MSRP: From $24,525
Today we’re driving the 2021 toyota prius and to celebrate 20 years of the prius being in the united states toyota has come out with a 2020 edition because that’s the year we all want to remember but it’s been 20 years and this 21 model year prius comes out with a special edition that has a few extras uh let’s walk you around show you around this new prius and
Um take it for a drive i’ve always liked the prius i like driving purpose-built vehicles and this is definitely a purpose-built built vehicle 52 miles to the gallon combined this 2020 edition is based on the front wheel drive xle prius so pretty much the same options features just has some fancy paint some blacked out stuff and these nice 17 inch wheels it comes
In around 30 000 for the 2020 edition we get blacked out headlights these black 17 inch alloy wheels black hybrid badging mirror caps and a color matched deck lid spoiler all subtle changes to this prius they did update the styling about a year ago and they added the all-wheel drive version still kind of a controversial looking car but again it does what it needs
To do very well it’s very practical it’s very fuel efficient incredibly reliable some of the most reliable cars on the road in the last 20 years and look at all the space in the back you’ve got so much room for activities to put things these rear seats fold down very easily giving you a lot of space in this hatchback design underneath here you’ve got a very cool
Storage solution for your deck lid cover and there’s a spare tire hidden somewhere under there too this is powered by the 1.8 liter four-cylinder engine from toyota very smooth very quiet it makes 121 horsepower combined with the hybrid system not super fast but i think probably quick enough for most people’s needs we’ve got a very spacious back seat a couple
Of 2.1 amp usb type a ports and just a nice seating arrangement back here very very spacious very comfortable and of course the signature toyota prius dashboard up front kind of funky looking but it always has been very functional lots of user friendly buttons and controls no weirdness here with regards to that nothing’s hidden in the touchscreen which i like
The last prius we drove was the all-wheel drive one out in utah the toyota event last year and uh that was a pretty good option a little bit heavier than this one but this front-wheel drive prius i think gets the job done unfortunately the prius isn’t selling as well as it used to toyota has so many hybrid offerings in their lineup that we’re all kind of stemmed
And inspired by this original prius a lot of similar powertrains and hybrid systems are being put into the rav4 the camry the avalon the venza etc etc this 1.8 liter 4-cylinder takes 0w16 oil super thin a great hybrid powertrain like i said earlier very reliable nice lightweight hood too not much to talk about up front we’ve got physical controls for just about
Everything all very well laid out i love this cruise control stock heated steering wheel lane keep assist distance control for uh adaptive cruise here’s your gear selector takes a little bit of getting used to if you’ve never used it but once you do use it actually works pretty well you’ve got apple carplay your standard toyota infotainment showing you your fuel
Economy your audio pretty basic pretty straightforward apple carplay android auto compatibility no wireless but you do get wireless charging down there as well as seat heaters a couple of cup holders and a couple more charge ports and other things in there you’ve got this screen up here that shows you all of your fuel economy your speed your trip meter all of
Your headlamp settings what’s turned on what’s turned off it is kind of weird getting used to everything being over slightly to the right but you get used to it pretty much immediately as soon as you start driving this car we have physical controls knobs and buttons for our hvac you have an eco heat and cool mode which seems to do the job for most scenarios and
This is the only thing i don’t like about the prius and it annoys the heck out of me there’s a way to turn it off it’s this the incessant beeping whenever you put it in reverse and then when you approach something it beeps even more it’s too much it’s too much beeping uh supposedly there’s a way you can turn it off with an obd port or uh with a bunch of buttons
Or maybe the dealer can switch it off for you so that is an option not a complete deal breaker because you can disable that but uh just driving me nuts this week because i’m always backing out of my driveway otherwise this thing’s pretty good to drive let’s take it on the road and see what it’s like behind the wheel favorite thing about this car is that you can
Drive it everywhere flat out and still get about 50 miles to the gallon no matter what you do with your right foot um it’s kind of fun in that respect it’s it’s cool to be able to just get great fuel economy no matter how you treat a car and that’s kind of how i’ve been driving this this week you can see on the trip meter with my heavy foot i’ve averaged about
49 miles to the gallon and uh that’s not hypermiling at all if anything that’s trying the opposite of hypermiling so i’ve been having some fun in this thing i’ve been driving it spiritedly and still we’re almost at 50 mpg which is pretty cool if i were hyper modeling would probably be over 52 or 53 mpg um we have nice light steering great ride quality pretty
