Featured Tested: 2022 Toyota Prius Prime's Time Has Come and Gone

While I hate to read unfavorable reviews of my beloved Prime, one of the big take-aways is that the Prime pioneered a lot of technology which has since been improved by Toyota in other plug-in offerings and has adopted by many other car makers.

 

While I do agree with some of the findings; there is a clear niche for this type of car. I believe Toyota is using this model as a real world test bed for future cars. What do people need, want, and expect from a car like this. We can already see improvements in the Rav4 Prime. I wouldn't be surprised if the first solid state batteries, end up in a future Prime first.
I did my homework on my Prime, before purchasing it. It has paid dividends, conservative estimates is minus $70/month in gas and plus $15/month in electricity over my old Prius C - which was the lowest cost per mile car to run in 2013. I'm averaging 108 mpg on a tank of gas; those numbers would actually go up, if I didn't take long weekend excursions that require me to run the ICE for long periods of time w/o being able to recharge.

 

Funny how this is still an oddity and "weird placement" 20 years after The Prius That Shook the World explained why they did it in the very first generation.

Putting the combo meter way up under the windshield base in the middle gets it far enough from your eyes that you don't have to refocus on it after looking at the road. (The mirror-projection business used in Gen 2 and 3 was also part of that, making it optically even farther away than its physical distance.)

These days, when it really is more work for me to shift to close focus than it was when I was younger, I really do appreciate that. I notice the effort of focusing on my ScanGauge (sitting on the steering column) or even the MFD, but the combo meter is a breeze.

 

That reality messes up their narrative. It is exactly what Volt enthusiasts did too. Focus was always entirely on Prius. Everything imaginable was done to avoid, evade, and dismiss other hybrid offerings from Toyota. Those others had the potential to shatter their status quo, Prius was safe to attack. They never figured out how effective of a decoy that served.

The bitter reality of Camry hybrid offering a more appealing package with regard to size & power was a constant source of irritation. I was quite willing to keep poking with that stick too, especially as rumor of a RAV4 hybrid emerged... which would eventually shift focus over to the possibility of a RAV4 plug-in hybrid to follow. The approach Toyota took with Prius had set the stage for easy spread to other vehicles. Efforts to divert attention back to Prius was a dead giveaway of recognition their narrative was in jeopardy.

If Prius doesn't re-emerge by name, we will still see the spirit of that mission live on in the bZ nameplate. Toyota's plan to refine tech in a similar manner will become evident over time, its subtle approach continuing. Enthusiast fodder for rhetoric always comes from ratings, not real-world results. For those of us paying close attention, on-going hints of cold-climate performance should stir curiosity. Statements saying it will be "minimally impact by winter" should serve as a clue that more is at play than official numbers reveal.

It short, those unfavorable reviews are really just noise without much substance. Toyota continues to effectively achieve change, whether they get credit for it or not.

 

c&d was doing the same thing to tesla not very long ago. they have to tread more carefully due to popularity and sales increases.
they're always looking for someone to pick on, to keep they're coal rolling subscribers from moving on

 

The more I work on Gen3 Prius the more I realize how much mission drift there was in the design team... What was once a design to be as simple and efficient and modest as possible, which was perfected by Gen2 Prius, morphed into a debacle of wanting to be an "advanced technology" vehicle with all kinds of bells and whistles, which were mostly just really dumb ideas. Add to that the designers of the vehicle being told to make the car look like "advanced engineering" rather than modest and you can see why Prius lost popularity. I mean if you have to choose between a hybrid Lexus or hybrid Corrolla, Prius C or "flagship Prius" only one of these cars looks genuinely ugly and incongruent.

 

That's quite a distortion of reality. Gen2 was loaded with advanced technology. It replaced the key with a FOB, introduced Bluetooth phone support, upgraded from engine-powered A/C to electricity. Let's forget the HID headlamps either.

 

Toyota got serious about properly packaging the battery with the Rav4. The Prius was a rush job in the end because Toyota corporate was still thinking a PiP sized pack was enough.

Some of the PHEV conversions the PiP put out of business managed to keep the spare.

Prius popularity dropped with gas prices, and now there is more choices for fuel efficiency.

It could be said people were buying the Prius despite its design for the fuel efficiency back during its peak sales.

Many of those features were not new to cars at the time. They were new to the Toyota brand, but could be found in the Lexus. Putting them in the Prius was to help obscure the price for the hybrid system. People knew how much they added to luxury car prices. As luxury features, they had higher margins at the time, which let Toyota cover some of the hybrid cost internally, and give the Prius some appeal beyond being fuel efficiency and low emissions.

