2023 Toyota Prius
It was bizarre. Once I rounded the nook, a man strolling down the road stopped abruptly, whipped out his cellphone, and began appearing like a paparazzo, taking footage of my check automotive prefer it was a brilliant star. Add this incident to the to the variety of thumbs-up indicators my check automotive scored, and also you’d suspect I used to be driving one thing uncommon and unique. However I wasn’t. I used to be driving a 2023 Toyota Prius…one thing decidedly un-exotic.
Sure, it’s all-new for the 2023 mannequin 12 months. And, sure, it has a radically new svelte form. Nevertheless it was nonetheless a Prius. Simply goes to indicate eco-chic may be ultra-cool. However there’s greater than a brand new look occurring right here.
2023 Toyota Prius
Past the clearly reimagined new design, essentially the most important adjustments to Toyota’s stalwart fuel-saver come below the hood. Changing a 1.8-liter 4-cylinder engine is a brand new 2.0-liter unit mated to a pair of electrical motors. The brand new arrange delivers a mixed output of as much as 196 horsepower on all-wheel-drive fashions, and 194 horsepower on front-wheel-drive fashions. That’s a whopping 60-percent energy enhance over the outgoing mannequin, which delivered a mixed 121 horsepower.
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2023 Toyota Prius
Toyota had each the brand new and previous Prii (Prii, by the best way, is the precise, official, brand-approved plural of Prius) readily available for back-to-back assessments, and as you’ll think about the ability improve is clear. The place the 2022 mannequin might need felt sluggish and uninspired, the 2023 Prius was clean and light-weight on its ft. The hybrid engine/motor interaction, which may be balky, was usually seamless. From a metropolis woman’s perspective, this new Toyota hybrid will probably be potent sufficient for freeway merges and passing maneuvers, however nonetheless refined sufficient for clean city drives.
The great thing about Prius hybrid system is that you simply get pleasure from each energy and effectivity, partly as a result of each motor-generators are employed to cost the lithium-ion battery throughout braking and durations of sunshine engine demand. The Electronically Managed Brake (ECB) system, as Toyota calls it, helps to make the 2023 Prius the most-efficient iteration of the mannequin so far.
About that effectivity: Toyota is touting the automotive’s 57-mpg EPA mixed estimate, which is spectacular, however that’s for the bottom front-drive LE mannequin on customary 17-inch wheels. Go for a mid-level XLE, or top-trim Restricted geared up with AWD, and your mileage drops to only 49 mpg—which remains to be fairly spectacular. A couple of extra numbers: a base LE with AWD is, based on the EPA, is sweet for 54 mpg, and front-drive variations of the XLE and Restricted 52 mpg.
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2023 Toyota Prius
My test-drive alternatives didn’t permit for any actual fuel-economy evaluations, however each automobile I sampled reported mileage within the 45-48 mpg vary. Particularly spectacular given the calls for of a media check drive.
Whereas the automotive’s new design, clean energy, and gas financial system impress, not everyone seems to be taken with the gauge cluster. Much like the setup in Toyota’s new all-electric bZ4X compact crossover, the cluster within the Prius seems on a slim triangular panel that juts up over the sprint in entrance of the driving force. The online impact is much less like viewing a standard instrument cluster, and extra like watching a head-up show.
This labored nicely sufficient for me, however taller drivers complained that the steering wheel prime bisected the cluster, obscuring the devices. That is undoubtedly a type of “strive it before you purchase it” conditions, and a reminder of the worth of an intensive check drive.
The remainder of the inside is solely designed with minimalist horizontal traces. You’ve got buttons to your local weather controls, and a quantity knob (hurray!), however radio tuning comes by the use of the touchscreen.
The brand new Prius infotainment system is just like the one we’ve seen within the Toyota Tundra, GR Corolla, and bZ4X, and it contains wi-fi Apple CarPlay/Android Auto integration, in addition to a stable base of voice prompts for navigation and different hands-free controls.
2023 Toyota Prius
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Whereas I like just about all the pieces concerning the inside, there may be one large miss, and that’s the out there wi-fi charger. Toyota did a pleasant job with the design and site, however the issue is that it overheats your cellphone (to the purpose of sluggishness, however not shut-down failure) in lower than half-hour.
Earlier than you shrug your shoulders and say, that’s simply what wi-fi chargers do, I’ll level out that I’ve pushed a number of Common Motors check automobiles that put a cool pad below the wi-fi charger, and that in these automobiles my cellphone not solely prices quicker, but in addition stays cooler.
For 2023, Prius drops the bottom L Eco trim and dives proper into the LE. Pricing, together with vacation spot, and key options for every trim are as follows:
LE ($28,545): 17-inch permit wheels, 8-inch infotainment display screen, 6-way adjustable cloth entrance seats in black or grey, blind-spot monitoring with rear cross-traffic alert.
XLE ($31,990): 19-inch alloy wheels, auto-dimming rearview mirror, driver and front-passenger heated seats, heated steering wheel, 8-way energy driver’s seat, leatherette seating surfaces, rain-sensing wipers, passive entry, wi-fi cellphone charger, front-and-rear parking help with automated braking. Choices embrace: 12.3-inch infotainment display screen, mounted glass roof, digital key.
Restricted ($35,560): 12.3-inch infotainment display screen, JBL premium audio with 8 audio system, mounted glass roof, driver and front-passenger ventilated seats, 8-way energy driver’s seat with reminiscence, digital key, energy again door. Choices embrace 360-degree monitor, digital rearview mirror, heated rear seats, superior park help.
All-wheel drive is a $1,400 add on prime of those costs.
Base mannequin to base mannequin, the 2023 Prius is $2375 dearer that the ’22. However, LE to LE, the brand new automotive is up simply $1165. For a very new mannequin with extra energy, a lot of new know-how, and horny (yep, I’m saying it) attractiveness, the 2023 Prius is nicely well worth the asking worth.
Although Toyota revealed the next-gen 2023 Prius on the LA Auto Present, it gained’t be out there in sellers till June.
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2023 Toyota Prius
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2023 Toyota Prius Gallery
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