Review and photos by Steven Bochenek
 2013 Toyota Prius. Click image to enlarge |
On one hand, it’s surprising how Toyota continues to innovate for the Prius, especially given that it’s been with us since 2000. Aren’t innovators supposed to get comfortable, a la BlackBerry, until someone comes along and eats their lunch? Instead, Toyota’s listened to the needs of their Prius customers over the thirteen years and reacted. Auto writers who whine about not being able to take these golf-carts-in-training to the track are missing the point.
It’s gob-smacking how well the 2013 Prius anticipates the needs of the modern, slightly neurotic urban environmentalist. One acquaintance who is loving his second Prius, a 2010 model, talked about how he and his granola wife couldn’t wait for the third. “It’ll be the plug-in.”
It starts with the unlock sensor. With your phone and environmental assessment report (printed on both sides) in one hand, a half-fat latte in the other and portfolio bag strapped over your artsy shoulder, it’s nice to know you can simply pull at the handle with a pinkie to get in. Nor do you need to retrieve the key fob to activate the Prius, just touch the start button. This isn’t unique but is important for a busy middle-class Prius driver.
 2013 Toyota Prius. Click image to enlarge |
Inside, the Prius is unlike pretty much every other car you’ve seen. Take the shift knob. Rather than your traditional style, the Prius’s is much higher on the centre stack and looks and switches more like an ‘80s joystick. And why not? Between the hybrid system, its continuously variable transmission (CVT), the graphics displaying your efficiency and, most especially, the target-market driver, there’s not much call to make the shifting experience traditional. So you point the joystick towards Reverse, Drive, Neutral or B (the CVT answer to low gear). Rather than the satisfying crunch of gears a ‘real man’ expects, the experience is as effortless as lifting a stuffed olive from a tray of canapés at the faculty soirée. Once you’ve pointed it to the direction, say Reverse, it flaps back to its roost like a skinny Weeble. Indeed, only the display indicates that you’ve successfully shifted from park. Later when you’re done and going back into Park from Reverse, Drive, or Neutral, you press a button rather than tilting the joystick.
It’s cool.
Another example of Toyota ‘getting’ their Prius buyers? The drive itself.
So we were in Reverse. It beeps annoyingly like a garbage truck. Likely this is because the Weebly shifter moves so readily and you may not notice which direction you selected. The reverse beeps remind you. You can disable the feature easily enough if you find it especially loathsome. I just sang along. This basic model came with a reverse camera. They’re wonderful for parsimonious spaces in the city. Just be sure to keep it clean.
During the week I had it, I started noticing Priuses all over – like when you’re pregnant and suddenly see other pregnant people everywhere. None of the drivers look your typical auto enthusiast but they all seem enthusiastic.
 2013 Toyota Prius. Click image to enlarge |
On a track its hilariously loose steering would give pause, but it’s ideal for the constant stop-n-go-no-stop-again-then-go-F@#K-stop of city driving. You can throw the steering wheel all over. Notice its shape. The bottom quadrant is flatter so the whole wheel isn’t a circle. More than a cutesy design, that’s a baseline. When you’re spinning something so loose, you know exactly where your focal point is with wheels straight. Just don’t get cute with it in high-speed corners lest you find yourself testing some of the safety features reviewed herein.
Furthermore it’s tilt and telescopic adjustability makes it friendlier for those gangly professorial types of environmentalist drivers.
