Toyota Prius+ to up the family’s eco rep

The Toyota Prius+ is a good looking seven-seat people carrier

If you thought the size of your family prevented you from doing your bit for the environment motoring-wise – then think again. Enter the Toyota Prius+ – a seven seat petrol hybrid.

It’s a beautifully luxurious car, with the bright and airy cabin in the test model boasting a double sun roof and privacy glass on the rear windows.

MPVs aren’t generally known for their stylish exteriors, but as people carriers go, the five-door Prius+ isn’t bad looking.

Inside, is the epitome of luxury. The test car had really plush looking cream upholstery, which had a suede-like feel to it.

Like the car itself, the centre console in the Prius+ is wide and chunky.

The cabin in the Toyota Prius+ is quite plush

Infotainment-wise, there was a decent touch screen radio/CD/USB/aux unit – with the latter two ports well placed, if slightly hidden, in an alcove beneath the centre console, alongside a handy coin tray.

The touch screen is also used for the reversing camera.

Continuing in the luxurious vein, the upper compartment in the double glove box has a padded finish, but both passenger and driver are faced with a big slab of plastic on the dash.

The armrest/storage box in the centre console, meanwhile, is quite shallow – but deep enough to hold my oversized sun glasses.

My passenger was much taken with the pop out bottle/cup holder on his side of the car.

The boot in the Prius+ is quite large when you’re using it as a five seater, but obviously when you pull the two rear most seats from the floor you do compromise on luggage space.

The seats are comfortable and legroom is great on the first and second row of seats, but the third row is best kept for the smallies. The middle row has three individual seats, which can slide back and forth.

I found it quite hard to remove the boot cover when you’re converting from a five to a seven seater.

The Toyota Prius+ has a good driving position, and the large windows all round offer great visibility.

As is the style with hybrids, the digital centre console is centred, but the test car had a great Head Up Display directly in front of the driver, which showed a speed readout.

Cruise control was via a stalk off the steering wheel, and it was easy to use. Bluetooth was also easy to connect.

Unusually, this car had a foot rather than a hand brake.

Seating configurations in the Toyota Prius+ are flexible

A petrol hybrid, the Prius+ has an automatic transmission, with a stubby little gear stick. It has three driving modes, PWR – for when you need to be swift; Eco for relaxed driving and Electric Vehicle mode, for when you’re being ultra efficient.

As you’d expect, the Prius+ is silent while in EV mode. I was quite impressed at the distance you can travel and the speed you can reach in EV mode.

I found quite a difference between Eco and PWR mode – while Eco is serene, there’s far more oomph in PWR, which was great for quick getaways at roundabouts and on the motorway. PWR is not as fuel efficient though.

Our route in this car saw us mainly in the city, but we also went for a jaunt on winding country roads and on both urban and national motorway.

This car is very much at home in the city, with urban speeds suiting its EV mode. It is very quiet running on electricity, gliding along, and you have to make allowances for pedestrians who may not hear you.

On the motorway, you really do need PWR to rapidly take you from 0-120kph, but once you reach your desired speed it cruises along – cruise control of course being of great help.

It also handled well on backroads and the suspension was good.

Overall, I was pretty impressed with the Toyota Prius+. It’s stylish, practical, well specced and very environmentally aware.

The Toyota Prius+ is available now, with prices starting from €34,995.

Tech Spec
Engine: 1.8 hybrid 136bhp (petrol)
Acceleration: 0-100km/h in 11.3 seconds
CO2 emissions: 96g/km
Combined fuel economy: 4.1l/100km
Annual road tax: €180

Visit the Toyota Ireland website or its Facebook page for further details.

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