2024 Toyota Prius

BRIAN WONG: The 2023 Toyota Prius got an extreme makeover that changed it from an ugly duckling into this-- a hybrid with some actual style. But just like a book, we don't judge a car by its cover. So we're here to find out, does the new Prius have substance to back-up that new style? We'll take you along with us as we get acquainted with the Prius on a first drive. And then give you a peek into our ratings process as I live with the Prius for a week. We'll also take it on our real world testing loop. So we get our own fuel economy numbers, very important for an efficient vehicle like this. But first, if you're enjoying our videos, please hit those Like and Subscribe buttons. And if you now have Prius envy and you want to sell your car, head over to edmunds.com/sellmycar to get an instant cash offer. [TRUMPET PLAYING] What was that? You want to talk about the Prius and its history, and how the new one is to drive? The Prius is sort of the OG hybrid and it's been carrying the banner for fuel efficient transportation for five generations now. All the way from the early 2000's into this, the new 2023 version. And over that time, there's really been two constants in the Prius lineup. One, very fuel efficient and two, very, very ugly. But Toyota is hoping to change that paradigm with a new Prius, because this is actually a very stylish vehicle. Well, very stylish by Prius standards, I guess. And two, it remains very fuel efficient. Right now we're in San Diego gathering some initial impressions of the Prius and we'll get to drive through a few of the different trim levels and try out both of the front wheel drive and the all wheel drive powertrains. So right now we are in a limited all wheel drive. And this is the top of the three Prius trim levels. They've dropped the base L in the new generation. So the base price of the Prius has gone up about $2,300. And one thing that's common through all three trim levels, they get big upgrades in the powertrain department. So up front, you now have a 2 liter, 4 cylinder engine that replaces the 1.5 liter 4 cylinder and you also get a new lithium ion battery behind me, underneath the rear seat. And that battery is lighter and it can output more energy. So these gains, along with an increase in power for the electric motors, actually increases horsepower from 121 all the way up to 194 horsepower in front wheel drive models and 196 horsepower in this, the all wheel drive. So we are in a limited model. This is the top of the line model for the Prius. It comes standard with this large 12.3" touch screen, but all models also come with this instrument cluster screen here that sits on top of the dash. The 12.3" screen is a massive upgrade. Multimedia system is easier to use. It's faster. Navigation system has stops that are now powered by Google so you're getting the latest sort of location updates. There is one weird thing, though. With this large screen here, the volume knob actually moves all the way over to the right. So it's actually much closer to the passenger. You can still use this little knob here on the steering wheel to change volume, but from the driver's seat I can't reach it easily. A little bit of a knock there. The big problem, though, is this instrument cluster. So the design of this is basically identical to what you're getting in the Toyota bZ4X, their electric SUV. And that vehicle, when they first showed it, it had instead of a steering wheel, a yoke like you would get in a Tesla Model S Plaid. But you know, wheels are actually better for driving so I'm glad that there's a steering wheel here. The top of it, though, it really covers up that instrument cluster. So when I set this up to where I like to drive comfortably, I can't see about half the screen, and I can't actually see how fast that I'm going. So I have to kind of make a choice. Do I want to be comfortable driving or do I want to be able to see the speedometer, see how the safety features are all working, see my fuel economy? And it's just a compromise that makes it a bit hard to find a perfect driving position. Connectivity features, great in the new Prius. No matter what trim level, you're getting wireless Android Auto and Apple CarPlay even with the smaller 8" screen that comes standard on LE and XLE models. There's also Bluetooth that can connect two phones at once. So if you need to swap out music it's not that hard. And I also like, up front here, they've done a very good job with storage. So you have this little cubby here, but it actually opens up and reveals a hidden compartment. And in case you forget it's hidden, it says #hiddencompartment in the bottom of it. And Toyota has moved the wireless charging pad from here over to this little slot right here. And the nice thing is, you can really only fit a phone in here. So it's not in the way of anything else. There is one problem, though, when you have a wireless charging pad that's enclosed like this your phone can get quite hot. So I had my phone in there for maybe four or five minutes and when I took it out, very hot to the touch. So this is a limited model, as we said before, and on the first drive I got to test out an XLE. And I actually think that will