QOTD: New Prius, Who Dis?

by Tim Healey

Published: November 16th, 2022

I am typing this from 40,000 feet over the middle of nowhere as I travel to L.A. for the auto show. Sometime tonight I will see the next Toyota Prius for the first time, along with hordes of other shrimp-eaters. Until then, however, I can surf my browser over to the Google machine and find information on the Japan-spec Prius, which has already broken cover.

Toyota has teased us already, and now we can see the real thing -- or, at least, the Japanese version. American specs will be different -- I have embargoed materials in my inbox that I have yet to look at it, lest I conflate the two cars and accidentally break embargo -- but we know the Japanese car will have 193 horsepower in series-hybrid guise. The plug-in hybrid version will have 220 ponies.

The gas engine that's part of the hybrid setup will be a 2.0-liter mill, replacing the old 1.8. Astute readers will note that both versions will offer significantly more power than the outgoing model, which has just 121 horses at work.

The stance is lower and the car looks sleeker, though it maintains the general Prius profile. Inside, the dash is one big sweeping unit, with a horizontal infotainment screen in the center and a smaller instrumentation screen ahead of the steering wheel. HVAC controls appear to be in the middle, and the shifter looks similar to what the current car has.

Again, the American-spec car will be different, at least somewhat. Check back at 6:30 PST tonight to see our take on the American version of the fifth-generation Prius.

What do you think, B and B?

[Images: Toyota]

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Tim Healey

Tim Healey grew up around the auto-parts business and has always had a love for cars — his parents joke his first word was “‘Vette”. Despite this, he wanted to pursue a career in sports writing but he ended up falling semi-accidentally into the automotive-journalism industry, first at Consumer Guide Automotive and later at Web2Carz.com. He also worked as an industry analyst at Mintel Group and freelanced for About.com, CarFax, Vehix.com, High Gear Media, Torque News, FutureCar.com, Cars.com, among others, and of course Vertical Scope sites such as AutoGuide.com, Off-Road.com, and HybridCars.com. He’s an urbanite and as such, doesn’t need a daily driver, but if he had one, it would be compact, sporty, and have a manual transmission.

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2 of 31 comments

Jeff S on Nov 16, 2022

Big big improvement in looks over the prior Prius and I am with Lou on this at least its not 50 shades of grey. I like the yellow.

1 Reply
Johnster on Nov 17, 2022

The styling isn't bad, but not as distinctive as the older Prius. It seems like it could just as well be the new Corolla Hybrid.

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