Toyota Prius Prime Review | Just Electric Enough

[@MicahMuzio]

For 2025 Toyota ditched the Prime name. It's now called the Prius Plug-In. Otherwise, the 2024 and 2025 are identical. How do you feel about the name change?

[@briancorreia2923]

Unchanged save for the corrected rear door handle/latch that put a stop sale on the early and mid 24s. I prefer the Prime naming but I can guess that potential customers not already familiar with Toyota aren’t going to know that Prime means plug in hybrid. Why risk having a shopper miss you because of a name.

[@darryl2154]

Ford did the same with the Energi name. I don't think people knew what Prime or Energi were supposed to mean.

[@NelsonGasparDrives]

It’s a good move. Long live the PHEV.

[@winexprt]

Amazing how big kiddo is now. Shows you how long I've been watching.

[@robertmartin7726]

One day we will tune in and she will be driving!

[@hereigoagain5050]

Little Kiddo enjoys unnecessary acceleration. :)

[@hereigoagain5050]

Glad to see Toyota make the Prius stylish, but I wish they did not sacrifice ergonomics. The name change from Prime to Plug-in is wise because most people think "Prime" is merely upgraded options.

[@srikanthnarayanan]

The A.I. song at the end... scarily catchy.

[@NelsonGasparDrives]

I Agree. The butterfly 🦋 cargo cover is kick ass. I have the old one in my 2017 Prius and it’s a floppy mess. Way to go kiddo

[@seanrobin6573]

ABSOLUTELY MAGNIFICENT REVIEW

[@donswier]

Gasoline costs 4x what electricity does per mile (in our area near Seattle). That's reason enough to plug in each night. Has saved us $2000 each year the past 4 years. Since our gas engine fires up only twice a month (long road trips), we change oil only annually (18k miles avg). Gas engine should last forever with few cold starts.

[@TomLawlor-iq6gm]

Love Seattle. Jo and me have been there a couple of times. We figure, we're also saving 2/3rd's or more with our 2024 Prime. Great city. Great car.

[@rightlanehog3151]

Team Muzio, In terms of 2:09 rear seat headroom, your 6'4" colleague at KBB claims there is plenty of it. Are you sure you are not 6'8" and living in height denial? 😉 I was wondering if those special sunglasses 12:55 provide X-ray vision to allow you to see through the humongous 9:25 A pillars? All in all, I suspect most families seeking a 50 mpg Toyota Hybrid would be better served with a sensible Camry. The Camry LE on 16" rims will smooth the bumps for people who put function over form.

[@MicahMuzio]

Ha! Never underestimate the curse of a long torso. :)

[@rightlanehog3151]

@@MicahMuzio Micah, Thanks for taking my quip in the right spirit.😁 You don't need to explain the long torso curse to me. I am genuinely 6'2" with a 31" inseam so I take the actual measurement between seat cushion and headliner very seriously. In an automotive landscape where sloping coupe-sedans compete for buyers with sloping coupe-CUVS and the Prius goes from sensible shoes transport to high fashion footwear, tall people have fewer and fewer workable options.

[@burntwafflz]

Love the family reviews! The Prime SE is the trim for me!

[@MicahMuzio]

Thank you!

[@ApolyonTheSoulRender]

Thanks for reviewing the base trim

[@User.Joshua]

The SE is the best trim. I own the XSE, but having owned it for 6 months, I'd easily take the SE over it if I had to do it all over again.

[@toyotaofclermont]

Love this! Great review!

[@RigiLiquid945]

I have never felt comfortable sitting in a toyota, and I was a passenger in and test drove so many over the decades.

[@SkyRL25]

In Canada we do have the yellow!

[@JoeK20A3]

Hashtag Innuendo Iguana had the day off 😄

[@briancorreia2923]

If you agree that the Camry is very close on fuel economy and price to the non plug in Prius, shouldn’t all Prius be plugins?

[@doziershaw9765]

I just bought a base non plug in Prius for $29k. Inventory 100 miles around me for a plug in hybrid Prius are all upper trims ranging from $38k to $42k.

