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After I parked a new 2023 Toyota Prius and walked away, I turned around to look at it. Not because I was checking my parking job, but because it just looked so good. Turning around to look at a Prius is, seriously, something I never thought I would do.
The car’s sloping nose, low roof and sharply cornered back end resemble a sports car more than a flipped-over deviled egg like past Priuses. It’s a shape that’s clearly had a lot of time in wind tunnels but, with subtle bulges around the back wheels and hidden back door handles, it looks exciting rather than just serviceable.
Which is good because hybrids, regarded as cutting-edge when introduced decades ago, are now passé, often treated like the flip phones of electrified transportation. Even as electric vehicle sales have taken off and are expected to rise even more rapidly this year, hybrid vehicle market share has been relatively flat. Hybrid manufacturers could use the image make-over the Prius offers. And there’s more to it than just looks. The new Prius drives just as nicely, too.
Within its strikingly different exterior design, the new Prius’s interior is more traditional than past models, but in a generally good way. There’s a large gauge screen behind the steering wheel, just where it is in most cars. And there’s a touchscreen for less driver-focused stuff in the middle. The gear selector is a nice size, a comfortable shape, easy to use without looking at it and it’s down low between the front seats in, again, a traditional and easy to reach location. (Yes, I became weirdly enthusiastic about the Prius’s gear selector which was one of my favorite in any car, ever.)
Driving the Prius is maybe not quite as exciting as looking at it, but it’s not bad at all. It feels good on the road, planted and balanced. Even its acceleration – a weak point in past Priuses – is quite good. According to Car and Driver, the new Prius can go from a stop to 60 miles an hour in 7.1 seconds. The all-wheel-drive Prius, with more traction and slightly more power, is probably a little quicker. This is vastly better than the 2022 Prius which took almost 11 seconds.
If it weren’t for the Prius’s sad, droning engine sound, which can be blamed on the car’s hyper-efficient transmission, I would have entirely enjoyed driving it.
