2010 Toyota Prius Review and Pricing

By Chuck Giametta

Table of Contents
2010 Toyota Prius Review and Pricing
2011 Toyota Prius Review and Pricing
2010 Toyota Buying Guide
2009 Toyota Prius Quote

2010 TOYOTA PRIUS: PRO and CON

Pros:

• The best fuel economy of any mass-produced passenger vehicle

• Futuristic inside and out; “Plasmacluster ionizer,” anyone?

• Passenger and cargo room
• Reliability and resale value

Cons:

• Video-game steering feel

• Hard to read instrumentation

• Nose-heavy handling

2010 TOYOTA PRIUS BUYING ADVICE

• The 2010 Toyota Prius is the best car for you if you’re willing to spend on technology to save on gasoline. A fair trade-off? You decide, but Prius also minimizes exhaust emissions -- and lets you express your environmental self.

• The 2010 Prius is the all-new, third-generation version of the world’s best-selling and most recognizable hybrid vehicle. The 2010 Prius is virtually the same size as the 2004-2009-generation Prius, and styling is an evolution of the same aerodynamic four-door-hatchback theme. But the 2010 Prius has more power and more features, including a solar-powered ventilation system. And fuel economy is better, at 50 mpg in combined city-highway driving compared to 46 for the previous model.    

• Prices for the most-popular 2010 Toyota Prius models begin at $22,750, including destination fee. That’s actually $1,345 less than the suggested retail price of a comparably equipped 2009 Prius. And without a doubt, the 2010 Prius advances the hybrid game. So the 2010 pricing is a pleasant surprise -- one for which Prius fans can thank Honda. Early industry speculation put the 2010 Prius starting price at $24,000 or more. But Toyota acknowledged it would be launching the new Prius in the shadow of the hot new 2010 Honda Insight hybrid, which grabbed headlines with a starting price of $20,470. The Insight lists for $21,970 when equipped similarly to the $22,750 Prius. But the Toyota is a larger, more powerful hybrid with better fuel economy. The aggressive pricing of the 2010 Prius shows the world’s largest automaker isn’t about to be ambushed by this new rival for hybrid love.

2010 TOYOTA PRIUS CHANGES

• Styling: The swept-back lines of the 2004 Prius established a template for the successful hybrid car. Toyota doesn’t stray far from that general shape for the 2010 Prius, but the new car does look sleeker and a bit more masculine. Subtle reshaping of the roof adds some rear head room to go along with a bit more rear-seat leg room. The interior of the 2010 Prius is all new and features shapes that compliment the fresh exterior styling. All gauges are again digital and are placed centrally atop the instrument panel rather than directly before the driver. The gearshift relocates from the dashboard to a more conventional spot on a new center console. Under federal standards that measure the combined cubic footage of the passenger compartment and cargo area, the 2010 Toyota Prius, like its predecessor, is classified as a midsize car.  

• Mechanical: The 2010 Prius retains the basic combination of a four-cylinder gasoline engine in harness with two small electric motors. The motors are powered by nickel-metal hydride batteries and the system taps the engine and regenerative braking to recharge itself. Toyota says the hybrid system in the 2010 Prius is 90-percent new and 20 percent lighter. Combined output increases to 134 horsepower, up from 110, thanks to improved electrics and an increase in engine displacement, to 1.8 liters from 1.5. A continuously variable automatic returns as the sole transmission; a CVT features infinite ratios rather than preset gearing. Toyota’s Hybrid Synergy Drive System enables Prius to drive at around-town speeds on electric power alone and determines when engine power or a combination of gas and electric propulsion most efficiently balances acceleration and economy. It also automatically starts and stops the engine in low-demand conditions. For 2010, Toyota gives the driver three dashboard buttons that select alternative driving modes. EV-Drive mode locks in battery power alone at low speeds for about a mile, conditions permitting. Power mode increases sensitivity to throttle input for a sportier feel. And Eco mode optimizes the system for best mileage. Prius retains a torsion-beam rear axle, but now has four-wheel disc brakes instead of a front-disc/rear-drum setup. Fifteen-inch alloy wheels are again standard, but the upsize choice grows to 17-inchers from 16s.

