Photographs by Ashley Baxter

The new Prius instantly drowns you with its gargantuan amount of technology. How, for example, does the Power Control Unit manage to synchronise the 1.8 petrol engine, electric motor, batteries and the regenerative brakes all in perfect harmony? In the new Prius, it’s all so seamless that you miss all the switching if you are not paying attention.

STYLE FILE

The new Prius takes a step back from the more radical-looking Priuses that came before it. Blame this on the march of modern car design or the watering down of the Prius’s ‘must-stand-out’ philosophy. But look at it from the front and you can tell it’s going to be slippery through the air. It’s the way the windscreen drops away flat from the nose and the sides of the car have been extended back and then sharply turned so as to only drop the airflow after the tail-lights. Predictably, then, the coefficient of drag is 0.25, one of the best.

INSIDE STORY

On the inside, things get a bit more revolutionary and some of it is down to the high-tech effect Toyota wants to create. The lack of a conventional instrument panel, the pinched centre vents and the almost elbow rest-like high central console are all very different.

The BMW-like ‘push to select’ gear lever is given a technical effect and the steering wheel gets feather-touch buttons. Toggling through the display menu on the screen, with its three-dimension layering is very impressive too. And the energy monitor keeps you abreast of what the car is up to under the hood.

The front seats are comfortable, and even the plastics used give a pretty futuristic feel. Despite the batteries placed behind the rear seat, there is plenty of luggage space.

Entry is keyless. So key fob still in your pocket, you hit the power button, just as you’d on your TV or PC. The dash display boots up instantly, the systems come on line and you get a ‘Ready’ sign on the display. Select ‘D’ with the gear lever and you’re ready to go. Operation initially is only electric, unless you get aggressive with the right pedal or reach 50kph. So a lot of the start-stop in city traffic is dispatched without the petrol motor starting at all. This truly translates into great levels of productivity as electric motors have efficiency levels of 80 per cent versus 30 or 40 for petrol engines.

DRIVER’S DEAL

The electric-motor-only-take-off from rest feels instantaneous and the Prius continues to glide in almost eerie silence. There is a decent amount of torque (equivalent of 80bhp or 60kW) coming from the electric motor, which is more than sufficient for city traffic.

On the flip side, this depletes the battery quite fast. On the Prius you can select EV (Electric Vehicle) mode, Eco mode or Power mode manually, and the software will help you drive in the desired style. But it’s best to let the car do the math and Eco mode is the sensible way to go.

Ask for more acceleration and you can just about feel the petrol motor start up. There’s no traditional starter and the 1.8-litre petrol motor is ‘spun’ smoothly to provide additional power. Performance is much stronger as you have the 136bhp from the 1.8 motor, plus the electric assist. I carried out a quick acceleration test and the Prius, in performance mode, did the 0-100kph in 10.9 seconds — which shows that green need not mean boring.

Brake pedal feel is far from perfect though. There’s a mushy and disconcerting feel, especially when you switch from light regenerative braking to more urgent braking. Still the brake test I conducted showed how well the car came to an emergency stop. It took 29 metres from 80kph, which is impressive.

Ride quality on the Prius, which is shod with high-pressure tyres, is stiff. But the car otherwise feels surprisingly normal to drive. You can extract some driving pleasure from behind the wheel and it’s comfortable and practical as well. It even gave astonishing 15.1kpl in the city and has a CO2 output even lower than cars like the Maruti A-star!

FINAL VERDICT

At Rs 33.73 lakh, the Prius has to be an emotional buy or an environment friendly proclamation of sorts or something to make a stylish statement with. And despite its slightly hefty price tag and mildly uncomfortable drive experience, there’ll be more than a few lining up for this sleek Toyota on wheels.

Toyota in recall mode

Toyota has made a series of recalls of its models across the world, totalling over 8.5 million vehicles. The problems range from sticky accelerator pedals and floormat problems on its Camry and Corolla models to issues with the braking-system software on its latest Prius hybrid and defective drive shafts on its Tacoma pick-up truck (sold in the US). The recalls have dented the Japanese carmaker’s legendary reputation for quality and reliability and resulted in a drop in the resale value of its cars. Toyota president Akio Toyoda has apologised for the recalls and pledged to set up a quality-control committee.

However, the Indian market has not been affected by these recalls and the new Prius will be “entirely free of any defects and will undergo rigorous

testing to ensure the highest quality standards”, according to Toyota India. Globally, the third-generation Prius has problems with its brakes, which momentarily fail when the vehicle is driven on bumpy roads. The problem, which was fixed on cars made from January this year, requires a modification to the braking-system software on the car.

spec check

Toyota Prius

Price: Rs 33.73 lakh (on-road, Mumbai)

L/W/H: 4460/1745/1510mm

Wheelbase: 2700mm

Turning circle: 10.4m

Kerb weight: 1390-1395kg

Engine: 4 cyls in-line 1798cc, DOHC petrol/ front, transverse

Power: 136bhp at 5200rpm

Torque: 14.48kgm at 4000rpm

Gearbox: CVT

Fuel tank: 45 litres

Brakes (F/R): Ventilated discs/ solid discs

Tyre size (F/R): 195/65 R15