2017 Prius Prime First Drive: Best Prius Ever

Flying a total of 32 hours to spend 48 on the ground in Japan sounds ridiculous, but when offered a chance to drive the Prius Prime in its birthplace and natural habitat, I would've flown twice as far. Twice as far just happens to be the goal with Toyota's second attempt at a plug-in Prius, improving on the original Plug-in's electric range from 11 miles to 22. 22 miles of all-electric range paired with the Prius' utterly amazing MPG and versatile packaging makes for a formidable re-entry into the plug-in market.

Design




The design of the Prius Prime is striking. It's as if we're getting a mid-cycle refresh design 9 months after the launch of the 2016 Prius hybrid. I'm a documented fan of the 4G Prius design, but upon seeing the Prime in person for the first time, there's a sense that Toyota had bigger and better ideas for the Prius that they just weren't able to execute for the 2016 model. That theory actually has a basis in reality, with Prius & Prius Prime Chief Engineer Toyoshima-san telling me that they had originally planned to have the "dual wave" rear window and carbon fiber rear hatch as features on the standard Prius. Both created production concerns due to the amount of time and effort that goes into the parts. The projected lower production volume of the Prius Prime means that they can put the effort into producing these unique features without worrying about creating delays.

The exterior design is an excellent refinement of the ideas evoked in the 2016 Prius. The redesigned tail light housing helps the rear end of the car look less bulbous and more fitting with the enhanced performance aspects of the 4G Prius platform. The lower light cluster holds the all-LED amber turn signals and is nicely mirrored on the front of the car, with an LED fog light added to the front cluster, as well. While the front of the 2016 Prius looks like an angry bass fish, the Prius Prime has the look of a sly shark on the prowl.



The interior is largely unchanged from the hybrid Prius, except for the addition of a large 11.6" touch screen up front and the subtraction of the middle seat in the back. The large tablet-like touch screen will be available in the higher-end models of the Prime (yes, it sounds like we're getting more than just Base and Advanced models in this generation of Plug-in) and is another one of those features that Toyoshima-san informed me was originally planned for the hybrid Prius. I'll have a full review of the user experience with this new interface after I have more time to drive the car at the press long lead in a couple of months. This attempt to be more like Tesla and put more engaging tech in the Prius is very welcomed, but the devil is in the details and any current Prius driver knows that Toyota's strong suit is not in their software UX.




The loss of the 5th middle seat in the Prius Prime is... regrettable. For a large portion of the population I'm sure it won't be a factor in will they/won't they buy the Prime, but for those with 3 kids (a club I recently joined), or with lifestyles that frequently find themselves with a 5th passenger, the Prime becomes a vehicle of inconvenience or even out of the running entirely if you don't have another, higher passenger-capacity vehicle. Chevy's research must have told GM that the 4 seats in the 1st Generation Volt excluded many buyers from considering it, and they engineered around that limitation to put 5 seats into the 2G Volt. The Prime's 4-seater configuration is a result of the added 300 lbs over the average weight of the hybrid Prius models. The Prius name has always stood for a highly versatile vehicle package, so removing a passenger seat definitely puts a ding in that reputation.

Fortunately, Toyota has done a very nice job turning the back seat into a 2-seater, and while I don't have any specs yet to back it up, the dedicated seat space for each passenger appears to be more spacious than the Prime's hybrid sibling. Toyota also added 2 dedicated cup holders and a nice padded armrest in place of the missing seat (picture the rear armrest always being down, but dressed more nicely). I wish they had added a couple of dedicated 12v outlets for the rear seats and seat heaters to help save energy in cold weather.

Performance




The Prime's elevated performance compared to the first Prius Plug-in (PiP) is the real story here. Let's not mince words: the Prius Prime is superior in every measurable way to the PiP. It has twice the battery capacity with an 8.8 kWh vs 4.4. 22 miles of AER (all electric range) vs 11. 11.3 gallon gas tank capacity (same as hybrid) vs 10.6. 120 MPGe vs 95 MPGe. Maximum all-electric speed 84 mph vs 62 mph. A heat pump system provides 30% greater efficiency than the PiP (at 14 degrees F) and, more importantly, keeps you from having to engage the ICE to get heat in the winter.

There are three things that held back the first Prius Plug-in. Toyota addressed the first pain point by doubling the battery size to 8.8 kWh and 22 miles of electric range. Second, the 2012-2015 Prius Plug-in engaged the ICE any time speed reached 62 mph. As mentioned earlier, this issue has been addressed by increasing the max EV speed to 84 mph.

The final source of consternation was the Prius Plug-in's lack of desire to ever actually drive like an EV. Back when the PiP was still in prototype phase, Toyota hosted a group of us at their California HQ to test the car out on the streets of Torrance. Russell Frost, my friend and co-host of the What Drives Us podcast and editor of the Prius Owner's Group blog, was so excited to drive an electrified Prius that he dared to accelerate out of Toyota's main drive like he normally would, only to immediately engage the ICE and have to wait through the dreaded 5ish minute engine warm-up cycle that car required. That was the last time that Russell felt any love for the Prius Plug-in. I can only imagine what providing test drives for that car must have been like. "So, you're gonna want to turn right onto Main Street out of the dealership, but be very gentle with the throttle if you want to actually test the car's EV capabilities." The prospective buyer has the audacity to engage 50% throttle, the ICE engages, and the rest of the test drive is spent with the ICE whirring and warming up. Not a great test driving experience. Not a great driving experience, period. Believe me; I owned one.

