2024 Toyota Prius REVIEW – better Hybrid or PHEV than electric?

2024 Toyota Prius REVIEW – better Hybrid or PHEV than electric?

So, are you thinking of an electric vehicle, but maybe your charging infrastructure is not there yet? Is maybe the all-new Toyota Prius the better alternative to an electric vehicle for now if you don’t have a charging infrastructure nearby or at your home or at your work? We’ll find out here together.

With Thomas and Autogefühl in 4K, full screen, full length. Let’s go with this all-new generation. And you can see here this really fluent front hood. It’s also quite long and wow, what an evolution of the Prius! I would say now for the first time it’s not only about, hey, this is an economic

Vehicle, low fuel consumption, hybrid system, now also plug-in hybrid and so on. This time, it’s really about it’s also a beautiful vehicle. It almost has some kind of supercar styling here, especially looking at the front in Banana Yellow for you here today. I just made it up. Color is not called that way.

Interesting also with the contrast in lower part, however, this one is definitely prone to scratches. Turning indicators in the front, defo look fancy, so they get the Thomas design stamp. Length now at 4.60m or 181 inches, that’s not such a big change. Little bit grown in wheelbase, actually, if we compare the

Predecessor wheels here—17 inch with winter tires—but you can also get 19 inch wheels then, and together with summer tires, it looks even more impressive. You can see here the whole car: flatter, wider, stiffer in the chassis, lower center of gravity, also promising a better driving fun. This

Will be a surprise, by the way, in the driving part. I can already tell you that right now, but once again, I think yeah, it continues in the side with this supercar-alike look. By the way, also very interesting that the rear door handles are integrated right here.

You have them once electric and if everything would fail, you could also have this manual button pressing in here to open them too. I guess everyone knows that bananas, you know, grow in this curve because they lean towards the sun. This one here, this electric or half electric banana does the same.

This one has a solar roof. It’s not standard for the Prius, and there also the question is, does it really make sense? The Fisker Ocean, for example, is also using that technology, and it can make sense when you’re living in a very sunny country or state, and the car is standing outside

All day, all season, it’s always sunny, then it might make sense. For the most other use cases, for example, here in Germany, hardly makes sense at all. If you have a basement garage, of course, not at all. Yeah, and if it’s a day like this, probably also not that strong.

So, by the time I had this vehicle here now for about two weeks, yeah, there was hardly any energy gained. The solar roof, by the way, only available for the plug-in hybrid or Prime, but you could also get a glass roof if you want something different. Then, you can check it out here.

I found very interesting how the light strip kind of like dissolves to the mid part and then goes stronger here again. The rear turning indicators are not as spectacular as the front ones, but overall also a very attractive design here, big Prius lettering. So, I think design-wise, this vehicle really works.

And indeed, driving around town and so on, this one here, this new Prius really gets the looks, and this didn’t happen so often with other Toyota models. This is the key fob. Hey, at least you get a unique Prius key fob. Then, door-closing sound… is not that good.

Toyota has never paid attention to that, honestly. However, inside material upgrade here, this is all soft touch and it’s also not really black but more gray and I appreciate that. It’s something different. Softer for your elbow right here. Yeah, this is more or less all basic but it works everything.

You have simple controls, straightforward. No cover on the inside right here and then this completely new cockpit. This looks kind of unusual, but I can tell you it works very well in the practical sense. And both the steering wheel and also the seats here, to my information, and Toyota both

In the US, the dealers, and also here in Europe and Germany they say that all the material here is animal free. You can either get fabric seats or in here these leatherette seats. It also accounts for the steering wheel, has a good feel and manual buttons, for example, for the volume here.

