There is many reviews out already of all new Prius 2016, which describes car’s technical specs or other nice safety features. I am not going to tell these again. In this review you will get my first impressions of the car. This is one of the first cars that arrived in Finland. So the car is EU spec, which differs slightly what you get eg. in the USA. Our cars are always equipped with NiMH battery, while US spec cars mostly has Li-Ion.
It was a nice surprise that my local dealer emailed me and asked whether I want to test drive new Prius. Even sales contract was made already of purchasing a new car. My car should arrive in 6 weeks from now. This one is dealer’s show car for test drives. Car I’m dealing in is MY13 SUV which likes to sip gasoline quite much indeed. So I am loosing superb all wheel drive and ground clearance but hopefully getting superb mpg and smooth drive. Also this review may be optimistic due to that I am waiting my car to be arrived. However I also try to tell about negative points realistic.
Passing and merging to highways
I have 10 000km experience of Auris hybrid (tech based on gen III Prius). Most disappointment for me was passing other cars with Auris. Too low powered and high engine noise. I have to admit, that I had too high expectations on that time, forgetting true nature of the car. So therefore it is very interesting to see now how new Prius will perform. This time I kind of knew what I am getting and exceptions should be realistic as well.
New Prius is different. It doesn't feel slow, though doesn't feel fast either (except from stand still between 0-50km/h, feels fast :)). I had no problems at all with highway speeds. Very pleased!
Bi-LED headlights
This area is very interesting! I have no previous experience of LED based headlights. I have only read some reviews few years ago. From those I got quite bad impression that they are not yet on same bar than for example xenon lights (HID). But as said, that was one review from few years ago. From somewhere else I have read that type of light LEDs produces is very different and it helps to read road signs at night time better (light reflection is different). I can agree that reflection is different but is it better or no, can't say. Other claim was that going through snow blizzards is much convenient with LED lights. Unfortunately weather conditions was quite clear on my tonight test period. So can't comment that snow blizzard thing. Compared to my current car light output is pretty much equal. Don't expect any night converts to day effect. But no fear that lights could not light enough. They will!
Handling & drive
Personally I have had not ever problems with toyotas handling. There might be own characteris with the steering but still it is on good level. At least with previous Toyota models, which are not based on new platform. This new one was very nice! While steering might not be at Ford Focus/Mondeo level, it's very good still. Big positive surprise for me was how the suspension worked. Comfortable ride all the time. It goes smoothly over "pot holes". Also cabin noise was quiet. Test car was equiped with non-spike (friction) winter tires, which are usually more quieter too than summer tires. But still I noticed difference to my current car.
Fuel consumption
EU specs promised 3,3l/100km (71 US MPG) consumption. Though that is well known that cycle is from different world than real world driving. So my expectations is to have 4,5l/100km figures (52 US MPG). Some magazines have tested consumption already with figures of 5 to 6 litres per 100km. It made me feel that drivers didn’t know what they were doing.
During my test drive I got without any effort under 4,0l/100km figures. Even at quick tour on Helsinki city had 3,6l/100km numbers. Impressive! I can imagine that EU cycle is beatable easily during summer times when the weather conditions are right.
Styling
Everyone has their own opinion of the styling. I do like it. Though on very first time, when I saw photos of this car, I didn’t like it. But once few times it looked very cool indeed! Reason for that is that car looks somewhat different than every other cars do. I can understand well that this is not for everyone. But in that case you probably know what to do, look other brands then.
In person this car looks even better than in photos. For some reason that happens. I have read that before from others comments as well.
Interior styling deserves comment too. Wheeling steer feels very good. Much better that in my current car. Material is very good. It appears to be synthetic leather. Dash looks very nice too among HUD. Though HUD did not have turn-by-turn feature. Maybe I did something wrong or it really is missing from the EU spec car. Also compass on the dash did not show me street names, while the navigator worked fine.
My Toyota customer portal
I also registered to my.toyota.eu (US version available too). There wasn’t that much content available. Basically it allows user to create routes by home computer. And then download these routes to main unit using Bluetooth and mobile connections. Maybe useful if you have holiday and want to plan trips accordingly. For one extempore trip not that useful. Other available features is to download some apps to Entune. But there was not so many apps available that was interesting.
Verdict
Worth of buying? Yes, if you understand the idea of car. It has adequate performance, handles well, it has superb fuel consumption, it is safe, tons of features, etc. It is not a sports car (or is it, just in very different category?), exterior may need second look before “accepting” it. Excels in city driving / short distance commuting. Not saying that Prius won’t perform in highway driving, just saying that it is exceptional good in city driving.
No, if you want lot’s of (diesel) torque and horse powers, if you drive fast and tend to pass others all the time. If you want more traditional look for the car. Prii has also certain tree hugger reputation which may affect to your decision. Personally Im not a tree hugger but I care how much I spend on gas station. Though I think new Prius should not be categorized to that tree hugging thing anymore. Car looks too bold for that.
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