Bought a 2019 Prius Prime. Owned it for one month and was rear ended totaling the car out. After a few weeks waiting for insurance to settle I went right back and bought another Prius Prime. I could have bought something else but was so happy with the first Prius Prime I bought the exact same thing again. Currently I get right around 2,200 miles for roughly 9.5 gallons of gas.

Its hard to beat Toyota's 20 years of experience with hybrid technology. Toyota knows how to design them and make them better than anyone.

Thank you for distinguishing between the CVTs of the Prius and that of other manufacturers. So tired of auto "journalists" lumping all CVTs in one box (and then complaining about them).

Transmission on this car is bulletproof. It has a helical gear-set... you won't ever need to replace it and will shift the same at 500k miles as it will at 10 miles. Good trade off for only needing to replace the battery pack once in a blue moon... the huge plus is this is a seasoned and reliable vehicle at a reasonable price compared to most vehicles. Nothing compares... not even the Honda Insight. When everything is said and done, most people care about price, reliability and operating costs... and it is built in Japan... this matters if you keep up with cars and care about fit, finish and reliability. The only negative is the gloss black interior... I prefer the white because it doesn't show the micro-scratches that build up overtime. I opted for the Corolla hybrid because the Prius Prime I was going to purchase sold at my local dealer before I got to it. They are still a little bit of a challenge to get ahold of. The Corolla Hybrid I purchased was $21,700 OTD at 0% interest for 4 years. Not a huge compromise. Especially since I average 56-62 MPG highway and city... mostly highway MPG for my average. Gone are the days when the hybrids shine at just city driving for Toyota's hybrid platform since the electric motor has two gears and kicks on and off at highway speeds depending on battery charge. SUV's, they tend to be overpriced and fuel economy... enjoy the $2-3 per gallon costs until fuel costs rise again. Fuel costs have always been unpredictable and the wise person that doesn't need straight utility will be more than happy with this vehicle... gave up my 3rd gen Tacoma for my Corolla hybrid... I miss it because I'm a truck-guy but operating costs don't even compare since I work out of my vehicle as my daily driver (100-150 miles per day).

You nailed all the main positives for the Prime. One which I've also noticed is efficiency over hills. Travelling over mountainous terrain with the larger battery, the mpg savings is much more noticeable, even over the regular Prius.

I have the 2018 model and it was my very first toyota I ever bought. And I'll never buy anything but toyota the car is absolutely amazing

Fantastic. I love that the cruise control is still on the stalk, it's far better than having buttons with multiple functions splattered across the wheel. My only complaint is I wish they had gotten rid of the wavy rear glass, it looks funny and will be expensive to replace. It can't have *that* big of an effect on aerodynamics.

I bought my P2020 Prime three weeks ago. Drove 500 miles on my initial trip on level terrain traveling at the speed limit which varied between 65 and 70. My mileage was spectacular at a little over 65 mpg with no charging available after the initial 25 miles of electric. Since then we have gone 650 moremiles and used about a pint of gas while doing normal running around with 240 volt recharging in less than 2 1/2 hours. My wife and I really enjoy this car. If you are on the fence, just take the plunge. You won’t regret it.

Excellent overview! You’re right on the nose to point out that the ‘Prime is about high efficiency above all else. Watching this again after a month or so, I couldn’t find my previous comment. Just now found it, I’ll add just one more quick comment: A lot of folks laugh a Prius slow acceleration. My personal take, based upon our 2017, is “it’s fine.” It’s not sporty, but it’s not nearly as sluggish as you might think from the Prius stereotype.

Alex smiling ....i think this car will make me smile whenever i remember Alex smiling ☺

I have the 2018 Advance model, love it. I drive 172 miles round trip everyday and continuously get between 65-80 mpg.

I love how Alex gently taps almost all the different elements of the car as he’s describing them, lol. And how does he get so good, so fast, with all the different menus and features on the display screen? He breezed right through everything. It’s like he has owned the car for 6 months already!

Time to share my experience. I bought a 2019 Prius prime on July here in California. Applied for local rebates and state and received $7000 also during income tax season I’ll get $2500 there or maybe $4500. I live 15 freeway miles from work and I drive only ev. My work also has a 240v changing station so my cost of travel is in theory $0. I charge a few times during the weekend at home. 25 miles on ev is enough for me. I’ve done the math and I’m going to save $2700 in gas a year. Round that and x5 I’ll be saving $15,000 in gas in a five year period- math was done when gas was $3.39. That’s a whole other car. Since I’ve had the car in July I’ve only put $30 in gas. Gas is now $4+ a gallon. So far I’ve driven over two months going on three on the same gas tank. 1/4 of gas left. It is possible to drive all year on ev if you plan it out correctly. But the next problem is how long will the gas in your tank last before it goes bad? Lol

The Prius is the pinnacle of modern car technology. To me it’s a masterpiece of engineering.