Maybe not the best in an ergonomic sense, but I’m happy to have real buttons. And also heated steering wheel. And I like this straightforward user interface. For example, now in winter times, I usually drive with heated steering wheel and then I press this button and I leave it activated, and the next time

I start up the vehicle, it’s still on, and I don’t have, and I mean, everyone would say, like, 10 years ago, like, yeah, that’s normal, but no, nowadays, it’s not normal because everything is being reset to the standard, sometimes

By laws when it comes for driving modes and so on, but this is such an easy solution. Press it once, and it stays active until you deactivate it. And I love that logic. What about you? Seating comfort is also really good. I’ve driven this vehicle now about like 1,000 kilometers

Or 600 miles, especially on the German motorway, and to me, it’s probably the best Toyota yet on the German Autobahn, you know, from the suspension and also the seating comfort. Headroom here, by the way, 1.89, 6’2″, A lot left. One thing that needs to be improved, here, this armrest,

Also with nice leatherette covering, and it’s also soft on, you know, the first sight, on first touch, but then, when you have your elbow on there and, you know, like, yeah, I have a heavy elbow, you know, like, with big bones and stuff, and then, actually, it’s not dampened

Enough and it’s kind of hard for your elbow, especially when you drive like this for a longer period of time. And here on the passenger seat, look at that. I’m not sure who got the idea to fix that in that way. Yeah, this needs to be made better. Interior cockpit overview.

Here the steering wheel, manual, in and out, up and down. You can find a good position. And yes, the lowest part of the instruments is blocked in by the view. But, for me, it’s actually fine. So, it’s just like the part where there’s nothing anyway, and you see here

The instruments are put up that high that they don’t offer a head-up display. So, it serves both purposes, and I say it actually works for me. Here on the right side, 8-inch for some standard entry models in the North American market. This one here is the optional 12.3-inch screens

Or standard then for the high trim models. This is the wireless CarPlay integration. Android Auto is also available, works very well, you can also use the Toyota internal GPS map, they have worked on their systems and they’re also more responsive now, everything kept rather simple, so

Most of the time you’ll use the smartphone integration, and here, manual volume jog. Here, simple buttons for heated seat and also cooled seat combination with perforated leatherette, best combination there is, doesn’t work on the parallel, either the one or the other one, and this one also stays

Again in this last setting when I restart the vehicle. And I also appreciate here the manual climate settings. And we haven’t seen much ambient lighting from Toyota, but here, that’s a very nice integration. In the front, USB-C charging, charging and connection. This one here you can put up, and this then, #HiddenCompartment.

Then, adaptive cup holders, and this middle console has this shifting here, which has this stairs effect. Yeah, it’s not my favorite, but it does the job. And here, at the moment, I have the key fob here. This vehicle is not equipped with it, but this would

Be the place where an inductive charging pad would be. Here you select the driving mode like Sport mode and so on. Do you want to drive EV only? Pick the EV mode. Do you want predominantly EV driving? Then go for Auto EV. Do you want always the Hybrid Driving mode so

That the engine is more on? You just heard it now. Then you press this button here, and when you hold it, then you can maintain the battery status. Rear doors, also in this gray scheme, also with the structure, but harder than the material

Itself, and some of our viewers are also… For example, Uber drivers or taxi drivers, and they complain, actually, that due to design here, this is like kind of pretty close when getting in and out quickly. And you could maybe smash your head. That’s maybe one, you know, negative aspect of this design.

For me personally, you know, I’m quite tall and have, you know, yeah, sometimes I have a lot in my head, so maybe I’m not paying attention, but so far… I didn’t hit it yet. But… You know… In Germany we always like… Auf Holz klopfen like knock on wood, when you say something

That’s not supposed to happen. Listen and repeat, Aufs Holz klopfen. Then here in the middle console, we have also seat heating for the rear passengers, USB-C charging. And here you can see when I’m driving as a tall passenger, I’m in a little bit laid back position here at the moment,

So, maybe I could put the seat a little bit more upright. Lea is laughing now because… Oh, honey. She… Now she… Yeah, she was carrying the camera and now she was, you know, going in here, I want to film this one here and then she hit the head right here.

So, yeah, that just proved my point. So, yeah, that is a design flaw in a way. On the other hand, it is a design thing. Yeah, back to… Are you all right? Yes. As long as she’s still laughing, then it’s fine. And here the legroom, you still have some legroom left right here.

So, this is actually fine as for the package. Yeah, just then the headroom also when I’m sitting here, if I relax my spine in this, you know, more like lazy cozy position, then it’s fine. But if I put my spine up, then I do hit the ceiling with my head.

