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Ken Gratton21 Jun 2016
REVIEW

Toyota Prius 2016 Review

New fuel-sipping small car is nicer than its predecessor inside – if not outside

Toyota Prius i-Tech
Long-Term Test (Update 1)

Each new generation of Toyota Prius has advanced the cause of hybrid-drive technology another significant step. The latest model is no different, with much improved interior trim materials and a cosier driving position to its credit. This new Prius is roomier and remains very practical in a real-world context too. All that good work by Toyota's engineers is outweighed, however, by the radical new style – easily the most polarising look of any Prius in history.

It needs to be said, Toyota's new Prius is no work of art. We're talking about the sort of styling that only a mother could love, and only if that mother is herself a disfigured rodent.

It's not a bad machine, however, underneath that extraterrestrial guise.

I spent time with the third generation of Prius in the month after that car's local launch back in 2009. And in a clear case of automotive Stockholm Syndrome, I grew to admire and appreciate that car's strengths.

The new Prius doesn't seem to have gained that much ground on the previous model. This new car's average for the month of May was 4.9L/100km. The previous car averaged 4.4L over the course of a month.

Even allowing for different driving styles in the newer car, my own personal time behind the wheel resulted in a figure no better than 4.7L/100km. Admittedly, that was with the added weight of two teenage kids and their school bags for at least 10 minutes out of a 90-minute return-trip commute.

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For this model it's time to assess the Prius as a fully-rounded car, not just a fuel-sipping urban runabout.

As with the old car, this new Prius does get up and go if you exploit the internal-combustion Atkinson cycle four-cylinder. Combined with the electric motor, the petrol engine delivers decent performance, although it sounds more than ever like a stationary generator – running at constant speed coupled to the continuously variable transmission set-up. One advantage of the CVT is that its ratios adjust automatically to maintain a preset speed using the cruise control, even on steeper hills.

The Prius is as quiet as the old car, if not quieter, and it's hard to pick the petrol engine restarting until the rumble penetrates at what feels like about 1500 revs – and only after training the ear for a couple of days.

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There's no tachometer in the Prius, so it's just a guess, but the engine never sounds like it's striving harder than 5000rpm, even on the most demanding of occasions. On light throttle the engine seems like it's spinning below 2000rpm as it recharges the battery or provides some additional torque to the drive wheels.

At open-road speeds there's precious little noise to be heard of any kind – certainly nothing from the engine.

Tuned to save as much fuel as possible, the engine doesn't necessarily restart immediately (although you can select 'Sport' mode to make it respond faster), and at other times it will start unexpectedly. Since invoking engine torque is such a hit-and-miss affair, the Prius is just not the first car you would choose to reach Point B in record time. And fair enough too; that's not its purpose.

But to satisfy your curiosity, the Prius offers reasonable roadholding on its low-rolling resistance Bridgestone Turanzas. Handling could be described as 'safe' understeer once the Prius is pushed up to the limits of its adhesion.

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The tyres are easily overpowered in a straight line by heavy braking or immoderate acceleration on any road that's less than completely dry. And the anti-lock brakes take a long time to reduce braking pressure for a locked wheel. I found steering response to be slow, and the weight is generally light, but the wheel does gain heft from around 80km/h.

The new Prius rides better than I recall for the previous model. Around town – its natural habitat – the Prius just glided over repaired bitumen and potholes with equanimity.

Driving the Prius for fuel economy does call on the driver to make some concessions. It's best to leave it in Eco mode rather than Sport or Normal. This changes the accelerator's characteristics from hair-trigger to a marshmallow brick. In this mode it's unlikely to waken the petrol engine unless you kick it hard in the guts. It's simply easier to drive the Prius in Eco mode if your aim is to save fuel.

Pricing and Features
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Keeping the battery charged on the move rather than while stationary will bring down the fuel consumption number, and taking advantage of every incline or coasting up to intersections in anticipation of the lights changing to green will help as well.

From the driver's seat, the in-dash gear shift lever is in closer reach than its counterpart in the previous model. It's also a lighter, stubbier affair that's quite easy to use. The Prius comes with a foot-operated parking brake, which is also simple to operate. If there's a problem behind the wheel of the new Prius, it's all the gimmicky telemetry in the centre-mounted instrument binnacle. It becomes a real distraction in next to no time.

Toyota does equip the Prius i-Tech with a head-up display, which I found was angled too low for easy reading. To adjust it requires mucking around in the settings menu, which I couldn't be bothered doing for a car that rarely threatened to exceed the speed limit during the week in my possession. There is a huge digital speedo in the centre instrument binnacle. It can't quite be seen from the moon, but it certainly looms large in the periphery of the driver's vision, making the speed reading in the HUD practically redundant.

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Given its reasonably tight turning circle, the reversing camera, the external mirrors and parking sensors, the Prius was easy to park. It was also well packaged, offering adult-level accommodation in the rear as well as in the front, although headroom in the back is marginal for those of average height. Entering and leaving is made easier by the hip point and wide doors.

Comfort is fine across the board, with cushy seats front and rear, although the rear-seat passengers miss out on adjustable vents. Particularly in this high-spec variant – the leather-bound Prius i-Tech – the materials are nicer than was the case for the previous generation of Prius. The leather is complemented by piano-black gloss trim and softer plastics elsewhere.

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Toyota appears to have looked to Tesla's Model S and the Holden (Chevrolet) Volt for interior design and materials inspiration, albeit with mixed success. The infotainment stack lacks the elegance of the big iPad affair turned on its end in the Model S. White plastic receptacles in the centre console and the coordinating trim on the passenger side of the dash lend the interior of the Prius a modern look, without going completely over the top the way the Volt did.

Satellite navigation and the inductive recharging unit in the centre console for smartphones both worked to specification. And the Bluetooth connectivity in the Prius was excellent – reconnecting a paired smartphone before the car had left the driveway.

The boot was fairly large and useful. No longer must you compromise goods-carrying capacity to run a hybrid. Freeing up even more load space is the 60:40 split-fold rear seats that drop down almost flat and flush with the boot. Prius owners do miss out on a spare tyre, but that's unlikely to be much of a problem in the suburbs.

In the final wash-up, the Prius is a car that scores brownie points for being quiet, roomy, economical… and a Toyota. If one were to criticise the Prius – for any reason other than its styling – surely it should be a plug-in hybrid with a lithium-ion battery? Because that's what it really needs to be competitive in this changing market.

Related reading:
Toyota Prius i-Tech - Long-Term Test (Introduction)

2016 Toyota Prius i-Tech pricing and specifications:
Price: $42,990 (as tested, plus on-road costs)
Engine: 1.8-litre four-cylinder petrol
Output: 72kW/142Nm (90kW combined with electric motor)
Transmission: Continuously variable
Fuel: 3.4L/100km (ADR Combined)
CO2: 80g/km (ADR Combined)
Safety Rating: TBA

Also consider:
>> Lexus CT 200h (from $37,990 plus ORCs)
>> Nissan LEAF (from $46,990plus ORCs)

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Written byKen Gratton
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Our team of independent expert car reviewers and journalistsMeet the team
Pros
  • Intriguing to drive
  • Very quiet
  • Well packaged
Cons
  • Confronting style
  • Plug-in preferred for the price
  • Not a car for the enthusiast
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