Forget normal notions of luxury here. Even the top-spec Prius has padding free plastics and a cheap, felted headlining. But it somehow doesn’t matter, because the plastics are of very high quality and their textures are interestingly ‘technical’ rather than pretending to be leather grain.
Contained in the centre console is a touch-screen control panel for stereo, sat-nav and a plethora of Prius parameters, plus the air-con controls. Below these is the tiny transmission selector and three buttons to select Eco, Power and EV (electric vehicle) modes. To their right are buttons for the head-up display.
The front seats are very comfortable, but even this top model lacks electric movement apart from lumbar adjustment. Rear leg room is better than in many big saloons from the next class up, and head room is adequate despite the sloping roofline. The rear seats’ backrests flop forward to make a load bay continuous with the high boot floor, below which is a hidden tray on top of the spare wheel.
The pragmatic reason to buy a Prius is to save money, through free road tax and a lack of London congestion charge, as well as its fuel economy potential. It makes good sense as a company car, too, with low benefit-in-kind tax and a 100 per cent capital allowance write-down in the first year.
Real-world economy is impressive, with 56.4mpg over our touring route and 47.5mpg overall, although you’ll do well to match the 72.4mpg ‘official’ average. With the 17in wheels comes a 92g/km CO2 score instead of 89g/km.
Toyota says the hybrid components, which have their own five-year/60,000-mile guarantee, have so far accounted for just 1.3 per cent of the Prius line’s warranty costs, and the battery pack should last for at least 10 years.
The reason the Prius doesn’t score a full five stars is a high purchase price (£18,370 to £21,210) relative to its mainstream rivals. However, strong residual values go some way to offsetting this.