• Features: Newly available options for the 2010 Prius include the Solar Roof Package, which combines car’s first sunroof (a power sliding glass moonroof) with roof-mounted solar panels. The panels collect enough power to run an air-circulation fan whose purpose is to keep the interior temperature from exceeding the outside temperature while the car is parked. That saves energy because the air conditioner won’t need to work so hard on initial start-up. The air conditioner is itself a new, electrically powered unit that can be activated remotely – without running the engine – to cool the car before you get in.

• Another first-time Prius option is the Advance Technology Package that consists of four new hi-tech features: 1) Dynamic Cruise Control that uses radar to maintain a set distance from traffic ahead; 2) Intelligent Park Assist that automatically backs the 2010 Prius into a parallel parking space; 3) Lane Keep Assist that senses unintended lane changes and steers the car gently back on course; and 4) the Pre-Collision System, which senses an impending crash and cinches the seatbelts and pre-applies the brakes. The Navigation Package option for the 2010 Prius includes voice recognition and a rearview camera, in-dash CD changer, and Bluetooth phone and audio connectivity. Push-button start and a 60/40 split rear seat remain standard. The steering wheel now telescopes in addition to tilting.    

2010 TOYOTA PRIUS PRICES

• The 2010 Toyota Prius comes with five main equipment groupings that form “models” labeled Prius I through Prius V. The price range is $21,750-$28,020, and a fully optioned 2010 Prius V lists for $32,520. (Prices discussed here include Toyota’s mandated $750 delivery fee). By comparison, the 2009 Prius started at $22,720, and sticker on a fully equipped top-line 2009 model could nudge $30,000. Note, too, that the 2010 Toyota Camry Hybrid, also a midsize car, starts at $26,970. Toyota admits taking into account headlines generated by the 2010 Honda Insight as it finalized 2010 Prius pricing.

• The 2010 Toyota Prius I is essentially a stripped model aimed in great measure at stealing some of those headlines away from the Insight. Priced at $21,750, it’s shorn of such features as the EV Mode, cruise control, steering-wheel control of the multi-information display, and rear wiper. It’ll account for a small portion of Prius volume, and its introduction was scheduled for several months after the other models.

• The 2010 Toyota Prius II and Prius III will represent about 55 percent of 2010 Prius sales. The Prius II is priced from $22,750 and restores the amenities sacrificed by the Prius I. It comes with an auxiliary audio jack, but is not available with any options. The 2010 Toyota Prius III is priced at $23,750 and is available with both the navigation system and Solar Roof Package. It builds on Prius II standard equipment with a JBL audio system and Bluetooth cell-phone connectivity.

• The 2010 Toyota Prius IV is priced at $26,500. It’s eligible for the same options as the Prius III while extending its standard equipment list to include leather upholstery, heated front seats with adjustable driver lumbar, and an automatic dimming inside rearview mirror that contains HomeLink remote control for garage doors. It also adds an automatic climate control system that features the “Plasmcluster ionizer.” This operates when the air conditioner is on to produce positive and negative ions through high voltage discharge across water and oxygen molecules in the air. Toyota says it generates “ion clusters” that reduce airborne germs, mold, and odors.     

• The top of the line is the 2010 Toyota Prius V, priced at $28,020. It expands on Prius V standard equipment with 17-inch alloy wheels and self-leveling headlamps that employ Light Emitting Diode (LED) illumination. The Prius V is the only 2010 Prius model that can be ordered with the Advanced Technology Package.

• There are just three options for the 2010 Toyota Prius. The Navigation Package costs $1,800 and contains the DVD navigation system, JBL audio, Bluetooth phone connectivity with wireless music streaming, and the rearview camera. The Solar Roof Package is priced at $3,600 and includes the Navigation Package, plus the power tilt/slide moonroof with solar-powered ventilation and remote air conditioning activation. The Advanced Technology Package costs $4,500 and includes the Navigation Package plus the radar cruise, pre-collision, Lane Keep Assist, and parking assist systems.

