I have had a opportunity to test drive Toyota Prius Plug-In (Prime) twice. Both times I drove approximately 300 km.

Prius is a great car! It drives so smoothly and has plenty of power. Power is adequate for merging highways or passing a slower traffic.

The car has so many positive features but it has some negative sides too. I’ll cover here some other topics than already mentioned superb fuel efficiency.

The positives

• audio quality
• power delivery
• visibility
• electronic rear view mirror
• seat comfort

Audio quality

My first surprise was the audio quality. Car was not equipped JBL Premium audio, instead it had 6 speaker standard system from Toyota.

It is worth noting that amount of speakers does not equal to the sound quality. I have not tested the 8 speaker JBL setup but at least this 6 speaker setup sounded very punchy to my ears. I would be more than happy to use that system to play my favourite playlists from the audio app.

When I showed the loan car to friend of my, who is actually true audiophile, he immediately noticed good sound quality. At least in terms of factory sound system.

Power delivery

Oh boy this car is quick! Not sports car quick but certainly car goes extremely effortless. It is smooth and fast at the same time. Prius provides plenty of power for passing other cars.

Speed limit was 80km / h (50 mph) when I tested passing capabilities, suddenly Prius speed was already at 130km /h. It just goes so easily and steadily. Only “problem” I see is that the law enforcement might not like that type of speeds. Better to drive using cruise control when ever possible.

There is faster cars out there. E.g. many full electric cars are faster than Prius. Still Prius power train is such well composed that you never miss e.g. full EV because of smoothness. If you miss full EV, then it is most likely other reasons.

Visibility

My most anticipated concern was outwards visibility. Car exterior is so sleek, that it made me worry if it has impact to the visibility as well. My observation is that it has little to no impact. A pillar is bit thick and affects a bit. So you might need to double check no one is in shadows.

Prius has also sensors, which warns on the corners that there might be someone. Handy feature, especially during dark rainy autumn nights.

Electronic rear view mirror

Electronic rear view mirror is the most fun feature of the car! It’s so cool and useful and does work even during night time.

You may switch between regular mirror and it’s electronic version, which transfers rear mirror as a display showing what happens on the back.

Rear window is rather small, so you get full visibility with the electronic mirror. Also if you have loaded trunk fully and you might have rear passengers blocking the view.

Seat comfort

Front seats are really comfortable for long journeys. Driver gets easily a very good driving position. On the passenger side I noticed that seat height adjustment is missing, although for passenger it is not that crucial.

The negatives

• EU regulation of the speed limit warning
• road noise
• price

EU regulation of the speed limit warning

This is super annoying! If you exceed speed limit 4km/h, the car will sound beeping alarm. Before that it blinks speed limit sign on the dashboard.

It is possible to disable this feature from the car settings, but settings are not saved. In other words, when you restart the car it beeps again.

This is regulation by the European Union, not invented by Toyota. Same is required from other manufactures as well. There is little options what you can do about it. You can either accept how it is, disable setting every time or change your driving habits. Maybe try to use cruise control more, so you won’t end up exceeding speed limits.

Road noise

Prius road noise is very highly dependent of the road surface. With new and smooth tarmac Prius is actually extremely silent. With older and more rough tarmac Prius is a bit high with the road noise. Still not too bad but could be a tad better.

Price

Prius is not the cheapest car out there. It has extremely good design and actually looks bit sporty car. However I find price bit high. Although there is not direct competition with same looks and features.