Toyota Prius 2018 review

You know when middle-aged folks become acutely aware of the endless march of time and lash out to reclaim former youth. Colloquially known as a mid-life crisis, I think the Prius is well and truly there on the design front.

The ’97 first-gen car had ugly, awkward styling. But it made its point. The awkward shape back then was the reality of the future. Cars needed to be smart and practical, forgoing the luxuries of beautiful styling or long, sculpted bonnets.

For the eco-conscious the original Prius’ design was kind-of punk-iconic. They were indifferent, or worse still, proud of its unusual shape as it reinforced to everyone who gazed upon it that they’d made the tough choice to drive a Prius, for the good of the planet.

The Prius tries a little too hard to advertise its eco-credentials with over-the-top styling.

I would argue, however, that our fourth-gen car you see here doesn’t need to be as edgy. But it is. And it’s trying really hard to be. Look at all the science fiction hard lines and angles. The design goes out of its way to look controversial. It’s like a mid-40s relative suddenly wearing skinny jeans and using emojis.

I’d say our base-spec Prius doesn’t look bad, per se. Especially in its appealing ‘Lunar Blue’ paint, but the wacky assault of angles which dominates the front lower fascia, side three-quarter and lifted-up rear will be enough to scare off some buyers.

Inside, the design theme continues, with oddly-placed screens, a cardinal design sin of placing the instrument binnacle centrally in the dash, and a weirdly low (but nicely-sized) 7.0-inch touchscreen.

A mish-mash of textures and materials dominate the dashboard.

To detract from the appeal further, there’s a mish-mash of matte and gloss materials in different colours and patterns. I was particularly offended by the random glittery off-white plastics used around the steering wheel and shift-lever. Strange.

On a more positive note, I will say the Prius’ large windows grant excellent forward and side vision for the driver, and - gloss plastics aside - the cabin ambiance has generally improved greatly over the previous-generation car.

The Prius is reasonably practical, though perhaps not as much as its hatchback body would suggest.

Yes, it’s bigger and more spacious than the new Corolla, offering greater legroom, headroom and boot space but due to the car’s teardrop silhouette, it’s easily aced by the Camry.

Despite the fully raising hatch rear, the boot floor is quite high to accommodate batteries and the space saver spare, giving the Prius a 457 litre (VDA) cargo capacity.

The Prius looks more practical than it is, with the hatchback boot compromised by a high boot floor.

It’s eclipsed by the Camry Hybrid’s 524 litre boot space, and while that’s partially due to the sedan’s longer body, it’s also due to a smarter placement of the batteries under the rear passenger seats.

Room in the cabin is plentiful, and feels bigger than it is due to the low-slung dashboard and generous window space. This Prius also has a lower seating position than the previous generation, with softer, more comfortable seats. 

The cabin up front feels large, and the seats are comfortable.

There are two large cupholders in the centre up front as well as well-sized bottle holders in the doors. The centre console opens up to reveal a decent sized storage space, plus there is one USB port, one 12-volt outlet and an auxiliary in socket located in front of it. 

The Qi wireless charging bay is nice, but arguably eats a lot of space. More storage down the centre would be welcome.

Rear passengers are treated pretty well, too, with nice headroom but legroom that’s only slightly more generous than a hatchback. There are no vents up the back (disappointing), but the inclusion of four decent-sized cupholders is a plus.

Space in the rear is bigger than a hatchback, but not by a lot.

The Prius is powered by a combination of a 1.8-litre four-cylinder petrol engine, and two electric motors (housed in a transaxle and powered by a nickel metal hydride battery).

The 1.8-litre engine employs some smart tech. It re-circulates exhaust gas to heat up the engine and has a new exhaust and intake system. Toyota claimed, at the time of this Prius’ launch in 2016, it was the most thermally efficient mass-produced engine in the world. Total outputs are on the low side though at 72kW/142Nm.

Of the two electric motors, only one actually provides drive to the wheels via the transaxle. That motor can produce a max output of 53kW/163Nm.

The engine and electric motor have a combined output of 90kW. A fun fuel-saving game can be made out of the active eco monitor.

Both power sources combine for what Toyota claims is a total output of 90kW. That’s not a big number, and the electric motor only supports fully electric driving up to 30km/h. 

If there’s anything a brand like Tesla proves, it’s that there’s much more to be expected from today’s EV tech, while you can hardly compare them by any measure (price, tech or otherwise), it shows how far we’ve come since the Prius’ hybrid tech was new.

A CVT transmission combines the outputs of the electric motor and petrol engine to drive the front wheels.

The nickel-metal hydride battery is an 'old kind', with the Prius overseas getting newer, theoretically safer and higher-energy, Lithium-ion batteries instead.

Old technology or not, the Prius’ drivetrain is tried, tested and refined. The result is a real-world fuel figure which is difficult to argue with. Over my test week I scored 4.1L/100km. 

That’s seriously impressive, even in today’s hybridised world, and not too far off Toyota’s claimed combined cycle figure of 3.4L/100km. 

It beats the claimed fuel figures of Hyundai’s Ioniq (3.9L/100km), but even here I’d prefer a Hybrid Camry (4.2L/100km) at such a slight fuel penalty.

Oh, and if you genuinely care about the environment, the Prius has a  CO2 output of 80g/km, most cars can’t even get below 100g/km.

The base Prius has some advanced safety tech, but doesn’t quite get the full suite, missing out on some notable items.

Standard advanced safety is 'Lane Departure Warning' (LDW), 'Active Cruise Control' and a pre-collision safety system that is equivalent to 'Auto Emergency Braking' (AEB). 

You’ll need to step up to the Prius i-Tech ($43,900) to get 'Blind Spot Monitoring' (BSM) and 'Rear Cross Traffic Alert' (RCTA).

Despite this, and thanks to its regular suite of airbags, stability controls, and chassis reinforcements the Prius maintains a maximum five-star ANCAP safety rating as of November 2015.

Additions to the safety arsenal include a reversing camera and ISOFIX mounts on the outboard rear seats. There’s a space-saver spare which you’ll lose if you upgrade to the i-Tech, which comes with a repair/inflater kit.