2023 Prius Reviews

I think they are a different species of Canadian. Maybe a city with no country?

 

most of us living in Canada except some parts of BC and driving in subzero temp with winter tire are quite aware of the hit on range of EV driving.
I guess screeching will happen with new ownwers .....at least they can rely on the Prime ICE(no pun intended) to go over the limited EV range

 

Life forms at 20 below might be robots wrapped in puffy human clothing. Life cannot exist below 0degF. I use to do a bit snow shoveling and occasional snow skiing. When your nose hairs freeze - it is a sign of impending death.

 

A friendly message to all those who've aged like fine, vintage wine: Please do not shovel your driveway snow! It is a very effective way to damage the blood pump.

Snow shoveling can be hazardous to your heart | American Heart Association

 

Yep, go buy a snowblower

 

They say even snow blowers can upset the apple cart! Coronary artery constriction and such. Just give the neighborhood kid 10 bucks and let him go crazy!

 

Or hire a plow

 

Kind of funny ,and weird that this thread slips in winter conditions

 

Most interesting to me was the final line "measured net battery capacity 10.6kWh" - same value as my testing.

His 4.5-6 kWh rate (at 18C) is "totally unobtanium" for me here in Florida at 93F (44C).

 

2023 Toyota Prius | Car Review | Driving

Car Review: 2023 Toyota Prius

Better than ever, this latest hybrid reinvigorates the Prius lineup, its most vicious competition being—the Prius Prime PHEV

Author of the article:
David Booth
Published Aug 02, 2023 • 6 minute read

Article content
I usually keep my ranting to my Motor Mouth columns, road tests not usually an appropriate place for angry screeds re: the stupidity of politicians pretending to be engineers. Nonetheless, vis-à-vis the ban that will see even hybrids, like this Prius, banned come 2035, I have to say—

• The 2023 Prius, despite being larger, more spacious, and more powerful than ever before, is rated by Transport Canada for 4.8 L/100 kilometres;
• No matter what I did to it — that should be read as exercising its newfound 196 horses — I could not get it to suck back more than 5.2 L/100 KM. I suppose you could get it to consume more, but I suspect not for long, as you’d probably come into conflict with pretty much any constabulary on the continent; and
• Given Toyota’s 23-year history of Prius improvements, it’s not a stretch to think the hybrid of 2035 would not only be larger still, but would probably sip somewhere around 4.0 L/100 km in real-world driving.

The point of those arguments above is, well, to point out that, if it turns out that, 12 years hence, we’re still buying a few cars that consume 4.0 L/100 km, I don’t think the planet is really going to notice. Indeed, I’ll say that even more directly: if, come 2035, a few cars like the Prius remaining un-electrified is going to cause the planet’s demise, then either a) we’re all already doomed by now; or b) you’ve adopted an electrification-as-saviour religiosity on par with the asshats down in South Carolina that want to extend the death penalty to women who have an abortion in the name of “every life counts.” Hopefully, I didn’t demur too much in trying to get my point across.



OK, with that off-chest, on to the new Prius.



As I said, there are now 196 horses under the Prius’ hood. That’s up from just 121 hp last year. What once felt like a golf cart now feels like an automobile. The 2023 is at least three seconds faster to 100 kilometres an hour than it used to be, and you can now actually pass traffic on a divided highway without succumbing to some of that religious devotion I mentioned above.



It’s all accomplished the good old-fashioned way: bigger engines. Okay, bigger motors and bigger engines. For one thing, a mill that once displaced 1.8 litres is now a 2.0L four, still Atkinson-cycled. All by its lonesome, the 2.0L’s 150 horsepower is some 52 hp up on its predecessor. The permanent-magnet synchronous drive motor, meanwhile, is up some 40 hp to 111 horses. It is also smaller, lighter, and more efficient, because it features six of those permanent magnets per pole, rather than three. Think of the strength of magnets as something akin to the compression ratio of electric motors.



2023 Toyota Prius still plenty frugal

Officially, the 2023 Prius AWD, despite that 50-per-cent horsepower increase, still managed to equal last year’s pokey version in fuel economy, both averaging, as I mentioned earlier, 4.8 L/100 km according to Natural Resources Canada. I often managed less than that, seeing as low as 4.5 L/100 km when I was especially pussy-footed. And when I did put my foot in it — which actually has, as the Brits are wont to say, a “result” — the worst I managed was 5.2 L/100. As a combination of frugality and performance, the Prius has no match in the ICE world, save for its plug-in sibling, the Prius Prime.



