2023 Prius Prime XSE Premium

Test Drive Notes Library

Pros
Now a looker. The Prius is like a really smart, kind, bookish girl in high school with thick glasses and her hair pulled back into a tight bun every day. Then she shows up at the reunion ten years later and has completely come into her own, and everybody thinks, “Wow!” The Prius, for pretty much all of its life, has been, let’s say homely. Its design broadcasts its sensible-ness. Not anymore.
Looks. The Prius has been working out. It’s now a sleek, damn near racy looking car. If you had shown us a picture of this Prius ten years ago, and said, “This is a future Lotus,” we would have believed you. It’s still the same, basic Prius shape overall, with a humped roof in the middle, a vertical rear end, and great aerodynamics. But Toyota has smoothed it out, lowered it, and refined the front and, especially the back end to make it much more appealing to the eye.
Same old great MPG. The Prius Prime (the plug in hybrid version of the Prius) we drove got about 47 MPG, even when we didn't plug it in. Plug it in, and you get almost 40 miles of all electric range, and an overall MPGe of 114. The improved looks clearly haven’t put much of a dent in the Prius’ efficiency. Charging time for the 13.6 kWh battery is about four hours on a home 220v outlet, a little over 10 hours if you just plug it into a regular wall socket overnight. And it still transitions between electric and gasoline modes seamlessly.
Drives better. Toyota has improved two other things about the Prius. It’s got more power, 220 hp in the Prime (150 hp from the four-cylinder gasoline engine, and the rest from the electric motor) so it accelerates more quickly. No more one-one-hundred, two-one-hundred when trying to merge on a highway. It’s not a race car, but you don’t notice a lack of power like you once did. It also handles better. While the steering could be a little less numb, it has a nice weight to it at least. The new Prius is lower to the ground, features a tighter suspension, and corners more crisply and securely. Where there was no fun-to-drive quotient in the old Prius, there is some in the new one.
Improved interior. Again, someone allowed the stylists in the room this time. So the interior of the Prius is also taken up a notch. Most controls feel solid to the touch. The seats in our XSE trim were reasonably comfortable. There’s an 8 inch screen with an option to get one that’s 12 inches. Apple CarPlay and Android Auto are wireless, with a well placed wireless charging dock. A home button would be nice. This is the highest end Prius you can get now, and ours rang out at just over $34,000.

Cons
New Look. Will making the Prius stylish help or hurt? Will current Prius owners, who not only didn’t care about style, but saw their Prius as a personal "anti-style" statement, buy the new one? Or will they all switch to the Kia Soul? Or will the visual appeal reach enough new buyers to more than make up the difference?
Visibility. The old Prius had a unique and clever glass “slat” at the lower part of the hatch, that drivers — via their rear view mirror — could see through. That’s gone now, and rear visibility, as in most modern cars, is an anachronism. You have to rely on your blind spot monitors and rear camera.
A little less comfort. The ride is tightened up a bit to improve handling, which makes it not as soft a ride as it used to be. That may also be due to the 19 inch wheels on the Prime XSE. 17 inch wheels are available on lesser models and would improve the ride. There’s also less room inside, which is most noticeable in the back seat and cargo area. Getting in and out is also a little harder than the old, taller, dowdier Prius.