When I heard Toyota's Prius Prime Advanced had only 25 miles of electric range on offer, the idea of the plug-in Prius sounded laughable.
After all, the Chevrolet Volt offers 53 miles on battery power alone before the engine has to fire up, so it's hard to imagine that something offering half the range would make sense.
But after spending a week with the Prius Prime, I'm starting to think that Toyota (Tokyo Stock Exchange: 7203.T-JP)'s approach makes quite a bit of sense.
Exterior: Not the car's strong point, that's for sure
Oh, boy. We're not starting on the Prius' typical strong point. The fourth-generation Prius, on which the Prime is based, has controversial styling. Some think it's modern and a good advancement of the design, some believe it was created by sticking a third-generation Prius in a trash compactor. Your author falls into the latter category.
An updated, acrylic grille removes the awkward beakishness from the face of the Prius and revised taillights smooth out the overly upright-looking rear of the traditional Prius.
The wavy LED lights that make up the back of the car are accompanied by cool concave glass that matches the curvature of the lights, even if that means giving up a rear windshield wiper. It still has its fair dose of Prius-y details, from the aero-friendly wheels to the frumpy shape, but it's easily the nicest interpretation of the Prius I've seen to the date.
As I got into the car outside my aunt's house, a passerby even remarked that it looked "sporty." I don't agree.
Interior — hit and miss
My tester was a Prius Prime Advanced with a manufacturer's suggested retail price of $35,112, which meant it came with an 11.6-inch tablet screwed into the dash. I've started here because it's always the first thing you'll notice when you hop in. I assumed the detail would be all style and no usability.
I was shocked to find that it was easily the best interpretation of Toyota's Entune infotainment system I've tried, with smooth operation and reasonably laid out menus. One thing that irritated me was the lack of a volume knob, as using a touch-sensitive button for a job that a knob would clearly do better seems totally bone-headed.
Toyota steadfastly refuses to allow Apple CarPlay or Android Auto into its cars. I can't see the business sense in ignoring two excellent technologies that integrate cars and technology better than anything Toyota offers.
The rest of the interior is typical Prius fare, with the strange center-mounted gauge cluster. Also, Toyota's so relentlessly practical that I'm shocked it would stick the seat heaters way down low, under the dash. You can't even see the passenger side one from the driver's seat, so Toyota had to stick a "passenger heater on" light next to the driver's-side control.