So, not ideal for really tall people in the rear. Yes, you probably figured by now that I really like our Toyota banana here today. But that doesn’t mean that I don’t criticize some points and something more is coming up here in the trunk. First of all, this electric hatch, well, that’s cool

That you have this wide opening so you have the cool styling on the exterior here, but yet again, you have like an estate kind use, but then you have this wobbly cover here, and it just looks cheap, you know. The only advantage is when you put something underneath,

It’s flexible enough that it just stretches above, but sometimes, then it, you know, it makes that blop, blop, blop while driving when some, yeah, not ideal. Maybe I would take it out then. Then you have some 280 liters. It’s really shallow. That’s the problem.

The width here, this is a meter or 40 inches. You can see here to the wheel arch, it’s wider, but then it gets more narrow in this respect. And the length here, normal length, is about 80 centimeters or 32 inches. So the trunk in most cases not really that large, charging cable

Flies around here, at least the big one, a small one can also be fitted here underneath. And folding the seats, well, you can actually reach over from here. If you have long arms, and then you can push that through, and yeah, then you can also load through longer things.

As for the engines, 2-liter 4-cylinder, either as in-built hybrids – that’s especially important for the North American market – 200 horsepower, front-wheel drive, or an electric all-wheel drive. And then there’s the plug-in hybrid version; this one especially, also for the European market. In Europe, you cannot even get the in-build hybrid, so this

Is also the plug-in hybrid version, or called ‘Prime’ on the North American market. 10.9 kilowatt-hours is the net usable battery capacity; this one here, up to a 20 horsepower, so a little bit stronger, front-wheel drive only and 6.8 seconds in the acceleration figure.

So, this one here then is a little bit stronger, a little bit quicker. But, of course, the thought is if maybe the in-build hybrid is, of course, cheaper in the entry price and then makes more sense overall, but we’ll test

The electric range here of this one here today and also if we deplete the plug-in hybrid, the big battery, how much consumption is there then? How economic is it? Is it comparable to the in-build hybrid and so on? Yeah, in pricing, this is really interesting.

In the US, it starts under $30,000 and then, of course, you might think, hey, that’s maybe an even more clever choice than going for a more expensive EV, for example, even if you compare it, for example, to a Tesla Model 3. But then if you go like the Prime or plug-in

Hybrid version, high trim, and looking at, for example, a German price, then you can already, you know, pay over €50,000 for this one here. And another flaw is the slow recharging, just one phase up to 3.3 kilowatt AC. Yet again, the battery is not that large, so you’ll

Take about three and a half hours to fully recharge it. Yeah, and then you have to think about, in most cases, you’ll probably charge it at home and then just leave it overnight, then it’s also fine. Welcome to Thomas’ Driving Lounge with the Toyota Prius. Listen to the turning indicator.

Lea just told me like, oh, that’s a nice turning indicator sound, and I was like… what the hell is this? Sounds weird. So, yeah, turning indicator sounds are also definitely a matter of preference. What do you guys think? Good or bad, tell me in the comments.

Driving city traffic and so on here with the plug-in hybrid or Prime version is kind of unique because you have it all electric when you have recharged. That’s the difference then to the in-build hybrid where you more have these electric moments. So, here it makes sense when you can recharge at home.

Maybe energy is cheap for you at home or you can commute all electric and so on or you these tax benefits from the government for the plug-in hybrid version, and it really suits the vehicles. All silent, very smooth, that’s pretty cool.

However, then, also as for the pricing and so on, it will rather pay off, as I said, when you have tax benefits and you really have this use case. Of course, for most cases, then the in-build hybrid will be better if you don’t have the charging infrastructure yet.

Really depends to me, I think, on the charging infrastructure if you go plug-in hybrid or with the in-build hybrid. However, what’s definitely better here with the plug-in hybrid is when you go for the acceleration, and here we can also select the Sport mode. We

Go from 70 kilometers an hour now, and let’s go! It’s 120, 130. Yeah, you see, it’s not the quickest one, especially when you’re already at speed. From standstill, because you have the electric power, that’s fine, but the engine is not the most powerful one. You kind of have to live with that.

