are beautiful!
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MPG techno machine
My average commute is 80 miles round trip. The car is charged up in the AM, driven to work, charged up at work and driven back home. Had the car three weeks and clocked up 1500 + miles before it needed a fill up. So far my monthly fuel bill is right around $25 bucks. Only nit is the navigation. it's a bit clunky to use and the routing algorithms could be better. I keep a Garmin in the car for navigation. Lots of complaints about the 11.6 screen. For me, it's fine. The screen gets a wipe off once/week. You get use to how to use it after a while. My last Prius has gone 180,000 trouble free miles and is still going strong. Why get anything else?
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First 2 Weeks
I would say it's a great car right now. Storage is lacking due to the traction battery. Milage is as avertized in hybrid mode. Took three days to read the manual which is highly recommended in the toeing section to avoid damage. Charging is nice and improved MPG so now at 68.3 MPG so it is a bit misleading if you want to differentiate between gas and electric. Driving is interesting with a consistent feedback on how you are doing for "being a eco driver" in summary There is a point system where slow acceleration, slow brack, and constant cruse will give highest scores.
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