2023 Toyota Prius is a looker, too


Previous Prius were, visually at least, the automotive equivalent of black socks with sandals. You were forever wearing your environmental sincerity on your sleeve—er, foot. Not the new one. In fact, as generational stylistic changes go, the 2022-to-2023 Prius remake is as dramatic as any major revision that has gone before. Not just for the Prius or hybrids in general, but any car.


Forever banished is dowdy. Making its first appearance, in Prius guise, is sophistication. Looking more Italian than Japanese, the Prius is streamlined without silly wheel-arch covers, bigger without looking cumbersome, and more likely to get valet drivers to their feet when you show up at whatever happens to be your local trendy watering spot. Pictures do not deceive; the new Prius really is a good-looking car.



The trend to normalcy continues inside


One downside to the new sloping roofline is that headroom — both up front and to the rear — is diminished. But that’s about it for downsides. The driver now sits in a less bolt-upright position, for instance, and there’s significantly more legroom. There’s a new gauge set, now directly in the driver’s line of vision, and the new infotainment system is both easily deciphered and displayed on a sufficiently large (12.3-inch) display.


Wireless charging is standard, and there are cubby-holes galore. The interior materials are much improved, and there’s even the kind of ambient lighting that was, not so long ago, the sole purview of luxury cars. Even the faux leather for the seats is convincing. No longer austere, this Prius is a different animal from its predecessors.



As a combination of frugality and performance, the Prius has no match in the ICE world, save for its plug-in sibling, the Prius Prime


2023 Toyota Prius: not cheap


All this goodness — bigger, more luxurious, and faster — comes at a price. The MSRP of the lowest-cost 2023 Prius is now $36,650. No, you’re not reading that wrong.



That’s because the base model is actually an XLE which, by Toyota’s definition, is usually the second from the top of any model ladder. That’s beaucoup de bucks, even if the 2023 XLE is, as I said, bigger, more luxurious, and faster than the 2022 LE.


Doesn’t want to sell you a Prius


The Prime, the plug-in version of the Prius, with its 13.6-kilowatt-hour battery and 72-kilometre all-electric range — in SE guise — starts at $37,990. But there is a Canada-wide federal incentive of $5,000, as well as provincial subsidies in British Columbia and Quebec for $2,000 and 2,500, respectively. Admittedly that’s for the SE version, which won’t have all the interior bells and whistles — nor the larger wheels that cause the XSE and XSE Premium to lose four klicks of range — that the regular Hybrid XSE trim boasts.

Nonetheless, the most you can pay for the Prime SE — thanks to that $5,000 federal subsidy — is $32,990. In La Belle Province, it’ll be as low as $30,490. Someone buying a regular hybrid, of course, is offered no incentivization, which means that a plug-in Prime could be cheaper — substantially even — than the plain, ol’ hybrid version.


In other words, it’s pretty much a no-brainer as to which one you should buy. In fact, Toyota Canada now believes that Primes will account for 80 per cent of all Prius sales, and the Hybrid just 20 per cent. Even that narrow window for the regular Prius would seem optimistic. And this denigration of the standard Prius is very much deliberate. B.C. and Quebec ZEV mandates offer EV credits for PHEVs, but none for regular hybrids, so it is very much in Toyota Canada’s best interest to move plug-ins rather than regular hybrids.



So much so that — remember my rant at the beginning of this test? — come the next generation of Prius (probably sometime in 2028 or 2029) it will only be available as a plug-in. Unfortunately, that’s what happens when you give politicians honorary engineering degrees.

 

The 2023 Toyota Prius Prime is fast, furious, and frugal

This all-new hybrid ditches the dorkiness for a sleek look and radically improved performance, though it's not without pitfalls

Author of the article:
David Booth
Published Apr 05, 2023 • Last updated Apr 06, 2023 • 7 minute read
6 Comments
2023 Toyota Prius Prime XSE PHOTO BY TOYOTA

This is a new Toyota Prius. Not “new” as in “redesigned” but all-new, as in “re-imagined and re-invented.” The re-imagined part of the equation is — or should be, if you’ve paid even passing attention to Priuses past — immediately visible. Gone is the deliberately quirky, look-at-how-green-I-am nerdiness that always seemed a boast — or a condescension — that the environmentally-friendly looked to lord over those less “enlightened.” In its place comes a modernity — dare I say sophistication? — that transforms the Prius from sandals-with-socks dorkiness to Manolo Blahnik fashionista.

