The verdict: Toyota is going after a new, younger buyer with its quicker, more stylish, sexier Prius, which is redesigned for 2023, but some curiously missing features, a cramped interior and cheap materials might make that challenging.
Versus the competition: The new Prius’ fuel economy is near the top of the class, but others have surpassed it in interior quality, technology, comfort, cargo room and value, meaning the Prius might have to rely on its newfound good looks and brand loyalty to grab some attention.
Time marches relentlessly on in the automotive world as much as anywhere else, and the Toyota Prius’ once-vaunted position as the absolute must-have ride for anyone wanting to appear eco-conscious and environmentally friendly has been wiped out by the arrival of competitor hybrids and especially all-electric vehicles.
Related: Redesigned 2023 Toyota Prius Ramps Up Efficiency, Safety Tech
Remember in 2003 when a bunch of celebrities eschewed arriving to the Academy Awards in limousines and showed up in Toyota Priuses instead? From that moment on, the Prius’ place in the American zeitgeist as the thing you drove when you wanted to show just how green you were was sealed — that is, until Tesla showed up with a fully electric car unlike any before it. Suddenly, using any gasoline at all became a bit less appealing.
That didn’t stop Toyota from selling more than 20 million Priuses globally since its introduction, but today it’s a different story, with other automakers offering hybrids that get gas mileage as good as a Prius. Many of them feature much nicer interiors, more room, better technology and, until now, a good deal more style. There are also a bunch of electric cars that challenge the Prius’ status as the top choice for the eco-friendly set; people who might otherwise have bought one are now choosing EVs like the Tesla Model 3 or Model Y, the Hyundai Ioniq 5 or Kona EV, or any number of other new EVs that make the frumpy prior-generation Prius look dated and old hat. Toyota even has EVs of its own, the first being the bZ4X that’s now on the showroom floor, and more models are on the way. It has other hybrids, too, that feature more room, comfort and style than the Prius, like the new 2023 Corolla Cross Hybrid SUV.
So what is Toyota to do with the Prius? Well, judging by the absolutely stunning-looking car before you, Toyota’s strategy is now going to be to aim the Prius at someone new: a younger, more stylish buyer who might be interested in the Prius as much for its newfound swagger as its impressive gas mileage numbers. It’s Toyota’s way of reminding us that hybrids are still around, still important and still play a big role in the company’s plans. But will this sexy new Prius (a phrase that until now was an unthinkable oxymoron) be enough to recapture its vaunted eco-leader status? Or is that not even the goal anymore?
To find out, I drove the new 2023 Prius at a media event in southern California (Cars.com pays for its own airfare and lodging when attending such manufacturer-sponsored events).
It’s a Sexy Prius … Crazy, Right?
No, your eyes are not deceiving you. This is, right here, the world’s first-ever sexy Toyota Prius. The 2023 model ditches the bizarre science project aesthetic of every single past Prius since its introduction to the world in 1997 and replaces it with a decidedly swoopy, dramatically rakish, absolutely knockout look that turns heads in ways that no Prius has done before. And it turns them in a good way, in a “Wow, that looks fantastic” way and not an “Oh God, why did they do that?” kind of way.
2023 Toyota Prius | Cars.com photo by Aaron Bragman
How’d Toyota do this? The most notable change is where the roof peaks: That apex point has been moved rearward several inches. There’s now a long wedge shape from the nose up the steeply raked windshield to a summit aft of the front row. Combine that with a much cleaner, much more futuristic-looking rear end that’s immediately recognizable as influenced by the brand’s flagship 2023 Crown sedan, and suddenly the Prius goes from being an unlovable lump to one of the most stylish vehicles Toyota has ever produced. It almost looks like it’s from a different company entirely.
High Style Always Has a Price
Alas, you knew that something had to give in order to achieve a look this radically new, and the things that have been sacrificed are interior room and outward visibility. Headroom, in particular, has been cut; it’s difficult to actually get in and out of the Prius due to that super-low windshield and the car’s lower roofline, and the backseat is impossible for anyone over 5-foot-10. My overstuffed 5-foot-11 frame saw my neck bent sideways and head hard up into the headliner. You can’t really even fault the optional panoramic glass roof on my test vehicle, as there’s no opening mechanism that eats into headroom; there just isn’t nearly as much headroom as there was before — and there wasn’t all that much before.
Cargo room is also considerably down from the prior-generation Prius — around 7 cubic feet by Toyota’s own measurements, with 20.3 cubic feet of space behind the backseat. People who drive Priuses for ride-hailing or use them as taxis are going to find some mighty cranky customers with this new version; it might be time for a Corolla Cross Hybrid instead.
Front-seat headroom is acceptable; aside from whacking your head whenever you get into the car, once you’re seated, it’s decently comfortable. However, visibility out the super-sloped windshield is a bit of a challenge thanks to the long dash top and thick roof pillars. The rear hatch has also been changed — no more split-window design to break up the view behind you, but the resulting single-glass opening is small and doesn’t afford a lot of visibility. On the top-spec Limited trim level, an optional rearview camera mirror makes that a moot point, to good effect.
The Interior Doesn’t Deliver What the Sheet Metal Promises
As amazing as the outside looks, that beauty actually stops at the sheet metal. The interior is much more conventional than prior Priuses, with a gauge cluster now located in front of the driver rather than the center of the dash, but it’s done in the style of the all-electric bZ4X; it’s mounted high on the dash while the steering wheel is mounted low. You’re supposed to look over the steering wheel to see the gauges, and for most people, it works just fine. The gauges also stand in for a true head-up display.
The dashboard gets a choice of two displays: an 8-inch touchscreen for LE and XLE trims, or a 12.3-inch touchscreen for the top Limited trim (optional on the XLE). Both of them run the new Toyota Audio Multimedia system, which works well enough but still has more screen real estate than it seems to know what to do with. It’s an overly simple system that doesn’t allow multiple items on the screen at the same time or have any kind of “home” screen, but it’s still decent and relatively easy to use.
The issue with the interior is the materials quality. It isn’t exactly bad, but it no longer feels competitive with models like the latest Kia Niro hybrid. There are very little soft-touch materials inside (none in the second row), and it all has a grain and texture that looks bargain-basement. It’s no worse than the last Prius, but it’s no better than the last Prius, either, and that’s an issue when the competition is obviously spending money on richer environments with better tech, displays and controls. The steering wheel, for example, is simply ugly to look at and an odd shape to boot. The seats are either fabric-covered on the base model or SofTex imitation leather on higher trims.
There’s also an odd mix of features. For instance, the top Limited trim level has heated and ventilated front seats — but the passenger seat doesn’t offer any power adjustments. There was only single-zone automatic climate control on my test cars, just like the 2022 model, in an age when almost anything with automatic climate control now offers at least two zones for occupant comfort. There’s an available panoramic glass roof, but it doesn’t open.
2023 Toyota Prius | Cars.com photo by Aaron Bragman
