Plug-in Prius finally comes of age
HUGE IMPROVEMENTS: Toyota transforms a good hybrid into a good car and some might even say it’s sporty David Booth
Consider the following statistic. Toyota’s Prius, the little hybrid that could, has found more than 3.5 million customers since its introduction 20 years go. That’s about half of the hybrids ever sold.
Not half of the hybrids Toyota has sold. Not half of the fuel-sipping gas-electric combos sold in emissions-conscious North America — more than half of all the hybrids sold by anybody, anywhere in the world since the first hybrid was introduced. That’s called dominating the market.
Yet, the first plug-in version of the Toyota eco-compact, uninspiringly called the Prius Plug-in, was a complete disaster. While the base Prius regularly topped hybrid sales charts with as many as 4,600 units sold annually in Canada, Toyota Canada sold more than 100 Plug-ins only once — 212 in 2013. In 2015, Canadians only bought 43 rechargeable Priuses, which by Toyota’s standards — after all, it is the world’s largest automaker — is a complete disaster.
The question this begs, of course, is why the bare-bones Prius could be so successful while the plug-in version, ostensibly superior in both range and fuel economy, could fail so monumentally?
Theories abound, from uncompetitive pricing to a dearth of marketing to a lack of differentiation from the base product, but the simple truth is that Toyota wasn’t committed to the plug-in version.
Hybrids? Absolutely; it is the world leader.
Battery-powered EVs and PHEVs? Not so much.
The technical highlights of the previous plug-in version of the Prius highlighted that lack of commitment. Introduced in 2012, it was the most, well, timid of plug-ins that were then just being introduced to the market. The 4.4-kilowatt hour battery was smaller than most comparable PHEVs. Its top ‘electric only’ speed — claimed by Toyota to be 100 km/h — was, in real life only about half that. Worse yet, its electric-only range, officially rated at 20 kilometres, was also almost always less.
Indeed, on many occasions during my testing, I struggled to get even 10 km in pure EV mode. Compare that with Hyundai’s Sonata Plugin, which never offered less than 40 kilometres of EVing, and the Plugin Prius was simply not competitive.
More importantly, taking the trouble to plug in the Prius every night simply wasn’t worth it for its measly 10 to 15 km of emissions-free motoring, especially if it was 20 below and icy.
The 2017 model year sees the plug-in return with a new name — Prime — and a real battery — now 8.8 kWh of lithium ion. That’s twice as much electrical capacity as the previous version and a whopping 12 times as powerful as the 0.7kWh battery in the Prius Eco. That boost, Toyota says, means the new Prime can travel 35 km on electrons alone, can hit 135 km/h without help from fossil fuels. And, when the gas engine does kick in, Toyota claims the 1.8-L Atkinson-cycle four has 40 per cent thermal efficiency, the highest of any internal combustion engine.
The result, says Stephen Beatty, Toyota Canada’s vice-president in charge of product planning, is better overall fuel economy than Chevrolet’s extended-range Volt — 1.96 Le/100 km versus 2.2 Le/100 km. Toyota also says the Prime’s combined electric and gasoline range of 965 km is significantly longer than the 676 km the Volt boasts.
In real life, the Prime, unlike the previous Plug-in, exceeds expectations. We easily exceeded 40 klicks on battery power alone, making the 2017 Prime a practical electric vehicle at least for urban commuting. And when the little 1.8-L engine finally did kick in, it consumed as little as 4.1 L/100 km on the highway, about a litre per 100 klicks more parsimonious than the previous plugin. That was without hyper-miling or any of the other silliness that owners of older Priuses have to resort to to achieve Toyota Canada’ a mileage and range predictions for earlier models.
We didn’t get to test the Prime’s reputed on-electricity-only 135 km/h top speed — the local constabulary was out in force — but it did regularly top 120 km/h without threatening fossil-fuel intervention.
Even more impressive is that it scooted up to 120 km/h with something approaching alacrity. Acceleration proved strong and purposeful, the Prime gathering speed as quickly in EV mode as it does as a hybrid. The trick, Toyota says, is that where previous Priuses use only one of their two electric motors to drive the front wheels, the Prime routes power from both to the road, hence the new-found power in EV mode.
Perhaps the even bigger surprise is that the Prime feels sporty. Of course, that’s relative, and no one will ever mistake the Prime for a Ferrari or even a BMW. But it does steer more precisely, roll less and the suspension is better damped than ever.
Hooning about on Stagecoach Road near Santa Barbara, Calif., the Prius Prime felt more planted than many a sporty family sedan and did not embarrass itself at all, despite my best efforts at challenging the laws of physics and the driving style of hybrid owners.
It was — yes, I dare say it — fun to drive.
Not only that, the ride is, if anything, better controlled, the stiffer springing combining with superior damping to eliminate all the hobby-horsing and crash-boom-banging over potholes that plagued previous versions. The Prime, in fact, is superior to some top-flight family sedans in its on-road comportment. Yes, you could knock me over with a feather, too.
Inside, the Prime has also gone more mainstream. The odd little dashboard-mounted shift lever remains, but that’s about it for traditional Prius oddities. The Technology version of the Prime — no price set yet on either the base or this up-level trim — has a new, vertically oriented 11.6-inch touch screen for navigation and entertainment systems (think of a giant iPad).
The rest of the interior is pretty much standard fourth-generation Prius, which is, again, much more mainstream. It’s fairly roomy, pleasantly attired and — again, surprisingly — quite quiet. Little of the 1.8L four’s valve clatter reaching the cabin, even when cruising at 120 km/h (higher speeds still provide something of a challenge).
Indeed, the worst thing I can say about the new Prime is that, to accommodate that new, larger battery, the rear cargo floor is 10 centimetres higher than before, reducing cargo capacity and making liftover a little more difficult.
And the carbon-fibre rear hatch Toyota champions for reducing weight is going to cost a fortune to fix after a rear-end collision.
Otherwise, the Prime is hybridization finally arrived. The Prius — at least, this Prius — is no longer just a good hybrid, it’s a good car. It’s also the first Prius I would consider owning.
The 2017 Prius Prime will be in Canadian Toyota dealers by spring 2017. No pricing has been set, but its starting MSRP should be in the same price range as the 2015 model — $35,905 — despite the performance upgrades.