It’s the raked windscreen that sets an unexpectedly exciting tone when you slide aboard the Prius. The place has a real cockpit feel, with a likeable ensconcement factor, although forward visibility is still good, because of the large quarterlights. Glass is in abundance for what is still not a particularly wide car, and it gives the Prius, with its slim but nicely sculpted seatbacks and its lowish beltline, something of a lounge feel.
It’s not an especially lavish lounge, admittedly. This is especially true for our entry-level (and supposedly the most efficient) Design test car, whose only adornments are two white inserts in the fabric seats and a shiny plastic strip across the convex-arcing dash. Excel grade is a little plusher, with synthetic leather upholstery and a marginally more interesting range of material finishes, although both tiers have heated seats and a steering rim that’s nicely trimmed.
In general, the new Prius isn’t quite as nice to sit inside as the equivalent Golf, although it is ergonomically sound and, with that sense of light and space, easy company whether you’re gliding along a motorway or negotiating rat runs in rush hour. The only blemish is the relationship between the 7in digital driver display and the steering wheel. Toyota has gone for the Peugeot i-Cockpit approach, and it means that having the wheel at just the right height can obscure the readout.
It’s shame, because in other respects the layout is well considered: there are physical controls for everything you would want one for and everything is where you would expect to find it. Although on the drab side visually, especially for a near-£40,000 car, the cabin’s perceived quality is also good. The fit feels solid and tough.
As you move back from the front seats, the Prius becomes a little less impressive. Rear leg room is excellent but head room is tight, and not just for six-footers. The boot floor is also high-set, while the swoopy roofline exacerbates this in a way it doesn’t with any of the Prius’s hatchback rivals.
The official boot capacity of 273 litres is an exact match to that of the equivalent PHEV Golf, but that figure represents space only up to the parcel shelf. Hatchbacks have a good amount of extra, ‘unofficial’ capacity above that point, whereas the Prius doesn’t.
The Toyota’s capacity may be ungenerous, but it shouldn’t be regarded as a deal-breaker in a car so preoccupied with efficiency. Note also that there is no ski hatch, only a 60/40 split for the rear seatbacks.
