A more car-like eco player
Toyota builds one of the most popular hybrids on our roads and they want to keep it that way. Since its introduction, the Toyota Prius has been a sales sensation. In recent months Ford and Honda have introduced some serious competition in the Hybrid market with several other automakers slated to bring the fight to the Toyota Prius.
With the current, completely new Prius – Toyota stands ready.
Rather than traverse new terrain and build a Toyota Prius that has more performance savvy, sportier legs or aggressive looks, Toyota continued on a familiar path - economy. This new Toyota Prius can (fairly easily) attain 50 mpg. That is rather remarkable in a vehicle that recently went to a larger displacement (more powerful) engine and an altogether larger vehicle.
The 2010 Toyota Prius is 175.6 inches long with a wheelbase of 106.3 inches and a width of 68.7 inches. Helping performance and legroom, the wheel width has expanded .7 inch up front and 1.5 inches in the rear. These figures are not that much larger than the last Prius; however, this stiffer platform (about 100% stiffer then its predecessor up front) is larger inside with a much more commodious rear seat.
With its aerodynamic roof’s shape, rear headroom is 37.6 inches whereas front headroom is 38.3 inches. Either way; that is a nice amount of headroom – better than last generation’s Prius. Cargo volume goes from a small 21.4 cubic feet with the rear seats up to a respectable 39.6 cubic feet with the rear seats down.
Upon my first sitting inside the new Toyota Prius I was immediately struck by the additional spaciousness. The entire theme of the interior felt more conventional and slightly less ‘future-car’ polarizing to those who expect simple digs. The most obvious nod to the continuously variable transmission (CVT) and, hence a unique tech-laden vehicle is the gearshift, ‘park’ button and centrally mounted information screen high on the dashboard.
Otherwise, the cloth interior is comfortable, simple and could easily be compared to the base model Toyota Camry or Scion xD. I like the continuing line in the dashboard that integrates the two central vents and neatly terminates past the glove-box. I found the walrus-tusk steering wheel surprisingly contrasting to the rest of the interior, yet not overtly polarizing. I am pleased that Toyota opted to centrally mount the navigation screen and kept the rest of the information condensed.