[@briancorreia2923]

@Curious , at $29000 for your Prius did you consider buying a Camry LE instead? What were your thoughts? I think they may be slow or low production. Most of the early year production got slapped with a stop sale because of a rear door latch/handle problem. They weren’t fixing cars already shipped just new production and cars already sold. To my knowledge, the only production line is in Japan.

[@doziershaw9765]

@ Yes we test drove the Camry and it was fine but I just liked the idea of owning a Prius more. Much more sporty inside and out. Better gas mileage, liked the hatch and being able to fold down the rear seats. Camrys are everywhere, have yet to see another new gen Prius other than a 73 y/o coworker's who bought hers 2 years ago when they first came out. Prius is made in Japan which doesn't mean much anymore as far as quality goes. I just couldn't get excited about the Camry, wasn't 100 percent sure on the Prius when I bought it last week but i am enjoying it and it can be a long term keeper. Only real negative is no spare tire so had to purchase an aftermarket replacement, Camry comes with a spare.

[@hereigoagain5050]

In addition to easing drivers into EVs, PHEVs also help traditional car companies to transition billions of dollars of capital investment from ICE to BEV.

[@davids1816]

I think EVs make more sense for cars that are Model S or smaller. Hybrids make more sense for 3 Row SUVs and Trucks. With cars that big a really huge battery is needed. For example, Chevy could make for Bolts with the battery it takes for one Silverado EV. I wish Honda would keep their V6 but at a hybrid to it. A midsize truck that gets 30 mpg would really sell. Cars with gasoline engines waste so much energy that a really sleek car like the Prius doesn't have a big efficiency advantage over the same drivetrain (non-plug in) in a Camry. So for most people I'd say just get the Camry and enjoy the extra space at minimal cost.

[@saadayahgbolo60]

They are a good family!

[@francisbonga5936]

Gonna trade in my 2017 jeep compass for this!!

[@ryanfrisby7389]

Excellent video!

[@hongshi8251]

I’m just a regular fella so I’m looking at the money, mileage, resale, and size. A family of four like mine is going to appreciate the size of the trunk because it’s bigger for hauling the dog box. He can have light and access as opposed to the Camary. In every other way the Camary is superior. The LE Camry costs less, it’s bigger, and it’s more powerful. Overall my chances of buying any Prius model is about 0%.

[@Timhenriques]

Sad the dealer didn’t have one yesterday 😭

[@FlowStateNewOrleans]

The guys at Everyday Driver did a racing set up with this generation Prius and took it on track. It was absolutely silly, but convincing. Does changing your attitude about the armrest make your elbows any less sad?

[@roblopez-yy3nd]

Big question: Toyota Pruis Hybrid or Honda Civic Hybrid?

[@ALMX5DP]

@@roblopez-yy3nd the answer as always is it depends.

[@NickAbbot.]

PHEVs are the way - clean plus range.

[@user-iz3gv5vo6b]

If you don't plan to charge it regularly, then you can always save some money and just get the regular Prius!

[@MicahMuzio]

Definitely. The standard Prius is a great choice.

[@EricMitton]

When comparing aesthetics, I’d compare the prior-gen Prime instead of the prior-gen regular Prius. The 17-21 Prime was a lot nicer IMO than the regular Prius. Comparing that generation (which I own) to this, I would LOVE the new generation’s powertrain, but with two six-foot-tall teens in the family, I’m glad I the prior generation’s extra headroom.

[@PLPOR]

1:16 lol

[@2Kriss2Kross]

Best looking Prius ever but wish they didn’t sacrifice so much utility. Interior is cramped and plasticky. Would seriously consider the Civic Hybrid hatch as a competitor. Yes it is less efficient but is roomier, more capable, more premium cabin, and livelier drive.

[@ALMX5DP]

@@2Kriss2Kross it’s also a tad more expensive. No bad thing in my mind to have both offerings depending on personal preferences and needs.

[@JamesTheCarGuy]

Evie Needs her own channel too With her own content Two channels two forms of income I’m sure your current subscribers would make their way over there too and you’d be able to grow both channels promoting one another A lot of other channels do the same thing and rack in revenue from various channels

[@JorgeAsc-vf7xw]

Kinky 1:19

[@CannonKnight]

That's a surprisingly good late 90s AI pop song. On the PHEV argument front, I recently read an article on some automotive site that said PHEVs are the WORST of both worlds: not a good EV and not a good ICE vehicle. Plus, it's highly unlikely you'll recoup the cost of the PHEV premium with your savings in gas. Interesting counter argument.