be the one that most consumers will and should buy. There isn't that much difference between the XLE and the Limited. They actually have the exact same seat materials, and it actually still comes with the wireless charging pad, heated front seats, and you can outfit it with a larger screen if you really wanted. At a $3,500, roughly, price difference between the two, there's not really as much of a case to step up to the Limited for me. I think the XLE is where you're going to find the best mix of value and features. I like a lot of what Toyota has done with the front of this interior, however, when you get to the back things are much less positive. As you can see, getting in-- a little bit more difficult than it used to be. This kind of low-sloping roofline means that you really got to duck your head to make it in without hitting it. And the other problem is, this cuts into the visibility for your passengers. So if I'm sitting here and I look to my left, I see a lot of ceiling, I don't see a lot of window. The back seat for the Prius is actually very important because so many Ubers and taxis and things use them. So any problems you have back here, you can normally say, hey, those are people in the back. It doesn't matter to me, but it's going to matter to you. Legroom? Pretty good. This seat is set up where I like to drive. I'm just under 6' tall and it's actually grown a bit because the car is an inch longer. Where things get worse, also though, headroom. So as you can see, my hair is touching the headliner and that means that if I'm sitting straight up and we hit a bump, my skull and the headliner are going to have a quick reunion and that's not ideal. Now, the backseat isn't the only thing that's shrunk. The cargo area-- that's also gotten smaller. So the last generation Prius had 27.4 cubic feet of cargo room behind the rear seat, and on this vehicle it's actually shrunk down to only 20.3 cubic feet. And that's a big step down. In practical terms, what does that look like? So Toyota actually had an old Prius here for us to try out the cargo room and I was able to fit this set of golf clubs in there with very little problem. So I'm going to try to do the same thing in the new Prius and see how it goes. I try to jam that in there. But if we take these out-- because who needs those-- and then it's like a glove. [MUSIC PLAYING] So now that we've made it back to Los Angeles, it's time to put the Prius through our Edmunds testing loop. So I've just filled it up at a gas station down the street from our headquarters in Santa Monica, and now I'm going to take the Prius on a 120 mile loop. And it goes through a few different environments. So some highway driving, some city driving, and even some mountain roads so we can continue to get better handling impressions for the Prius. I just finished running the Edmunds testing loop in the new Prius and now I'm back at our headquarters. I just want to share one more thing that we learned about the new Prius on this loop, and that is that I really enjoy how Toyota has dialed in the driving aids on the new Prius. With the adaptive cruise control on, the way that it keeps the car centered in the lane and both accelerates and brakes smoothly, really impressive. It makes me want to use that system even more. On the first drive, we spent the day in pretty much all wheel drive versions, but after driving the front wheel drive version for a week or so, some differences began to emerge, mostly in initial acceleration. So that all wheel drive version has an extra rear electric motor that makes about 40 horsepower and that does make a difference off the line, though, this car seems to quickly catch-up. So functionally, there's not a ton of difference, though you will, again, in the all wheel drive get a bit more initial burst of acceleration. The all wheel drive system doesn't seem to do much for handling, however. In the front wheel drive one, you still have numb steering, but it feels pretty good and the car does a great job of tracking straight on the highway. So you're not losing much there. The only reason to really get all wheel drive is, again, if you live in an area with a lot of rain or a lot of low traction situations and you just want that extra security. But for performance, eh, you can go without it and save a little bit of money. One sort of negative thing that we did notice, and this might be a little bit of a theme with the new Prius, is that the new styling does kind of cut away at the car's utility. And one of those ways is visibility. So out behind me there's no more split liftgate where you have, you know, a view of above and below with a spoiler in the middle. Now, it's just one view, but what they don't tell you is that they basically just cover at the bottom. So rear visibility, not as good. In this Limited model, you can get a digital rearview mirror, which, of course, sort of solves that. But in the other models you're just not going to able to see as much out the rearview mirror as you could before. And the C-pillar over my right shoulder here gives you a very big blind spot over your right side. One of the important things about being able to spend a week with the car is that you get a