While the first Prius Plug-in wanted to be a hybrid first, and begrudgingly an EV second, the Prius Prime WANTS to be an EV, and that brings me back to my trip to Japan. My driving opportunity consisted of 4 laps around a test track, the first lap in EV, the second in hybrid mode, third in EV, and final lap in hybrid. In hybrid mode, the Prime performs exactly as you'd expect the standard Prius to perform. In EV mode, it performs better. The 0-40 acceleration is quicker in EV mode than in the standard Prius' HV mode. The Chief didn't offer any exact numbers yet, but he did show us an acceleration curve illustrating the difference. Now we're not talking Tesla Model S or BMW i3 0-40 acceleration, but there's an appreciable amount of torque available and better yet, 100% throttle is available in EV mode.




That was the most obvious part of the driving experience to me as a previous Plug-in owner: 100% throttle available in EV mode. It sounds silly to make such a big deal about it, but that was, in the end, the biggest limiting factor to the Prius Plug-in, even above the meager 11 mile range. This is not to say that 100% throttle will be available 100% of the time in the Prime. As you reach the end of the battery, the car's software may decide to go ahead and engage the ICE to assist at higher speeds or depending on acceleration requirements. The driving experience was very similar to that of other electric vehicles: quiet, confident acceleration. Toyota has also tweaked the regenerative braking in the Prime's EV driving mode to be slightly more aggressive with regen. Nothing like the Model S or i3's single-pedal driving where the regen is so aggressive that you don't need to use the brake, but any additional regen is welcome to help fill that larger battery.

So, how'd they achieve this increased performance in the Prime vs the original Prius PHV Plug-in? To begin with, almost all of the components in the Prime are newly developed except for the engine, MG1 and MG2. Toyota added a one way clutch in the transaxle to create a Twin Motor system. It basically engages MG1 and MG2 at the same time. MG2 has always been the traction motor for the Prius, but the clutch allows MG1 to act together with MG2 as a larger, more powerful traction motor. That increases the power output to 127 hp in the Prius Prime vs 91 hp in the Prius Plug-in. Using a clutch this way, on the surface, appears to be a simple piece of engineering, but is actually pretty brilliant and a nice example of Toyota's philosophy of kaizen by using existing parts of the Prius' HSD system in new ways.

Toyota's engineers have also added a 3rd driving mode on the Prius Prime: EV Auto. With EV Auto engaged, the Prime's ECU determines the most efficient use of battery vs engine depending on driving conditions. For example, the engine will engage when a greater load is required going up hills or accelerating at high speeds. So instead of wasting your battery juice performing an action like that, the Prime will automatically turn on the engine for a moment as needed and save your precious kWs. I didn't have a chance to test it, but look forward to doing so at the press event later this year. It sounds like a reasonable way to conserve battery power and use it later when it can be used most efficiently, which is something the Prius has excelled at for over a decade. The Prius Prime will default to EV mode.

Conclusion



It's hard to decide what to pay attention to when you only have 4 laps on a test track in a beautiful foreign country to drive a new car, but as a 1st generation Prius Plug-in owner the improvements and changes jumped out readily.. I look forward to more time in the Prime later this year and a full review will follow. For all of the many people in the forums who have been holding off on buying a new Prius until the Prime launch, I think you've made the right choice and you'll be happy you waited.

Given the other choices available out in the market today, Toyota's eco crown has seemingly lost some of its luster. Not only does the Prime put the shine back on that crown, it's the best Prius they've ever built.

Other notes

A few things that couldn't quite fit in the above review:

• Toyota's fantastic Safety Sense package will be standard on all Prius Prime grades. That package includes Pre-Collision, Full Speed Dynamic Radar Cruise Control, Auto High Beams, Pedestrian Detection, and Lane Departure Alert with Steering Assist.
• Nationwide Availability from Day 1. Not a promise like in 2012.
• The 8.8 kWh usable battery size is divided by software into a % that the EV mode can use and then a % that is reserved for HV mode. Toyota declined to reveal the true capacity of the battery, but they've been known to be conservative with actual battery usage in the past.
• Weight of the Prius Prime is 3,362 lbs.
• Every exterior light is an LED
• Solar panel not in US has to do with marketability (cost). $3,000 option price in Japan.
• Climate system is not modified by Driving Modes.
• Quick Charge (Chademo) is included on the Japanese-spec Prime because of a lack of 240v home infrastructure. It's not as prevalent in Japan as it is in the US.
• The emergency DC out uses the same port. That option is not available in the US (not sure if that's a chicken or egg situation with the DC out power not available because the US doesn't get the Chademo charge port or what).
• Toyota didn't leave it up to dealers to decide on the Prime's paint colors, like they did for the Prius Plug-in. Instead of drab variations on black, the Prime has some really interesting color choices including the beautiful Hypersonic Red, a teal-ish blue, Magnetic Gray, Classic Metallic Silver, Blizzard Pearl (white), and a new beautiful color for Toyota, Desert Blonde. The photos I have of the Desert Blonde don't really capture it well, but it's an interesting and unique color.