[@ALMX5DP]

@@CannonKnight what did it say made them not a “good ICE vehicle”? They certainly can be a bit more fussy than a pure EV due to more frequent need to plug them in, and can be a bit more tedious to drive if you want to keep it in EV mode, but I think it’s still a type of vehicle that appeals to my general personality and use case.

[@bb1111116]

As for automotive reviewers who make the worst of both worlds argument about PHEVs, many of them are pushing full EVs and they refuse to understand that not every driver is the same. As the video says, some drivers on a long trip do not want to use public chargers. For those drivers a good plug in hybrid is the best of both worlds. If a person wants a full EV, then get one but everyone does want a full BEV. * The price difference between a hybrid and a plug in hybrid is a problem. A big reason for the price difference is the increased demand for Toyota plug in hybrids which tells us that many buyers want good PHEVs. However, plug in hybrids are usually cheaper than full EVs. So, the price difference argument is even worse with full electric. Full electric advocates try to counter this by using cheaper maintenance arguments but actual cost of ownership surveys combined with the higher initial price show that full EVs don’t have less total costs because of increased expenses involving insurance, poorer quality control and collision repair. * In addition, the environmental argument for a full EV is weaker when a plug in hybrid is used as an electric car for commutes/errands and only uses gas on vacations or to refresh gas very infrequently.

[@TomLawlor-iq6gm]

Our 2024 Prius Prime is now nine months old and has 12,785km (7,990.6 miles), on the OD. We have burned only 3.5 tanks of gas in that time. Gas here is currently (down !), to $ 7.58 per Imp. gallon. In summer temperatures we can get very close to 100km (62.5 miles), on a single charge, which is well above the advertised EV range. To put this in another way; we have only run the Traction battery dry four times in nine months. The range is dropping as the temperatures get colder of course, but we still see around 80km on a charge so far. It costs us about $2.00 to charge from dead to full (10 to 80%), but, even though we plug-in every night, the battery isn't flat many days so the ongoing cost is less. As good as this car is in hybrid mode, there's no way it can travel 100km on $2.00 worth of gas. Regarding the Prime's premium price over the regular Prius (about $6,000 in Canada), our two levels of government gave us a $5,000 rebate. That just about cancels the extra upfront cost. What was left over in extra price we will recoup quickly due to the cost of gas here. And, in some Canadian provinces the rebate is actually higher, to the point where a Prius Prime is less expensive than the non-Prime. Also, like our first two Prius models (non-Prime), the car has been flawless.

[@gianniclaud]

My eyes are melting... too many hard plastics!

[@briancorreia2923]

I think you might have missed the biggest argument against plug in hybrids made by those with environmental concerns, the don’t get plugged in enough and therefore spend a lot of time running on gasoline. I’ve never seen statistics on this but anything that assumes human laziness I am inclined towards believing.

[@darryl2154]

As the owner of a PHEV, I don't think this is much of a problem. As Micah noted, you only need 110V overnight. I either plug in right away when I pull into the garage after coming home from work, or I wait until my 7pm alert from my phone to plug in when electricity is the cheapest.

[@briancorreia2923]

@ You care, pay attention and take the time. Is that most people?

[@ALMX5DP]

Improving education around proper use will help in that regard. I struggle to ding a vehicle for owner deficiencies.

[@darryl2154]

@briancorreia2923 when it saves money, people will remember! Gas is more expensive here in Canada, but I'm saving about $150 per month by plugging in.

[@markbass7145]

I don't know if I would say it's "good" looking...it's not bad looking. If it was a coup it might be good looking....

[@Jeremybearamy]

Stop trying to make fetch happen.

[@harmonybat]

I don't understand what the "just switch to EV!" people think apartment dwellers in mid-size Midwestern cities are going to do.

[@thestonetable]

I’ll start driving a Prius when I start wearing a dress. 😵‍💫