much better sense of how the safety features actually function in the real world. And on the '23 Prius there are two new key safety innovations that we want to call out. The first new feature is the emergency driving stop system. And this only works when the adaptive cruise control is activated. So what happens is if, let's say you're on the adaptive cruise control, you're on the freeway, something happens to you and you're unable to power the vehicle, instead of it just kind of driving on and on and on, it will actually feel when you stop giving the car inputs, and eventually bring the car to a slow and then a stop, turn on the hazards and unlock the doors. It won't actually pull the car over like some of these systems do, so you'll still be in the same lane that you're traveling in, but then at least you're not hurtling down the road with no one controlling the vehicle. The second system, and this will be much more applicable day-to-day, is the proactive drive assist. And this sort of just functions as gentle reminders. So let's say you're on the freeway, traffic starts to slow, you'll actually feel the car begin to brake very gently just as a little bit of a reminder that traffic ahead of you might be slowing. And it can also detect if, like, you're coming up on a curve and it'll slow the car so it gets through it a little bit smoother. And it also will flash these little LEDs down here if a car in front of you pulls away at a stoplight. So if you're on your phone, don't be on your phone, but if you are on your phone they'll give you a little flash here and you'll know that cars in front of you are moving before, you know, nine people are honking in your general direction. The problem that a system like this can have is that if it's too intrusive, people just end up shutting it off. And if people shut off safety features, they're not really safety features at all. They're just kind of duds. I also found during the hundreds of miles that I covered on the highway that the adaptive cruise control and the lane keep assist work very well. Toyota has tuned them in perfectly. So the car is very smooth when it both accelerates and brakes, and the lane keep assist doesn't ping pong the Prius between the lane lines. It actually tracks pretty straight and you'll follow the car ahead of you quite well. Now, as you might be able to tell, I'm taking the Prius around our test track and we had a chance to put it through our full battery of testing today. So let's take a look at the numbers. [MUSIC PLAYING] So our instrumented tests backs up what Toyota said, a huge difference in 0 to 60 times. If the goal was to make the Prius more powerful and a bit more engaging to drive, mission accomplished. And Toyota has also done that without really sacrificing efficiency, which is impressive. So they've added power to the equation and you still get roughly the same fuel economy as the last generation, which is a win on both fronts. In addition to those powertrain upgrades, there's also big upgrades to the suspension. So new front struts and a bit of a revised rear, and what that does is it makes the Prius not a sporty handler, but it feels very composed. The last car, whenever you'd go over some kind of bump on the road it would feel like the car would shake and it was going to fall apart. Much more composed now, very good on the highway in terms of ride quality. You don't really feel those road undulations or road seams, and it's actually fairly quiet when you're going over broken pavement. Again, a big improvement over the last Prius. The only thing that's problematic is that $37,000 for this car means that you could get a Camry Hybrid or a Sonata Hybrid for less money and have a better passenger space. So if your goal is to carry maybe four passengers semi-frequently, look to those midsize hybrids and then jump up without paying any kind of premium for it. You might not get the same big screen, or maybe quite the same refinement with the powertrain, but if space is the goal there are alternatives now. So you're not stuck with the Prius. Well, it's been a fun week with the Prius, but it's time to get down to business. After going through the first drive, living with the car, and putting it through a rigorous battery of tests here at the Edmunds Test Track, it's time to unveil the piece de la resistance-- our Edmunds Test Rating. But first, for a little bit of contest-- the last generation Prius only got a 7.3 rating and that put it in 9th place on our Best Hybrids leaderboard, quite a fall for an icon. So where does the new Prius land? Its improvements in style, drivability, and technology mean that its Edmunds rating jumps to-- drum roll, please-- 8.0. And that is good enough for 4th place on our Hybrid list, now only just 0.1 points behind the leaders. The Prius could have easily taken the top spot if its new emphasis on style didn't impact utility so negatively with a smaller cargo area and a smaller rear passenger space. And some improvements on the interior ergonomics would have also probably taken it over the top as well, such as a better placement for that gauge cluster. So after all that we can safely say, the Prius-- cool-- for somebody. [MUSIC PLAYING]