Living with a Toyota Prius
It’s time to bid a fond farewell to excellent hybrid hatch
ALL good things have to come to an end. That’s true of our time with the Toyota Prius, which has sadly left our fleet – but it’s also true for me, every morning.
At 5:30am each day, my alarm goes off, and I’m forced to drag myself out of bed and end a good night’s sleep early. Even after years of doing it, I’ve never managed to get used to these crack of dawn starts – but for the past 12 months, it has been made a hundred times easier by the Toyota Prius on my driveway. My daily commute is different every day, as I travel around the country to take many of the pictures you see in Auto Express, but the Prius is so comfortable and tranquil that it makes even the longest journey much more simple.
I could be on the M1, A34 or M25 with people tailgating me, lane hogging and not understanding how variable speed cameras work – but in the Toyota it somehow doesn’t seem to bother me as it used to. The adaptive cruise control and minimal wind noise ensure it’s calm on a long journey.
Or I could be coming into our office in central London on congested city streets. The relaxed CVT gearbox and hybrid powertrain mean the Prius glides along silently for most of the trip at low speed, so even in traffic my stress levels don’t rise too much.
Then there’s the inevitable morning where you get into your car and remember that you need to fill up with fuel. The Prius is still combustion-engined, but the hybrid system means that happens much less often. We’ve managed 63.4mpg over our time with the car, which is an incredible realworld figure and it was achieved without me driving particularly gently. It’s testament to how well Toyota’s hybrid system works, and I’m more than happy with how fuel efficient the car has been.
However, there are a few niggles with the Prius that have got on my nerves over the past year, and the main one is how much it beeps at me. It chimes when I’m reversing, or if there’s a speed camera coming up ahead. It’s good to be warned of potential hazards, but the constant beeping and bonging did become a bit irritating.
The 343-litre boot isn’t as spacious as I’d like with all my photography gear in the back, although admittedly it did all fit in well enough. And with 1,558 litres of space with the seats folded down, there was actually loads of room if I did need to squeeze anything bigger inside.
Then there’s the taxi-driver image our metallic grey model projects. I’m not too worried about being misidentified as a minicab, but I can’t deny that, especially on our car’s energy-saving 15-inch wheels, the Prius does look a little dull, even when you factor in futuristic styling details like the pointy nose and LED tail-lights.
The interior could be a bit more luxurious, but other than there not being enough adjustment on the steering wheel, it’s ergonomically very good. The driving position is comfy, and you sit low in the cabin without compromising visibility.
Still, there’s little to complain about overall with the Toyota, and I’ll genuinely miss having it around. The lightweight controls, comfortable ride and excellent refinement meant I’ve rarely felt stressed, and there’s even some fun to be had when I arrive at some of the great driving roads we use on our tests.
“The 343-litre boot isn’t as spacious as I’d like with all my photography gear in the back”