Good driving dynamics really the only thing that’s lacking here is a lot of power it’s pretty immediate though the ecvt works quite well to give you instant torque and instant power it’s not super fast but the handling is quite good the low center of gravity helps with that it’s nicely balanced it’s lightweight only about 3 000 pounds uh curb weight from this prius
Which is pretty impressive all the new electric cars and hybrids that are out there are getting pretty heavy and this keeps the weight down and it’s fun to drive because of that so i don’t know the first time i ever drove this new generation prius in 2016 was i think it was in california and it was on some just killer back roads and we were bombing through at a
Good rate of speed getting 55 miles to the gallon the whole time and it was fun it was enjoyable on a back road it hustled and ever since then i’ve really enjoyed driving this latest generation of prius now i get it the prius is not cool it never has been never will be but uh i’ve always liked driving them i don’t know if i’d own one but in the current electric
Car hybrid landscape this is still incredible value and really all they’re lacking is some power and ground clearance compared to all the other crossovers and suvs out there and you know it’s still just it’s got the prius nameplate but to drive it’s uh one of the better toyotas i think on the market it feels really solid incredibly well built there’s a level
Of quality here that you only see in a handful of toyotas built in their japan factories it just feels nice it feels really well engineered and like it’s just gonna last forever and it probably will even at wide open throttle the engine doesn’t feel terribly stressed which is good on these 17-inch wheels there is a little bit more nvh and intrusion into the
Cabin from large potholes and bumps especially when accelerating and braking otherwise though i really like this thing it’s fun it’s been good to drive this week um that’s kind of my dirty little secret is i i like a toyota prius and uh yeah until you drive one until you spend some time in one it’s hard to appreciate it but uh yeah you’ve got a couple different
Drive modes they don’t really do much there’s eco mode there’s normal mode there’s power mode which gives you really instant torque and throttle response but they all kind of feel about the same at the end of the day this is a slightly more dated car at this point we have some updated powertrains from toyota we have a little bit more power from the batteries
And the electric motors but this can still hold its own and cruise at a reasonable speed in full ev mode if you’re careful with your right foot applications of the throttle pedal i’ve been cruising 45 50 miles an hour maintaining my speed this week at full ev there’s not quite enough energy from the battery pack to get you up to speed at a reasonable rate in
Ev mode but that’s okay that’s kind of how it’s always been and like i said no matter how you drive this thing you’re going to still get close to 50 miles to the gallon in your prius it’s pretty cool pretty impressive there are a lot of other hybrid options out there from toyota but for some reason the prius has always just felt like one of the best built best
Calibrated and nicest to drive there’s also the corolla hybrid which shares the exact same powertrain as this maybe with a couple differences i haven’t driven that but still this prius has stood the test of time and it continues to impress after all these years behind the wheel so anyway guys i think that’s kind of all i’ve got to say about this prius we can do
A quick sound system test of this base audio system and wrap things up there thank you decent audio system too sounds great and you win every drag race because no one expects that a prius is going to accelerate quickly from a light this week i’ve i’ve beaten challengers a couple mustangs and they had no idea we were racing so so all right guys
Well those are my thoughts on the new prius 20th anniversary edition um the formula still works i think this is still a really solid buy if you want something that’s fuel efficient got incredible fuel range you can easily get four or five hundred miles maybe even more out of a tank of gas in this thing and with a lot of vehicles getting smaller and smaller fuel
Tanks that is really nice to not have to fill up i’ve been driving this all week and i’ve only burned through less than half a tank i’ve probably done about 300 miles in this thing so easily i think you could eke out 600 miles from a tank of gas in a prius and there’s something to be said about that and for the price around or under thirty thousand dollars it’s
Hard to beat in today’s market where so many vehicles are especially with this type of fuel economy are up and above that all right guys thanks for watching that’s our video on the 20th anniversary toyota prius stay tuned for more you can follow me on instagram at thetopher2 i’ll see you guys in the next video you
Transcribed from video
2021 Toyota Prius 20th Anniversary – POV Driving Impressions By TheTopher