2024 Toyota Prius Prime SE – Review by David Colman +VIDEO

It's the Toyota Hybrid you’ll want to own

David Colman

Photos and story by David Colman
Special Correspondent
THE AUTO CHANNEL

Toyota has been roundly condemned by environmentalists for being slow to market a full line of EVs. Currently, their only offering is the bZ4X. But the criticism is unwarranted because Toyota's hybrid (gas/electric) Prius, introduced in Japan in 1997, and worldwide in 2000, has been helping to save the environment for more than 20 years. The company's reluctance to shift all production to electric vehicles is based on the current sorry state of EV charging facilities, most of which are either inoperative, dilapidated or nonexistent. Rather, Toyota, has staked its current model line future on hybrid vehicles - a game plan which blesses them with a 20-year head start on every other car company. Where most automakers are still sorting out first-generation problems with hybrid drive trains, Toyota has been perfecting the formula through ten different generations of Prius. The hybrid formula has paid off handsomely for the company, which sold more than 11 million vehicles in 2023. That's than six times the number of Teslas sold last year.

Back when the Prius debuted, Toyota stylists thought they needed to differentiate their hybrid from everything else on the road. So they reconstituted not just the mechanical components, but all the driver interfaces as well. As a result, the controls and touchpoints in the cockpit came off as strange, and uninviting. The first time I climbed into a Gen 1 Prius, I thought the interior resembled a latrine. In retrospect, it presaged the current compulsion by the auto industry to make EVs look spacey and esoteric, with bizarre controls and inappropriate white cladding everywhere. On the other hand, Toyota got all that nonsense out of their system long ago. The latest Prius, introduced last year and unchanged this year, is the absolute antithesis of what it was when introduced here 24 years ago. The 2024 version has shucked the questionable gewgaws that defined its predecessors in favor of a sleek exterior shell and a comprehensible and understated interior. To put it another way, Toyota is more than a full design generation ahead of other hybrid manufacturers, and more than two full generations ahead of the EV crowd.

The 2024 SE I tested confirmed my previous enthusiasm for the new model. The SE is the price leader in the model line, with a base price of $34,070. Ours went out the door for $34,434 with just a couple of price bumps for front and rear parking assist ($35), carpet floor mats and cargo mat ($299) door sill protectors ($250) and alloy wheel locks ($80). You would have a hard time finding a new Prius for less money, and our time with this four-door, four-seat hatchback confirmed that there's little reason to pop extra for the $37,320 XSE model or the $40,765 XSE upgrade unless you require keyless entry, a power tailgate, an auto dimming rear view mirror or heated front seats. Note that our SE was equipped with standard steering wheel heater and the same 8.0 inch audio/multimedia touchscreen as the upper-echelon models.

You will, however, want to order those alloy wheel locks because Toyota equips the SE with a stunning set of 17-inch dark gray 5-spoke wheels that set our test Prius apart from anything else on the road. We particularly appreciated their flat-faced, wind-cheating appearance, and fluted surfacing. The rims bore a set of sticky (TW 300) Toyo Extensa A/S radials, with a comparatively tall sidewall height of 195/60R17. Thanks to the pliant rubber compound, the Prius tracked well through turns while offering a pleasant ride quality over bumps and irregular pavement.

When I floored the Prius to complete a passing maneuver, my wife observed "Wow! It's fast!" Indeed, the newest generation hybrid is way quicker than any previous iteration. With a combined gas/electric output of 220hp, the SE posted a 15.1 second quarter mile run at 94mph, and took just 6.5 seconds to accelerate to 60mph from a standing start. You can also operate this plug-in (i.e. Prime) Prius in full electric mode for short hops around town limited to about 40 miles. But be forewarned that doing so will substantially reduce your ability to accelerate. In full electric mode the Prius takes 3 seconds longer to complete the quarter mile, and the 0-60 time almost doubles to 11.7 seconds.

The interior redesign of this 11th generation Prius mercifully foregoes quirky for practical. Front seats, upholstered in nubby black cloth highlighted by red accent stripes, are comfortable and easy to access despite the car's low roofline. You might conk your noggin getting into the back seats, which are designed around children and small stature adults. When the rears are folded, the Prius offers 27 cubic feet of cargo room behind the front seats. With all four seats in use, the Prius still affords 20 cubic feet of storage space. The instrument binnacle is set so far ahead of the driver that I had to elevate my seat several times before I felt comfortable with forward vision. On a rainy cold night, the the aft portion of the steeply sloped front windshield took an inordinate amount of time to defrost. The standard headlights could use an illumination boost. But aside from these negligible issues, the 2024 Prius Prime SE, with its indefatigable 420-mile range, is the Toyota's hybrid you'll want to own.

2024 TOYOTA PRIUS PRIME SE

• ENGINE: 2.0 liter inline-4 DOHC, 16-valve + 2 AC Motors and 10.9-kWh lithium-ion battery pack
• HORSEPOWER: 220hp (Combined)
• FUEL CONSUMPTION: 127MPGe/52MPG Gas Only
• PRICE AS TESTED: $34,434

HYPES: Stunning Looks, Practical Environment Saver

GRIPES: Needs Better Headlights

STAR RATING: 9 Stars out of 10

©2024 David E Colman