I like how you've shortened "Toyota" into 2 syllables. "Toda" is easier to say! ;-)

As much as you talk, and you talk a lot, I never get tired of you rambling off details about details. Good stuff.

I made 1600+km on full tank. Love it!

Thanks for mentioning the tax credit. I'm looking at buying a 2021 Prius and I had no idea there was a tax credit. Now I can definitely factor that in to this financial decision and it is looking even better! :)

I rented a 2018 Prius Prime for a 3-day road trip from Los Angeles to Las Vegas and Death Valley National Park. The trip included quite significant elevation changes and I was consistently driving 5-10 mph above the speed limit. After approximately 900 miles, I averaged 56 MPG. The major drawback of the car was the lifted cargo for which reduced is capacity quite considerably.

That's what a supercar is for smart, rational people.

I have a 2010 Prius with 212k miles on it. Original battery. Still holds a charge just like when I bought it at 120k. I replaced the 12v original battery 2 years ago. Changed trans fluid twice. and 5k oil changes. Uses .5 qt every 5k. I towed a 500 to 1500lbs or more trailer this summer on a second job and it never skipped a beat. AC the whole time constant stop and go. 100plus stops per day. No transmission with actual gears that shift will give you this reliability. Also got 35 to 42mpg overall all summer. I tried the same route with my Sienna and 14mpg LOL. went back to the Prius. I did get the EGR code at the end of the summer. Had to clean out the EGR cooler. cost 20dollors worth of carb cleaner and 30$ worth of new long life fluid Coolant. Have to drain to change fliud. Did a tune up as well original plugs still looked great. Never changed a CV axel or wheel bearing . never a switch or glitch in anything. Reliability is more important almost anything else in a daily driver as you get older.

Wow he addressed some really interesting points not often tackled. Really great and some real insight. Excellent review.

Super reviewer from planet Krypton? Not a “uh” in the whole spiel. Great job

Alex really like that Toyota can't beat that milage and now the warranty is also wonderful. We owned a 2010 Prius, it was wonderful 52 MPG and no problem at 6 years, 1st person that saw it when I was selling took it. He said he will run to 350 miles. Toyota makes great efficient cars that last. However thanks to you I am waiting for my 2021 Rivian ( ordered a year ago when you told me about at the CA show), can't wait live in MI and see them testing the truck near Ann Arbor . Thanks Alex enjoy your video's... I hope to see you when we both pick up our Rivian's at the factory...

Your reviews are so good I watch them even when I don’t care about the car. Keep it up!

I got a 2020 in July and have been amazed by the efficiency. I initially wanted a full EV, but after owning the Prime, I can honestly say that a plug-in hybrid is probably a better choice for most people. Most people will do their daily commute on full electric and there’s no need to worry about charging if you take a long trip. I have only used 60 litres of gas in 5000 km of driving. That’s just shy of 200 mpg.

I've had mine since early September and I'm not even a quarter into my tank after 2300KM of driving. And it's only going to get more insane as I'm moving closer to work.

I bought mine in March of this year and it has exceeded my expectations! I'm getting about 35 miles on EV, sometimes more. And when I'm out of EV, I'm still averaging anywhere from 60-70 mpg on gas/ hybrid mode! I'm 22 miles from work and getting about 1500 miles between fill up's, which is about every 6 weeks! Oh yeah! I forgot to mention, it only takes about $25 to fill up the gas tank!

This is the best review I have seen about this car.

My husband and I bought our 2019 Prius Prime in August and we absolutely love it! ❤️👍🏼👍🏼

I’ve got a 2018 Prius Prime Advance. Over 20,000 miles my mpg is about 104. That includes two trips to California from Olympia, 2400 miles round trip each. Rarely going under 70 mph and not taking the charge cable with me I still got 70 mpg. Extraordinary! I do a lot of driving around Olympia and there don’t use much gas. When I day trip to Seattle (60 miles each way) I’m getting about 80 mpg. I’ve got some complaints however. That stupid swoop in the rear window means there’s no wiper. We get a lot of rain. I really miss that wiper! Loss of trunk space has been occasionally frustrating. My older Prius had a lot more glove box space. The huge manuals take up a lot of the limited space. Finally, and this is a safety issue. You have to look away from the road to use a lot of the features on the touch screen. I almost had an accident because I wanted to increase the fan speed and had to look away from the road. Fiddling with the infotainment system often requires looking away from the road. Switching from the infotainment to climate and making multiple adjustments is dangerous in my opinion.