Style is always a personal judgement, but it’s hard to imagine anyone not preferring the new Prime’s swoopy sophistication over the previous version’s overly-earnest pointed-finger. The electrified automobile — starting with Tesla’s ground-breaking Model S — long ago left virtue-signalling styling behind. It’s about time the Prius did, too.

The even bigger news, however, is that—

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Okay, maybe not quite a “bullet.” More of a slingshot, perhaps. But a really powerful slingshot. You know, where you swapped out the standard elastic for a piece of really stretchy rubber cut out of an inner tube. A truck-tire inner tube, not a bicycle’s.

That’s because this new Prius boasts 220 horsepower. In fact, that “system” horsepower — that’s the peak when you combine the outputs of the now-more-powerful 150-horsepower 2.0L inline-four gas engine; and the 161-hp electric motor — almost doubles its predecessor’s. In terms of performance gains, few recent model revisions, hybrid or otherwise, can match the Prius’.

And it’s immediately evident as soon as you touch the gas pedal for the first time. Even at low throttle openings and poodling speeds, the new Prime feels more confident, the larger electric motor’s increased torque readily apparent. Priuses holding up traffic cause the hyper-miler behind the wheel is trying to stay on “electric power” are definitely a thing of the past.

Said class-leading power increase is even more noticeable when you put your foot deep into it. Toyota claims a 6.8-second sprint to 100 kilometres an hour. It feels like more, perhaps because the launch off the line is, again, the result of electric-motor torqueiness. Or maybe it’s ‘cause its predecessor took a my-God-this-is-an-eternity 11.1 seconds to accomplish the same feat. Whatever the case, it’s almost implausibly impressive.

Oh, said impression of speediness does fade a bit the faster you go — mainly because that much-credited electric motor isn’t as impressive at higher speeds — but the Prius Prime’s performance is a huge leap forward. But perhaps more impressive is that—

The Prius’ fuel-sipping ways have not been compromised

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We didn’t get much time to confirm the new PHEV’s gasoline-fuelled parsimony — mainly because we were too busy testing the electric range provided by its new, larger 13.6-kilowatt-hour battery — but, despite its increased power, it appears as parsimonious as ever. My test route took me through the rolling hills surrounding San Diego on roads with precious few stops and little braking, both conditions that don’t traditionally play to hybrids’ strengths. Nonetheless, I averaged 4.5 L/100 km in the XSE Premium version of the new Prime, an excellent performance considering that the top-of-the-line trim is actually rated at 4.9 L/100 km (more on that in a minute).

As for that electric autonomy, it is dramatically improved. Toyota claims 72 kilometres on battery alone for the base SE; and 64 klicks for the upscale XSE (more on that later, too). Well, without much effort, I managed 69 kilometres in the XSE, which suggests the base SE, the slipperiest of the bunch, might manage as much as 75 km on a charge. Very impressive. In fact, it’d be damned near perfect were it not for the fact that—

The Prius’ gas engine is still a little buzzy

The gas engine, despite its increased power and larger displacement, is still a bit of a weakling, the twinning of hybrid halves favouring by far the more robust electric motor. So, when you are accessing all of that 6.8-second-sprint-to-100-km/h 220 horsepower, the gas engine is spinning pretty hard and can get a bit noisy. It’s not as bad as the RAV4 Prime (largely, I suspect, because of the Prius’ increased sound-deadening material) which sounds a little like a horde of ants not quite in sync with its queen.

Some people — most likely previous Prius owners already conditioned to the cacophony — won’t notice it, but, those newly drawn to Toyota’s hybrids because of the Prime’s increased performance and swoopy styling might. Still, it’s not nearly enough to forgo the combination of 220 horses and seemingly miraculous gas mileage. What’s that old axiom? Oh, yes: when it comes to performance, economy, and sophistication, you can choose any combination you want, but just two out of the three.

The Prius’ fuel-economy numbers come with a caveat

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According to Toyota’s official figures, the base SE is decidedly more frugal than the better-equipped XSE and its XSE Premium sibling. It’s officially rated at 4.5 L/100 km — compared with the 4.9 L/100 km attributed to the pricier XSE and XSE Premium — and can eke out eight extra kilometres of electric autonomy. Both make for a not-insignificant nine-per-cent advantage for the base model.

Besides the lower cost of running, those two statistics dramatically affect the new Prime’s NRCan rated range. In SE trim, the Prime is rated to squeeze out some 960 kilometres from a fully-charged battery and a full tank of gas; the upper trims but 890 km. Now, while even that lower specification is a far greater range than anything purely battery-powered can manage, said difference in fuel management is not insignificant to those trying to save money — or the planet.

