Category: Small Family 
Price Range: £18,370 to £22,130
Improved drive, low emissions, real-world improvement in fuel consumption, clear head-up display.
Intrusive road and wind noise, limited rear headroom, expensive.
Vastly improved Prius is finally a credible rival to any diesel hatch and the best hybrid money can buy.
Doubters thought the Prius's complexity would be its undoing and unreliability would be the result.
However, the Prius naysayers were silenced, and it delivered largely trouble-free motoring and that was reflected in customer satisfaction surveys.
The most recent JD Power survey was no exception and the Prius was found to be the second most satisfying car to own, pipped by the substantially more expensive Lexus RX 4x4. Owners praised the Prius's reliability, low running costs and impeccable build.
Interestingly, the firm is persevering with the previous car's nickel metal hydride and as far as ownership goes that's a good thing. Despite having superior performance, lithium-ion cells have been dogged by erratic reliability.
Inside, the new Prius is unashamedly different to almost everything else in the small family class. First off, it shuns 'soft-touch' materials for hard textured plastic but it still has a feeling of quality.
Even the hard-topped doors look classy and if you factor in the clean, space-age design you do get the impression no expense has been spared in the cabin.
Latest Readers' Drives About the Toyota Prius
wrote on 01 02 2007
wrote on 11 10 2006
wrote on 01 10 2006
wrote on 09 06 2006