Test Drive: 2006 Toyota Prius Hybrid

The biggest change, at least superficially, to the 2006 Toyota Prius seems to the big ol’ hybrid badge they’ve added on the side of the car. As if the silvery-green paint, unique aerodynamic profile, and space-age details weren’t enough.

Now into its second generation as the poster car for environmental responsibility, it’s not as if the Prius isn’t instantly recognizable. Its distinctive shape makes it easy to pick out on the road, and its unofficial status as the cool car for big-bucks but green-thinking Hollywood stars to drive has made it a bit of a star in its own right. Such instant recognizability has led the Prius to impressive sales success in North America, leading the pack for four-door hybrid sales, even though it costs, for instance, thousands of dollars more than the Honda Civic Hybrid (and in some cases, almost as much as the much more powerful Accord Hybrid).

Driving a hybrid car has become about more than just using less fuel and saving the environment. It’s also a bit of a status statement, and the fact that the Prius doesn’t look like other vehicles out there has played to its advantage. And as it’s become a status symbol, Toyota has begun to offer more and more luxury features for its drivers who, often as not, are high-end customers as they are economical types.

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My tester, for instance, was loaded up not only with a fantastic-sounding 6-disc stereo system, but also DVD-based navigation, automatic climate control, and a rear parking camera (something that, until now, was only available on high-end luxury sedans). Its interior has been revised for 2006 with higher-quality materials for the dashboard, and the seats have been redesigned for better comfort. Outside, the grille is now accented with chrome, and some new exterior colour choices lend it a more luxurious look. The price? From a base of less than $32,000, my tester would have reached almost $40,000 with the addition of freight and dealer prep – that’s big bucks for an economical car.

Then again, very few cars on the road are quite as neat to drive as the Prius. It’s not fun to drive in any conventional sort of sense – the handling is secure and stable, but it rolls a lot in corners; it’s not particularly fast; and the major controls have very little feel to them.

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Rather, it’s like driving around in the world’ biggest and best gadget. Thanks to the continuously variable transmission, the engine doesn’t rev up and down like a conventional car; mostly it hums along at a constant speed. When running on electric power alone – which you can do in the city at speeds of up to 40 km/h or so – the experience is totally Jetsons, eerily silent with just a slight whirring sound coming from the electric motor. Braking is accompanied by a distinctive, sort of buzzy sound as the battery is recharged.

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The dashboard is very space-age, with a line of instruments at the base of the windshield and a large touch-screen display that cycles between screens for audio, climate control, navigation, and power consumption. The stereo looks like a high-end home unit, with a tinted plastic panel behind which various indicator lights illuminate. And the ergonomics are at once very clever and refreshingly simple. All of the controls you need, for the radio and heater and nav system, are all located in the centre of the little oval-shaped steering wheel. Watching the dashboard display show the interaction between the battery, electric motor, and gas engine is fascinating to the point of distraction; good thing you can turn the display off (or switch it to a map screen instead).

Thanks to the simplicity – some would say the paucity – of controls and displays, the Prius’ cabin has a very minimalist look and feel, and is kind of Scandinavian in the way it contrasts light-coloured fabrics with dark, textured plastics. The big windows provide a great view out (except at the rear, where the hatch glass is split in two) and bathe the interior in natural light, making it feel roomier than it actually is.

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In fact, it is pretty roomy: even though it has a footprint equivalent to a compact car, it has the interior volume of a midsize one, and the rear seats are upright and comfortable, with plenty of legroom. Thanks to the hatchback design, this hybrid is also more versatile than your average sedan, the rear seats folding in two sections to increase cargo area if you need it.

Given the cold weather conditions during the week I tested the Prius, I wasn’t surprised that I struggled to meet its excellent fuel consumption ratings; in cold weather, the gas engine has to run a lot more than it would in the summer, especially from cold starts as you try to warm the car.

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Then again, 5.5 L/100 km is about as good as I’ve managed in any car over the past year, and still much more economical than most gasoline-powered sedans (though a Volkswagen Jetta with a diesel engine might come close). You quickly learn to adapt your driving style for better economy, surfing on electric power alone as much as you can, and accelerating more gradually in town than you’re used to. On the highway, the Prius pretty much drives like any normal car, save for having to plan a bit farther ahead for passing manoeuvres.

While the Prius doesn’t feel as fast as a regular car in normal driving conditions, it is in most ways a no-compromise car. Indeed, in a lot of ways, even if you took the hybrid drivetrain out, it would still be a pretty innovative vehicle, with its distinctive aerodynamic styling, impressively roomy packaging, a versatile, nicely finished interior, and some interesting ergonomic touches. That it manages to be more economical than most cars on the road could simply be seen as icing on the cake, rather than its major selling point. Either way, this is a really clever little car, and one that you can derive a lot of joy from driving – even if that joy doesn’t come in the conventional form of screeching tires and big numbers on the digital speedometer.

Manufacturer’s web site

• www.toyota.ca