• Note that Toyota will not allow a buyer to order a 2010 Prius equipped with both the Solar Roof and the Advanced Technology packages. Toyota says the combined weight of the two packages edges the 2010 Prius into another EPA fuel-economy class. It says certification within that class would prevent the car from meeting its gas-mileage goals.        

2010 TOYOTA PRIUS TEST DRIVE

From behind the wheel:

• The 2010 Toyota Prius drives in some ways like a tiny minivan. It has a vaguely nose-heavy character, and at highway speeds, seems to hunt its way along rather than arrow ahead. In turns taken at anything above suburban-driving speeds, the Prius feels as if it’s drifting and scrubbing rather than carving a smooth arc. Handling is admittedly sharper with the 17-inch tires, though the electric steering never fully sheds its disconcerting sense of remote-control. The 2010 Prius reacts a fraction late and a little inaccurately to turns of the wheel. And much of what’s taking place between the road and the low-rolling-resistance front tires is kept a secret. This is not the formula for rewarding driver-car interaction.      

• Relations are better between you and the gas…er … electric-motor … er ... Hybrid Synergy Drive pedal. If accessory demand is modest and battery charge sufficient, the Prius idles with the gas engine off and moves silently away from a stop. Summon more power and the four-cylinder ignites with only the slightest shudder. You must listen intently for its hum or tune your buns to its gentle thrum to determine when the gas engine is running.

• Press the dash button marked “Power” and the 2010 Prius ambles off the line, then quickly picks up the pace. In this mode, Toyota pegs the 2010 Prius at 9.8 seconds 0-60 mph, one second quicker than the 2009 model. The 2010 Prius can be downright swift in highway-speed passing or merging situations. That’s the system automatically brings both gas and electric propulsion into play and exploits the CVT’s ability to deliver power without the need for a downshift.

• In Eco mode, acceleration is languid, the system purposely neutering throttle response to save fuel. EV-Drive mode turns the 2010 Prius into a big, slow golf cart, though it doesn’t seem to keep the car on electric power any longer than a sensitive throttle-foot can. The brake pedal is easily modulated and there’s no bogging sensation as the hybrid system captures the kinetic energy of stopping -- called regenerative braking -- to recharge the battery.

• As for the whiz-bang features, score one “for” and a couple of “maybes.” In the presence of clearly delineated stripes on the road, Lane Keep Assist works as advertised, beeping its warning if the Prius drifts, then actually steering the car back on course with the firm hand of a good Driver’s Ed teacher. Toyota says the Pre-Collision system won’t actually bring the Prius to a halt before a crash, but its ability to slow the car and prepare seatbelts and headrests for impact strikes us as a plus for safety. Intelligent Park Assist earns a “maybe.” It takes over steering to back the Prius into a parallel parking space while the driver controls speed with the brake pedal. It’s a neat trick, and not difficult to program. But it doesn’t substitute for a practiced driver’s ability to quickly adjust for parking-space size, street congestion, and other variables.     

• Back to the minivan analogy: with Prius’s laid-back front roof pillars, steeply raked windshield, and long dashtop, you feel a little like you’re steering from the middle of the car. There are no real blind spots -- small front quarter windows provide relief at the lower corners of the windshield -- but visibility isn’t a strong suit. That’s most evident to the rear. The nearly horizontal hatch window introduced some distortion on the preproduction Prius models we tested. And the bar separating the hatch from the vertical pane of glass below might bother some drivers.  

