Toyota’s family of Prius hybrid electric models were along the pathfinders in the alternative fuel technology market and for 2018 the Japanese brand has updated its model line-up with the promise of real-world fuel economy of over 80mpg for the basic hatchback and over 230mpg for the all-electric plug-in model.
Equipment changes for the 2018 Prius include automatic wipers as standard on all versions apart from Active grade, a leather-trimmed steering wheel and on Active and Business Editions a new-style 15-inch alloy wheel, which can also be specified as an option for Business Edition Plus and Excel grade models in place of the 17-inch wheels. Finally, Autumn Silver has been added to Prius’s colour palette.
Using the new real-word testing procedure, a Prius on 15-inch wheels returns a combined figure of 83.1mpg and CO2 emissions of 78 g/km.
Prius+, the seven-seat hybrid member of the Prius family, is now equipped as standard with Toyota’s Safety Sense package. This includes a Pre-Collision System; Adaptive Cruise Control; Lane Departure Alert; Automatic High Beam and Road Sign Assist, automatically showing speed limits, warning and command signs on the driver’s multi-information display when driving on major routes.
The model line-up has been rationalised into two grades: Icon and Excel. Key equipment features for the Icon version include 16-inch alloy wheels, rain-sensing wipers, dusk-sensing headlights, reversing camera, smart entry, automatic air conditioning, power windows, heated/folding door mirrors, auto-dimming rear-view mirror, front fog lights and Toyota’s Touch 2 multimedia system with DAB and CD player.
The Excel model comes with Intelligent Park Assist, plus 17-inch alloys, rear privacy glass, sun shades, heated seats and Toyota Touch 2 with Go, adding navigation and connectivity to the infotainment functions. Customers also have an expanded choice of paint options, with new Autumn Silver and Regency Red options.
Prius+ returns 61.4mpg on 16-inch wheels and records CO2 emissions of 106 g/km.
The Prius Plug-in, the second generation of Toyota’s plug-in hybrid electric vehicle, goes into 2018 with no changes to its equipment specifications. Like its sister Prius family models, it has new fuel and emissions figures which shows a combined fuel consumption of 245 g/km on 15-inch wheels and combined cycle CO2 emissions of 28 g/km.
