2023 Toyota Prius Prime Review: Sportier for Sure, But Why? — Cars.com
– Toyota revealed the all-new 2023 Prius and Prius Prime at the 2022 Los Angeles Auto Show. And we were confused because the Prius is now pretty good-looking. Now we’ve already driven the Prius hybrid version and we called it the best-driving Prius ever. And now we’re here in sunny Southern California, ignore the gray skies and the rain, to drive the Prius Prime plug-in hybrid, which Toyota is positioning as the sportiest Prius ever. That’s even more confusing to me, but let’s see if it holds up. So we’re gonna get behind the wheel and find out. Here we
are driving the 2023 Toyota Prius Prime. This is an XSE model. Total system output in the Prius Prime is now a healthy 220 horsepower. That’s almost 100 more than the previous generation’s 121 and more than the Prius hybrid, which is either 194 with front-wheel drive or 196 with all-wheel drive. So about 25 more, plus or minus one. Prius Prime is also a little bit heavier. Everything weighs within about 100 pounds of 3,500 total. We’ve already gone in much greater depth on the interior and exterior of the new Prius, so be sure to check out those
videos as well. Those happened around the 2022 Los Angeles Auto Show. This is certainly the sportiest Prius I’ve ever driven but the bar for that is
the extra 25 or so horsepower. But what’s really impressive is how well the driving experience sort of lines up to the looks. This is a very good-looking car now as opposed to the weird monstrosity that was the previous generation and, you know, the driving experience backs that up. It’s not, like I said, it’s not the sportiest car I’ve ever been in, but for a Prius it handles very, very well. The ride is incredibly well-composed even on these 19-inch wheels. Damping is very good. It’s not really thwacking over significant bumps or anything like that, but what’s
really happening in terms of sportiness and why I think this is a little letdown is these are 195 section Michelin Primacy tires and they are just not really up to the task. The car knows how to be quick and handle well. The tires just can’t do it. It’s sort of like how I know how to play basketball but if you actually had me play basketball, it would be very sad and funny. But overall, I’d say the driving experience here is very positive. The extra power, especially over the last generation, is really nice. It’s peppy around
town. We noted that the Prius hybrid was sort of not as quick-feeling from a standing start as it was from a rolling one and that continues here. It’s certainly quick enough. You definitely have the passing power you need and also the power you need to get ahead of people at stoplights, but it just, it’s not push-you-back-in-your-seat quick. Toyota quotes the 0 to 60 time at 6.6 seconds which in the realm of all cars is not that quick but very quick for a Prius. Brakes also feel very impressive. We noted that in the Prius hybrid and
I’m happy to say that that continues here. Toyota hybrids have had sort of a mushy brake pedal feel for a while now. It’s been improving of late and this continues that as well. It’s not super mushy, feels fairly linear and direct, and I think it does a very good job of controlling it. If you wanna add a little bit extra regen braking into the driving experience, there is a B-mode as opposed to the regular drive that turns on extra regen. It doesn’t quite bring the car to a full stop on its own. You will have
to use the brakes but it’ll get you pretty close. And as you can see as I sort of crane my neck around them to get around these curves, forward visibility is not the Prius’s or Prius Prime’s strong suit. The very raked windshield design leads to some big, thick A-pillars kinda blocking your view. You do get a nice little side window in front of the mirror to help with that, which will help with pedestrians approaching at stop signs. But it’s sort of a given, though, as you try to make a car sportier, you will have to
make some compromises and here forward visibility is one of them. Rear visibility is also fairly compromised. It’s no longer a split rear windscreen like it was in the previous generation. Instead it’s just tiny. It’s sort of Model Y small and that’s really frustrating. Despite the sportier side of the Prius Prime, this is still very much a Prius and its chief job is being fuel-efficient. The XSE and XSE Premium are rated at 50 miles per gallon combined. That’s an estimate, while the SE with its smaller 17-inch wheels is rated at 53 miles per gallon combined. Miles
per gallon equivalent comes in at 114 miles per gallon equivalent for the XSE and XSE Premium and 127 for the SE. Both of those actually trailed the previous generation’s 133 rating. Now keep in mind these are all sort of estimates right now. The EPA has not published official numbers yet for the 2023 Prius Prime but that’s what Toyota anticipates these will be rated at. As you can see, it’s still raining so that’s definitely hampered some of our ability to get really good sporty driving impressions. But I’m confident that this is the sportiest Prius I’ve ever
driven and may even be the better-driving Prius compared to the hybrid version. Now the question remains, this goes on sale in May. Are buyers gonna flock to a sporty plug-in hybrid or are they gonna prefer the convenience of something like, say, the Kia Niro plug-in? For more on the 2023 Toyota Prius Prime, including my full review, be sure to check out cars.com.