As to the “why?” of such a large difference, some might point to weight. The SE, for instance, is 25 kilograms lighter than the XSE. The problem with that argument is that the XSE is also 25 kilos lighter than the XSE Premium, and they share the same NRCan rating.

So, what gives? The only other significant difference is the wheel and tire combination. The SE runs on 195/60R17s, while the XSE and Premium sport larger 195/50R19s. The two types of rubber sport identical widths — which would suggest similar road-tire friction levels — but larger rims and tires weigh more, and take more energy to spin. Also, spinning larger tires also disturbs aerodynamic flow as well. They’re seemingly minuscule differences, but with noticeable consequences.
It’s also worth noting that, of the major specifications listed in the spec sheet for both SE and XSE versions, only coefficient of drag isn’t included on all three models: We know the SE version’s coefficient of drag of drag is 0.27 with 17-inch wheels, but no figure is specified for the XSEs and their 19-inchers.

As to whether the trim upgrades are worth the fuel-economy penalty—

The Prius’ base trim is sparsely equipped

Getting the SE to its $37,990 MSRP means the base Prius Prime makes do with fabric seats and some now-considered-basic safety features like Blind Spot Monitoring and Rear Cross-Traffic Alert. More noticeable in the cost-cutting is the 8-inch screen for the Toyota Multimedia system. In these days of dashboard-wide touchscreens, it feels way too small, sort of like digging up your old iPhone 5 out of the discarded electronics bin — everybody has one, right? — and wondering how you ever got by. If it weren’t for that last complaint, I’d probably recommend the SE trim highest. Its combination of performance and parsimony really is compelling.

But upgrading to the $42,990 XSE gets you that thoroughly modern-looking — and more easily manipulated — 12.3-inch touchscreen. The seats, now covered in SofTex faux leather, are also heated, and wireless charging and rear-seat heaters are standard. Getting right to the nitty-gritty, you’re basically exchanging the fuel efficiency of the SE’s 17-inch tires for the improved user-friendliness of the larger touchscreen — and paying $5,000 for the privilege. Oh, and the XSE also gets Toyota’s latest Traffic-Jam Assist, a radar-controlled self-driving feature that works up to 40 km/h. I’ll leave it up to you to determine if you think that’s a worthwhile mark-up.

As for the $46,990 XSE Premium, well Toyota has tossed the kitchen sink at this one, hasn’t it, as it ups the XSE’s ante with a JBL premium audio system; ventilated front seats; a panoramic-view monitor; and a digital rearview mirror. As for the value of the additions versus the increased fuel economy equation, If you’re opting for the top-of-the-line trim, I’ll assume you couldn’t care less about that 0.4 L/100 km — that works out to less than a cent a kilometre — deficit.

Whatever the case, this latest Prime is a giant step forward. Now less a political statement and more a real car, it’s easier on the eyes, more fleet on its feet, and just as cheap to fill up. Or, as the headline implied, it’s now Fast and Furious, but still just as frugal.

 

That makes no sense. 99% of the benefit of the G5 is contained in the LE/XSE. All the bells and whistles are just profit traps that most consumers wouldn't even miss after a month of driving. Then add in the greater fuel economy/EV range and it becomes a no-brainer from the marginal benefit/marginal cost argument.

 

Well, a couple things... these are our devalued Canadian pesos, er, dollars. I think the article on the Prime acknowledges that the SE has most of the goodness of the higher trim packages. And maybe Traffic Jam assist IS worth something... although my current understanding is that it's a subscription service... so the notion of paying for hardware and then paying more for the service irritates me.

 

We must have been typing our posts at the same time. I never saw yours about the base trim until just now.

 

Yep ! living in the La Belle Province (Québec) it is a no brainer indeed to choose a Prime ,over the hybrid unless you must have AWD.
High price of gas $1.79/liter ($5.09US/gallon) , low electricity rates , generous incentives $7500CAN, does push the prime as a very good deal . It had convinced me in 2022 for my needs . Happy to report after 16000 KM @ 1.6litre/100KM that it is a super gas sipper.

 

Apologies for the sloppy formatting in the reviews I posted. Was doing my best to clean it up, but got called away before I'd finished.

 

A look at some challenges for super tall people. Not sure if this was posted already. Almost looks like a shrunken Prius. : }

 

This review just came out.

REVIEW: 2023 Toyota Prius Prime XSE Premium