Category: Small Family 
Price Range: £18,370 to £22,130
Low emissions, fuel economy, low running costs, eco-friendly image, well-equipped, roomy cabin.
Advanced technology still not that well-proven, complex controls, CVT transmission only.
May be too much of a leap of faith for some as yet, but this is the (not too distant) future of family motoring.
It's a Toyota, and Toyota always gets top scores in reliability and customer satisfaction surveys. The Prius lives up to the brand's reputation in terms of build quality, fit and finish, and should wear well. It has a lot of very complex, state-of-the-art but unknown technology, but the engineers insist that it has been fully tested and should be good for over 400,000km before it even needs a new battery pack. The old Prius hasn't been problematic and Toyota is training more of its technicians to service and maintain hybrid models - every dealership should now be able to deal with them. And if you're still not convinced, in addition to the usual all-in three-year warranty, Toyota is guaranteeing all the hybrid system gubbins for no less than eight years or 100,000 miles.
Since launch there has only been one recall on the Prius which affected cars built between August 2003 and November 2004 where the ECU's software was updated to resolve stalling problems that some customers in the US had experienced. But other than that a good record for what is a very technically complicated car.
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