It was the exactly same thing Toyota is doing now in the US by having the Rav4 hybrids be available with just AWD.

 

That has *NOTHING* to do with what I posted about the difference between gen-2 and gen-3.

 

Gen2 was loaded with the right amount of advanced technology... The true distortion of reality was when they they didn't leave it alone and added a huge amount more, which was unnecessary and stupid!

It led to:

--nightmare oil filter change canister,
--easy to smash lights and body parts on the front corners,
--sharp edges and lines in body style that seem out of place compared to Gen2,
--an engine with bad rings & blown head gasket,
--an EGR system that gets clogged,
--engine compartment that looks cluttered instead of refined
--an A-pillar design that made a small interior way smaller,
--smaller screens
--and how stupid is a catalytic converter that's heated with coolant, which means you're draining your cooling system on the ground if your cat gets stolen.

I could go on and on!!!

 

Wrong!

Prius popularity dropped when Honda hybrids and other Toyota hybrids became more abundant and each iteration of Prius got uglier and uglier thanks to a schizophrenic design team that drifted far, far, far away from their original design mission.

 

Not very ... I don't think we generally hold auto engineers to the "what will I dislike about this design if some crook takes a Sawzall to it?" standard.

Quibble, but EHRS is used to heat the coolant, not heated by the coolant, and it's behind both catalytic converters.

 

As stated, there was a reason to make the Gen 1 Prius visually different that every other car on the road. But in 2022, there is no reason to make the PHEV that much different.

Personally, I find it silly when people who just love SUVS, BEVs and super-cars (which have really exotic designs) say that the Prius Prime looks weird. Honestly, once you get past the oddly shaped rear window, it looks much like any other modern mid-sized sedan. I've received a lot of complements from people who had no idea that it was a Prius, much less a Prime.

The other obsession appears to be with the entertainment center of modern cars. I have seen car reviews that totally ignored the quality, ergonomics and reliability of modern cars in order to harp on and on about how their favorite phone does not integrate well with the sound system. I'm much more concerned with safety features and reliability than I am with the need to turn on my phone's bluetooth if I want to play my music through the car's speakers. Sheesh.

 

Another benefit is not having to duck or crane to see under or over the steering wheel while looking for something on the hidden parts of the instrument cluster.

Yet another plus is that you don't have to lower your eyes as far. It seems to be about the same lateral angle and even less of a vertical angle than the rear view mirror except down rather than up.

Same here. Down here hardly anyone has even heard of the Prime -- not even Prius owners.

 

We'll likely start seeing electric cat heaters in the future to improve emissions.

 

- no belts
- electric water pump
- better fuel efficiency
- highway much lower revs

Also bear in mind this 1.8 gave birth to several other models, and still is running on newer versions, like the OP Prime and the Corollas.

 

If they can make it super simple it's a good idea...

 

Yeah, there's obviously some meaningful improvements that my rant didn't mention... I mean if your throw enough poop at a wall some of it will for sure stick.

 

I think it is rather Car and Driver's time that has come and gone. If you asked 100 people on the street if they (still) read that mag, I'd bet you'd have one or two that did, and maybe then just infrequently. There were a couple year-old copies on the table a few years back at the hair cut place I frequent, pre-COVID. Try to find a new Prius Prime these days. Or a used one. You can't. Not because their time has come and gone, but because they've all been bought up due to $5 gas prices. Or even $4 gas prices.

My 6-year old Prime is worth more than I paid for it. High demand car. I don't need C&D to decide what is good or bad. Most people don't either. I am surprised C&D is even still offered in print form. My Prime's MPG readout is stuck at 199.9MPG (or higher) and has been ever since I bought the car. If I drove a RAV4 Prime, it would be the same. Yes, some of the Prime is a bit odd or even ugly (bottom half of the front, or the lips on the back). Luckily, I can't see those from inside the car while I am driving it.

I used to read R&T and C&D all the time 30 or 40 years ago. And I certainly don't need 60 pages of ads to thumb past, half of which are either WeatherTech or Tire Rack. Too much info on-line these days to help me decide what my next car will be.

 

Good points all to which I would add "professional YouTube reviewers." Coveting the early Press Release cars, their is pressure to be softer and less precise on the weak points.

I find those reviewers who handle multiple cars in the same review tend to have more credibility than those who handle just one car at a time. With two or more models to compare, it is harder to gloss over differences.

Bob Wilson