Louth Motors: From Taxi to Trendsetter the Toyota Prius becomes hugely desirable
From Taxi to Trendsetter the Toyota Prius becomes hugely desirable
We love the Prius here in Ireland. Every second taxi you see on the road seems to be a Prius valued for space, reliability and most importantly fuel economy.
The pioneering hybrid technology (self-charging as Toyota calls it) was, and is, super reliable. A quick check of the odometer in any taxi shows the stellar mileage these cars attain.
Being a passenger in one you notice the build quality and the quietness of it making for a relaxed trip.
Look closer at those Prius’s and you’ll notice the squarish reg. plate on the back that signals it is a Japanese import.
Most of them are and it is a testament to the cars taxi desirability that they went out of their way to get them here frustrated by the Irish pricing. Where there’s a will there’s an importer for sure.
We used to buy them new here back around 2010 that seems ages ago.
New Prius sales also suffered when Toyota deployed the hybrid technology in the Corolla that made the pricier Prius a harder sell.
That remained the case until the introduction of this 5th generation Prius model in 2024 where sales picked up, but not majorly.
The 5th generation model is only sold as a plug-in hybrid that has a higher all-electric range than the standard hybrid (71 km in fact).
But it should be selling a lot more. Why? Well it has to be one of the sleekest looking cars on the road as well as sexy.
Yes I’m talking Prius here that was lambasted for its looks for nearly every model.
Its mechanical performance was always detracted by comments on its looks. If it were human it would have spent years in rehab so scathing were the comments.
Not anymore. If generation 1 to generation 4 were duckling phases then the resulting generation 5 beautiful swan has been worth it.
When I tried to draw a sleek sports car when I was a schoolboy, the shape of this Prius is the shape I drew every time believing that that was the perfect shape for sleekness.
Toyota designers are not schoolboys and they have crafted a silhouette that’s low, wedged shaped with a sloping roof and a wheel as near as possible to each corner of the car.
The windscreen is sharply raked for sports car look and with the hidden rear door handles could fool you into thinking it is a 2-door coupe.
It is a real style object that has huge desirability.
Inside I can’t say it got the same wow treatment as the outside. The cabin is well laid out and has a decent sized infotainment screen.
Driver dials are visible above the steering wheel similar to the method first seen in Peugeot cabins a few years ago with their i-Cockpit.
It’s also a way of having to provide a heads up display because, well, it actually is.
Materials use in the Prius cabin could be better as some of the plastics are hard and look like they’ll scratch.
Thankfully, and I’m not against this design principle, they are not places you touch much, if at all.
Space is good up front but headroom in the back is tight because of that sleek shape.
It’s a compromise as a driver I’d be prepared to take.
Another downside of that graceful look is reduced boot space which wont see Taxi drivers fighting to get their hands on one which may have been Toyotas aim all along to banish the taxi connotations millstone the Prius name evokes.
This model is one of the best exponents of sleek there is.
Road manners are very good. The car’s sporty looks with a lower centre of gravity gives the performance it promises from the 223hp hybrid engine and banishes forever the old Prius sluggish and eco focused characteristics.
It really turns in quote a rewarding experience on twisty roads and is generally untroubled by most road imperfections.
The small steering wheel enhances this sporty feeling too. On the motorway it is a different story and sustained high speeds reveal louder than expected wind and road noise. It passes the drivers car and the Toyota engineers have done a masterful job of reducing the dredged droning noise from the CVT gearbox. Good stuff.
The problem with the Prius is it has moved into premium territory with a premium price and is not trying to attract the buyers you’d typically associate with the Prius.
I accept the car is much, much better but it retains the Prius name that was an affordable choice before.
If they had rebranded this as say a Celica then we’d all be marveling at it. There is only one model available that costs €47,070 plus paint and a few protection options and that’s it.
Which kind of supports the Celica argument I suggested. By way of comparison you could be driving the top of the range 2WD Hyundai Tucson for similar money or the new entry model Rav4.
Potential Prius buyers I reckon have found hybrid Yaris Cross/CHR/Corolla Cross model instead which is shame as this model should have been their reward for buying previous Prius models.
Bottom line for me is I loved it. I managed 5.2l/100kms during my time with it and another eco-conscious driver could easily improve that.
It has looks, performance, desirability and efficiency and is so rewarding to drive. Grand Prix and Granny drivers would both be happy with a Prius as their daily driver and we should see more of them on Irish roads but we probably won’t.