Dashboard and controls:

• The clean lines and precision sweep of Prius’s cabin announce that you’re not in Kansas anymore. The interior is ultramodern, yet calm and warm. Peer through the great-to-hold, thick-rimmed steering wheel and you’ll not see gauges but a grained dashtop surface. For instrumentation, elevate your eyes and guide them over to a cove atop the center of the dash. There you’ll find the digital speedometer bracketed by small bar graphs that display fuel level and real-time fuel economy. Further right is what Toyota calls the Multi-Informational Display. Bring it to life by thumbing the rubber bubbles on the steering-wheel spokes, a new technology Toyota calls Touch Tracer. You can summon a series of screens to relay a variety of information. For example, one depicts how the hybrid system is routing power. Another logs fuel-economy in increments of minutes or miles. Another displays a sliding-bar graphic that coaches fuel-efficient driving.

• Yes, there’s data aplenty, but it’s not presented as clearly as it might be. The information screen’s soft-blue graphics don’t pop as they should. Only the speedometer digits are comfortably large enough for baby-boomer peepers. Worse, the l Multi-Informational Display layout is busy, and the information being conveyed can be difficult to distinguish while driving. Maybe more use of contrasting colors would help; except for the nicely rendered Touch Tracer indicators, the only relief from the soft-blue is a glimpse of pale orange showing engine-power flow – and that’s hard to make out through polarized sunglasses. And on a car so obsessed with fuel economy, why isn’t there a simple, large readout showing miles per gallon in real time? Overall, interpreting the Multi-Informational Display is less like reading an automotive instrument and more like studying an actuarial table.   

• More coherent is the arrangement of buttons and controls. Most are on a console that cascades from the center of the dashboard to the armrest between the front seats. Their similar shape and size demands some study, but the logic of their groupings soon becomes obvious. The console itself is a buttress flying over a carpeted bin. The bin is perfect for stowing a purse, though the seat-heater buttons are inexplicably hidden down there, too. Atop the console and within a hand-span of the steering wheel is Prius’s stubby gearshift. This is an artful centerpiece, shaped like the head of a fairway wood and decorated with sashes of metallic silver and translucent blue. The shifter is in fact a joystick that returns to position after it’s been moved. That means you need to rely not on its position but on the dashboard display to know whether you’re in Drive, Neutral, or Reverse. Park, by the way, is accessed via a separate console button -- the CVT lacks such a “gear.” Toyota’s navigation system is big and clear, and its voice-recognition software possesses one of the best ears in the business, responding nicely to spoken commands to dial phone numbers or program addresses. It can even search for restaurants and stores by brand name.

Room, comfort, and utility:

• A roofline far taller than that of a conventional midsize car means easy-in, easy-out. Seating in the 2010 Toyota Prius is chair-like and suitable for the broad of beam, though three adults in back is a cozy proposition on a long drive. The front buckets have fine lateral bolstering, but to get much lumbar support you’ll need to pony up for the leather upholstery, which includes adjustable lower-back cushioning. Head room is generous, and rear seaters get plenty of knee and toe space.

• The 2010 Prius traverses bumps and ripples with controlled absorbency; even with the 17-inch tires, there’s no pounding or jostling over tar strips or potholes. Wind and road noise is well-muffled. In-cabin storage is handled by a roomy double-tier glove box and a deep center console bin. But only the front doors have map pockets, and they’re little more than auxiliary cup holders. Luggage space behind the front seatbacks is decent, and a handy bin hides below the cargo floor. The rear seatbacks fold easily to form a flat, carpeted surface. Prius’s hatch has a generous opening, but the load floor itself is rather high, so cargo volume falls short of that in most like-sized hatchbacks.    

2010 TOYOTA PRIUS FUEL ECONOMY

• EPA fuel-economy estimates rate the 2010 Toyota Prius at 51 mpg city/48 highway. The higher city number reflects the strength of Toyota’s hybrid system, which is most efficient in low-speed, city driving, where it can shut off the gas engine and run exclusively on electric power.

• To highlight this strength, Toyota put journalists in 2010 Priuses and sent them on a 42-mile route through suburban Orlando, Fla. Employing EV and Eco modes as much as possible, and never exceeding the modest speed limits, my driving partner and I achieved 61.2 mpg at an average speed of 27 mph. Other journalists topped 70 mpg, mostly by crawling away from stops and driving well below posted speed limits. Over a separate, 80-mile loop that including some freeway travel, we accelerated aggressively and cruised at 70 mph. Our average on that route was 51.5 mpg, according to the test car’s Multi-Informational Display.

