Why the Toyota Prius is the stealthiest and most discreet automotive choice you can make

The fifth-generation Prius, unveiled in 2022 and released in 2023, has finally made it over to the UK. Both in form and engineering it marks a significant departure from the ultra-familiar Uber favourite of the model’s earlier dimensions.

Toyota has been building the Prius since 1997, shifting the car’s profile from pioneering piece of hybrid technology to ubiquitous urban mobility machine in the process. In that time, in excess of seven million have been sold, allowing Toyota to refine and evolve the hybrid powertrain’s efficiency and durability.

You might think it perverse to praise one of the most prosaic and quotidian cars on the road, but in truth we’ve been big fans of both the third and fourth generation Priuses (Prii?). They hide their complexity well, providing spacious, unfussy and dependable transportation, with the added bonus of being hugely efficient. The idiosyncratic styling was quite divisive, both inside and out, however.

When Toyota revealed the wedge-shaped fifth generation, the positive reception afforded the design was tempered by the fear that the company might have tampered with the winning mechanical formula. Fear not, for although this new Prius is now a genuinely attractive car, with nary a quirk in sight, it’s retained all the qualities that made its forebears so successful. Plus there are some added bonuses.

In an appropriate shade of New York taxi yellow, our test car really stood out. It remains a modest car, very slightly shorter and wider than its predecessor but clearly much lower. The Prius really is genuinely attractive, one of the best iterations of a five-door hatchback on the market, from any manufacturer. The ‘one box’ form of generations two, three and four have been usurped by a much more coherent design, with a low nose, swooping profile and neatly chopped tail.

The most dramatic exterior feature is the steeply raked windscreen. At 21.6 degrees, this is more angled than many supercars, with the trade-off of massively thick A-pillars to support it. They don’t doesn’t impinge upon forward visibility as much as you’d expect and the rest of the cabin is much more light and airy than sister models like the CH-R.

Toyota’s designers have also reined in some of the ambitious surfacing that adorned the last generation car, and the overall effect is muscular and trim, with a far more sporting stance than before. The lower roofline and larger wheels certainly help, but details like the neatly curved head and taillights also contribute to the clean profile. The new Prius feels as if it was inspired by the conceptual high design era of the 1980s and 1990s, a pre-SUV era of streamlining and high-tech interiors.

The latter also marks a step change for the new Prius. Whereas older models had a very centrally biased dashboard with a distant information panel just beneath the windscreen, Prius gen five is more driver-focused. You sit behind a small-diameter, low-set steering wheel, similar to what you’d find in a contemporary Peugeot, with a high-level driver display supplementing the main info screen. Beneath this you'll find a scattering of handy buttons for all HVAC functions, with drive functions located behind the notchy little gear selector.

As before, the Prius is a plug-in hybrid, with no EV version available. That matters not a jot because not only do you get an easy 40 miles or more of EV-only use, but the synchronicity between the modest 2.0 litre engine and the 13.6 kWh battery is seamless and economy outstanding. One minor quibble is that the engine sound a little harsh, especially when it intrudes on a previously all-electric stint of driving. However, benefits like the charge function that diverts engine power into the battery to top it up trump this very minor annoyance.

Someone at Toyota has also seen fit to up the Prius’ power output. Add the 148hp of ICE to the electric motor and the car creates the equivalent of 223hp, over 100hp more than the car it replaced. This is noticeable everywhere, from around town, to the motorway and on country roads, with much more acceleration available and a relaxed high-speed cruise. The skinny tyres of the third- and fourth-gen cars didn't exactly make for predictable, secure cornering, hence perhaps the lack of power. In the new car, the inclusion of a Sport mode actually makes sense for the first time.

These cars are as tough as old boots despite their complexity. You can regularly find examples being offloaded by Uber drivers with 2, 3 or 400,000 miles on the clock, in perfect running order. The new Prius is well equipped, fun to drive, but erring on the expensive side. However, rest assured that you’re no longer paying for novelty, but for nearly three decades of investment in technology. The Prius is the polar opposite of ‘buy cheap, buy twice’. With such starship-like mileages so attainable, it could be the only four-wheeled investment you ever need to make.

Prius, Design model from £37,315, Excel model from £39,995, Toyota.co.uk