However, with the plug-in hybrid version, you still have better acceleration than with the in-build hybrid. This one is more trimmed to efficiency. At the same time, in the driving dynamics and the steering, it feels really, really sporty. That’s what I really like.

As for the driving modes, here in this Auto EV, HV mode, so that the engine goes on when I hammer the throttle, for example. I can also change it here to the pure EV mode with one click of a button.

And if I’m then in the pure EV mode, the vehicle will first deplete the plug-in hybrid battery, not entirely, but almost completely. And then switch to the hybrid mode. It really depends what is more useful. If you have cheap energy at home and you want to drive locally

Emission-free in your city, then you start with the EV mode. If you want the best efficiency also for the motorway and so on, you have a lot of motorway share, then rather leave it in this Auto mode, and then the vehicle always decides on its own.

Noise insulation here at 120 kilometers an hour. Toyota, of course, is not paying attention that the noise insulation is the best at super, super high speeds, but definitely it’s more silent than the previous generation. What I like is the handling.

So, here, precise, that new steering layout here, this cockpit, we also know from the BZ4X, the pure electric model, you don’t have any dead zone area in the steering. You have a good grip and so on. The size is pretty small. It feels sports car-alike together with this

Silhouette, you know, this really flat A-pillar. Actually, when you’re sitting here and no one would tell you in a Toyota Prius, you would say like, wait a minute, I’m in a super cool sports car, maybe even a super car, low seating position, this really flat

A-pillar, small steering wheel, and going left and right is so much fun. We have the 17-inch wheels mounted here, but still, this vehicle feels sporty, especially going lane change. So already when I drove it for the very first time, I was surprised how much fun this new Prius generation is. It’s really amazing.

I just love driving it, and these are really two main things that have changed now with this generation. The first thing is definitely, I mean, the exterior looks. Now you also buy a Prius not only for the efficiency, but also because you think, wow, that looks amazing, you know, and the second

Reason now you would buy also one for… Wait a minute, it’s so much fun to drive, you know, and back then it was always like, yeah, okay, it’s economic, you know. So, they definitely also deliver emotional reasons now. Switch it back to the Normal mode.

So, now in the Normal mode plus in the Auto EV, HV mode, but then there’s this green EV symbol right there, and that is showing me that it’s driving all electric at the moment. Here also in the middle screen, I could not focus myself on that

Too much because I rather focus on the road, but maybe you could see something of that. Here we always see then, if you want to take a look at that, or maybe the passenger or something, if he or she is interested, then in the… You’re always watching that, right? Yes, of course.

Of course she does, yeah. It’s a favorite for me, definitely. So there you can see that we are being powered by the plug-in hybrid battery here at the moment. The transitions between that is really, really smooth. And you might have also heard that the engine, or not.

So, this past effect that you always had like this… Yes, it’s still somewhat… That was mimicked very correctly, right? So, it’s still there, but it’s way more silent. So, the engine itself is smoother and you have less sound from that. So, everything really evolved, and remember, the vehicle is stiffer from the

Chassis, it’s flatter, a little bit wider, so it sits so much better on the road. So, the coolest thing I take away, especially if I’m driving German Autobahn, is that it’s really so much fun to drive. And it’s super, super smooth as well. I like the 17-inch wheel setup.

So that way, Toyota doesn’t have special adaptive suspension technology or something. So here then, it’s better to pick the 17-inch wheels together with winter tires. In this case then, this is the softest and most comfortable setup.

And, by that, it’s actually also fine when there are some bumps in the road and so on. I’m not sure if I would go for the 19-inch wheels. It looks cooler on the exterior, but then again, it also reduces the comfort. Here, adaptive cruise control with active lane-keeping assist.

Here, you can see I did not steer that here. This is a very good test here in this motorway corner. Nice and smooth, so I also upgrade the assistance systems with this generation here, then distance to the car in front of me is being kept.

