2017 Toyota Prius Prime
Though based on the crisper-handling, roomier, more-efficient, fourth-generation Prius that arrived for 2016 packing the latest infotainment and safety tech, the Prius Prime is a new plug-in version of the car. It features a larger lithium-ion battery that enables it to run on electricity alone for the first 25 miles (up from just 15 miles on the Prius Plug-in the Prime replaces). After that, it functions pretty much like any other garden-variety Prius, efficiently blending hydrocarbons and electrons and, in this case, stretching 11.3 gallons of regular unleaded for a total of 640 miles.
Unlike the old Prius Plug-in, the Prime has styling and features that make it stand apart from the regular Prius models. This makes sense because what good is it having the latest iPhone if everyone thinks you’re still swiping and pinching the old version.
To wit, the new Prius Prime stretches 4.2 inches longer nose to tail, and what a nose it is. Instead of the almost too-cute “Hello Kitty” face of the standard Prius, the Prime sports a squinty-eyed bank of eight LED headlamps, a sinister-looking blacked-out front fascia, and huge daytime running lamp-cradling side scoops that could have been inspired by Toyota’s Mirai fuel-cell car or even the turbine-powered 1956 GM Firebird II concept.
Out back, the vertical taillamps and dual-oven-door hatch window of the Prius yield to the Prime’s wild wave-form hatch and ring-of-fire horizontal LED taillight scheme. The Prime’s rear glass is actually concave at the center, dipping down like a partially melted Gummi Bear. Whimsy or not, Toyota claims aerodynamic benefits for the wavy hatch and I can vouch that the lowered center section actually improves the driver’s rearward view.
Now standard on all but the least-expensive Prius Prime is a new 11.6-inch vertical touchscreen for audio, navigation, climate control and app management. The Prime’s HD display pretty much spans all of the available dash space between the top of the instrument panel and the joystick transmission shifter.
Other available cabin amenities include a color head-up display, a heated steering wheel and a wireless charging pad for Qi-enabled phones.
On the downside, cargo space in the Prime is reduced by more than seven cubic feet compared to the Prius. This is due to the larger 8.8 kWh battery residing under the raised cargo floor, equipped with almost twice as many Li-ion cells. But at 19.8 cubic feet accessible through a large hatch opening, the Prime still has as more space back there than a typical sedan, and it’s plenty roomy for the typical Costco run and that’s without folding down the rear seatbacks. The big battery also means there’s no room for a spare tire
in the Prime, just a tire repair kit which only works on small punctures, so make sure you have cellphone and roadside assistance plans with good coverage.
The good news is the Prime’s wide safety net. The Toyota Safety Sense suite of semiautonomous driver assistance and collision avoidance systems is standard fare. It includes full-speed adaptive cruise control, automatic high beam headlight activation, forward collision warning with automatic emergency braking and lane departure warning with steering assist (the latter system can be turned off where there are no clear lane markings to follow). Blind-spot warning and rear cross-traffic alert systems are also available.
The big draw for the Prime is its headlinegrabbing 133 MPGe fuel efficiency rating, which the EPA says the new plug-in hybrid can effectively achieve if it takes full advantage of those 25 miles of electric driving (EV mode) with every tankful of gas. That’s up from “just” 87 MPGe with the previousgeneration Prius Plug-in.
Additionally, the Prime can now operate in EV mode up to 84 mph, an increase of 22 mph over the old Prius plug-in.
Toyota will sell the Prime in all 50 states and at $27,100 for the Prime Plus, $28,800 for the Prime Premium and $33,100 for a Prime Advanced, the automaker is signaling that it wants to remain the go-to hybrid brand.