• The Prius uses 87-octane gas. For 2010, the fuel tank is a conventional plastic box. The previous-generation Prius used a flexible bladder, which sometimes resisted being filled all the way because it contracted and expanded with the temperature.

2010 TOYOTA PRIUS SAFETY AND RELIABILITY

• Government crash tests award a maximum five stars for occupant protection.  Results for the 2010 Toyota Prius were not available in time for this report, but there’s room to improve on the 2009 Prius, which earned four of five stars for driver and passenger protection in a frontal impact. Most midsize cars earn five stars in these tests. In side-impact testing, the 2009 Prius earned five stars for driver and passenger protection. While the 2010 Prius comes standard with head-protecting curtain side airbags and four-wheel antilock disc brakes, it does not offer antiskid control.

• Toyota is ranked among the top five brands in overall quality by J.D. Power and Associates, the leading automotive consumer-survey firm. The 2010 Toyota Prius hasn’t been on the market long enough to establish a record of reliability. However, the 2009 Toyota Prius ranked among the best cars in J.D. Power surveys of initial quality and predicted reliability. In addition to Toyota’s standard 3-year/36,000-mile bumper-to-bumper warranty and 5/60,000 gas-engine warranty, the 2010 Prius carries an 8-year/100,000-mile warranty on hybrid-related components. (Hybrid-component coverage is 15/150,000 for Priuses sold in California, Maine, New York, New Jersey, Vermont, Connecticut, New Mexico, and Rhode Island.)

2010 TOYOTA PRIUS RELEASE DATE

• The 2010 Toyota Prius goes on sale in late spring 2009.

WHAT’S NEXT FOR THE TOYOTA PRIUS

• You can stream audio via Bluetooth in the 2010 Priuses equipped with the Navigation Package. But USB connectivity for iPods and other digital music devices is conspicuously absent. Toyota says it plans to add USB wiring to the Prius as a running change and hopes to make it available during the 2010 model year.

• Toyota remains committed to offering a hybrid version of each vehicle in its lineup by 2020. The next step for the already-hybrid Prius would be plug-in technology, perhaps during calendar-2010. That would extend its range on electricity alone, thereby saving even more gas. Plug-in would be via residential-type outlets in the home, and proponents envision recharging stations also available at workplaces, even public parking areas. A full charge could take five hours or more. Plug-in hybrid technology hinges in large degree on perfecting the use of advanced lithium-ion batteries (as in laptops and cell phones) for automotive use. These would replace today’s nickel-metal hydride batteries, which don’t lend themselves to the type of recharging required by a plug-in hybrid. Toyota is testing 150 plug-in versions of the second-generation Prius on U.S. roads.

2010 TOYOTA PRIUS COMPETITION

• 2010 Honda Insight: The Insight is a smaller car than the Prius, but one that looks a lot like it and opens a new frontier of hybrid affordability. It has a sub-$21,000 starting price, 40/43 mpg fuel economy, and a Honda focus on driving fun. Insight is an all-new, purposed-built hybrid with a Prius-like profile. But it’s a smaller car than the Prius, with tight rear seat room and just 98 horsepower. Prius, by comparison, has the interior space of a midsize car.

• 2010 Honda Civic Hybrid: It looks much like any other Civic sedan, but it’s a true hybrid, with ratings of 40/45 mpg. Starting price is just over $24,000, including destination fees, but slow sales mean discounts are available. This 110-horsepower hybrid is an environmentally friendly little sedan based on one of the best-designed compact cars on the market.  

• 2010 Toyota Camry Hybrid: Get the interior volume of a Prius in a familiar sedan body style. This is a true five-passenger midsize car with an advanced hybrid powertrain and a starting price of $26,870. The hybrid version looks little different from other Camrys, but its 187-horsepower gas-electric system moves the car along nicely and returns attractive 33/34-mpg ratings.