I vividly remember when Toyota president Akio Toyoda stated that they would no longer make boring cars, and now with the introduction of a redesigned Toyota Prius it looks as if he’s kept his word, and that’s a good thing!
The Toyota Prius has always been the formidable economical vehicle that sipped fuel and put its best efforts ahead of others in the world of hybrids. For all intents and purposes, the Toyota Prius introduced America to the hybrid and has continued a legacy of being one of the most fuel-efficient vehicles around.
For its fifth generation, the Prius gets a redesign and one that’s significantly different in a good way. Toyota looks to have made the best-looking Prius yet from what we see here unveiled ahead of the 2022 L.A. Auto Show.
The new sleek sheet metal of the new 2023 Prius features wider and lower dimensions accentuating is added performance bringing the latest in hybrid technology to to the table for the return of one of the most fuel-efficient consumer vehicles on earth, at least one that still burns gasoline. MPG figures should be about 57 mpg combined, which is an improvement over the outgoing model’s 52 mpg figure.
Using the second-generation TNGA platform, Toyota benefited from its designed proportions and will stuff a larger 2.0-liter gas engine under the newly sculpted hood along with its hybrid unit to produce about 194 horsepower with a 0-60 mph time of about 7.2 seconds and 7 seconds flat in the all-wheel-drive model with 196 horsepower, while the new Prius Prime will get as much as 220 horsepower and an all-electric range of 38 miles. The new powertrain in the PHEV version, the Prius Prime, should hit 60 mph in 6.6 seconds, which may not be “fast” in the eyes of sports car owners but is surely a massive improvement over the outgoing Prius in any form.
Apart from the drivetrain improvements, the new Prius gets a reworked interior space where there’s a prominent digital gauge cluster in a direct forward-facing view of the driver and a large infotainment touchscreen that looks to use the latest system found in many new Toyota and Lexus vehicles.
We’re sure to learn additional details as we get into the 2022 L.A. Auto Show that debuts this week, and they should be just as exciting as the looks of this new Toyota Prius.