Also, I always look at how, you know, if there are any, like, hectic movements from the steering itself when we are in these corners, but so how natural it actually feels or how human it feels, because we can actually do it smooth, and,

You know, these first assistance systems, they’re always, like, back and forth. But here, so far, it’s also an upgrade, then, to the past systems. And, yeah, I’ll test it a little bit further and see if that is changing my mind in some way. But, so far, that looks actually quite good.

So, is it a good alternative to an electric vehicle if you don’t have proper charging infrastructure yet? Yes, definitely it is. I think so. I think it looks cool. The interior build quality has been upgraded. It’s a well-usable car and it drives so well even at some higher speeds on the German Autobahn.

Yes, the noise insulation could be a little bit better then at really high speeds. That’s, of course, a special thing that especially we Germans would appreciate, but overall, it’s probably one of the best Toyotas I’ve driven, and together with their reliability and so on, this really makes sense.

Yeah, maybe, you know, if you use it for a lot of rear passenger driving, you know, with the silhouette and so on, that can be something problematic, and the trunk is not that large. These are the small butts. And the plug-in hybrid, I think it only makes sense if you really

Have the proper driving profile for that or taxation benefits. For most cases, the build-in hybrid will make more sense. Yeah, but here in Europe, for example, we can only go for the plug-in hybrid version anyway. As for the fuel economy, there are so many figures. That’s why I noted

Them down so I don’t forget and get that right. So, the consumption pure electric with the plug-in hybrid battery between 13 and 20 kilowatt-hours on 100 kilometers — that’s five to three miles per kilowatt-hour. It really depends… this, you know, like the small figure or the big figure in the MPG sense.

That was the more efficient figure. That was really in summertime. And now in wintertime, really low temperatures, the consumption went way up. That’s why there is this large span. So, overall means the pure electric range of the plug-in hybrid between 50 and 80 kilometers. That’s 30 to 50 miles.

Then, the combustion engine range here of the plug-in hybrid drivetrain, yes, it works. But if you deplete the plug-in hybrid battery, then you can more or less drive it the same way like you would drive the in-build hybrid system. That doesn’t work with all plug-in hybrids on the

Market depending on the system, at least not that well. Here it works that even if the plug-in hybrid battery is depleted, you land up between like five to six liters on 100 kilometers in wintertime and also higher speed driving. Will be better again with lower speed,

More city traffic and so on and also when you have, you know, for example, better temperatures. Not that relevant for the combustion engine though, but the playing together with the battery and so on. So, this is then between, yeah, 50 and 40 mpg US and between 60 and 47 mpg UK.

So, overall, very good figures indeed. And then you get some 700 kilometers or 450 miles from the combustion engine range at least. In summertime or when you have it a little bit slower, you can score even better consumption figures and so on, and maybe together with both range, maybe even some

1,000 kilometers or 600 miles, but in ideal conditions. But here, I really drove a lot, 130, 140, 150 kilometers an hour on the motorway, then I had some electric moments and so on. But even then, I could now calculate with some 700 kilometers plus around 50 kilometers electric range.

Yeah, and then you’re really in between. It’s 400 to 500 miles range, and this is, of course, better than all the EVs that are out there on the market at the same time. You pay less money than for most of the EVs.

So, at this moment, this seems to be a better proposal than most other pure electric vehicles from this standpoint. What do you think? Tell me your comments, your opinion there in our comment section. Would you pick a Prius over a Tesla Model 3, or would you go the other way around?

Looking forward to that, and also tune in to a Tesla Model 3 review or, recently, the Toyota RAV4.

This is our in-depth review of the 2024 Toyota Prius (PHEV / Prime). We’re taking a look at Exterior, Interior and the driving experience.

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00:00 Prius now a design object?
01:06 Length, wheels, rear doors
01:55 Solar roof for Prime
03:01 Rear and lights
03:31 Interior: doors, seats, steering
05:34 What needs to be improved
06:05 Cockpit and user interface
07:31 Storage
07:56 Drive modes
08:20 Rear seats
10:12 Trunk / boot
12:25 Hybrid or PHEV
13:14 Driving and acceleration
15:22 Motorway, handling and comfort
19:54 Assistance systems
20:47 Economy / consumption / mpg

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