I love this car. When I got it 2 years ago as a commuter car, awesome. No complaints. But I'll definitely trade the Prius Prime for the RAV4 plug in because I want more trunk space. I want enough trunk space to hold at least 2-4 big suitcases. The 2020 Prius Prime looks fantastic by the way. I highly recommend this car to anyone, especially if they drive less than 25 miles per day or if they have a battery charger at work. The 5th seat is a game changer. I can not tell you how many times when I'm going out with friends and that 5th seat was needed to fit 5 people and we ended up taking 2 cars. Most of the time, I can recharge somewhere to keep my battery fully charged. This means that I can go for months without gas sometimes. In fact, I have to pause and think which side of the car is my gas tank on. FYI- My last trip to fill up the gas tank costed me about $33 for 9 gallons of gas.

My wife loves her 2018 Toyota Prius Prime Advanced. Her commute is about 12 miles each way to work. Contrary to the stated electric range, the actual range is usually better than the 25 miles the manufacturer's claim. Every month I go to the gas station just to see how much fuel was used, because the fuel gage never leaves the full mark, and the car only took $4.50 or 1.2 gallons of gas! I am sure I will only have to fill the car up 2 times a year on average.

I bought mine in March of this year. I am able to use just the battery by far most of the time. Personally I am sitting at about 500mpg for the life of the car, which is about 5,500 miles so far. And I have seen others online posting better than that. Also just like Alex I live in Colorado and we get $5,000 state credit plus the $4,500 Federal. That brought the price down to a base of 23,500. I still had to pay about $3,500 in dealer fees and taxes and whatever. But still I only paid $27,000 for a new car that gets like 500mpg right now that is known to be stupid reliable and pretty much last forever like a Toyota.

Best in depth car reviews I have ever seen. Thanks for the great work!

Just buy this car. The overall efficiency in both EV and Hybrid/Gas mode is unbeatable. With the federal tax rebate plus ($4,502) the $4,500+ plus you can negotiate at a Toyota dealer for one of these, you're looking at an effective price for an LE model for like 20k. I found one with a weird color combo (Blue Magnetic and Moonstone interior that I love), but dealer had on the lot for 180+ days. Got over $5,000 off the sticker.

I bought a Prius Prime and I’m thrilled with it.economy,driving ease. I’ve had it for a month now and the fuel gauge hasn’t moved even one notch. Fabulous 💕

The EV operation of my wife’s 2019 Prime is addictive and has already got me thinking about a much longer range EV car for myself. Her relatively short range, 25-30 miles, is exhausted frequently and I have learned that draining the battery all the way down is not the best practice for longevity. Seems like charging to 90% and not going below 25% is the best recipe for happy battery life. Yes, I guess she could monitor that and just stop driving in EV mode when the battery gets down to about 25%, but she never does!

Bought 2020 prime just before any review for two main reasons: 5th seat and better heated seat buttons. The 11" navigation is still the prime obstacle for the Prime, I wish the climate controls are similar with the current generation of RAV4 or Camry. Other than that it's actually pretty fun to drive.

Hope to see a full review on the 2021 Rav4 PHEV as soon as possible

My 08 has 215k miles on it and still going strong 💪🏼

I love my 2016 regular Prius. Most reliable car in the world.

I love my Prime. It gets me to work and back every day on only 55 cents of electric. I've driven months without needing to refill the gas tank. I've hardly needed to use my hybrid motor, but I really appreciate being able to do so. There's no way I'd wait hours to travel distances like other provinces or states. It's the best vehicle I've seen so far.

Just got a Prius C cant wait to upgrade to Prime

I was deciding between the 2020 Ioniq Plug-in and the Prius Prime earlier this year and opted for the Hyundai because of the transmission, interior design, and overall driving experience. The Prius is incredible, but the Ioniq felt a bit more fun, had an additional ~5 miles of EV range, and the interior materials and design were more to my liking. Add in the feel of the dual clutch transmission and the Sport mode which allows for fairly engaging paddle shifting, and my decision was made.

Hellcat followed by Prius Both at extremes

No spare, no deal. Just last night, on the way to a friend's house, I had to change a tire in a school parking lot because of a puncture. With no spare I would have had to call a tow truck and because it was late in the day, there were probably no tire stores open to get it fixed.

0.8 l/100 km already proven (294 US MPG, 353 UK MPG). Better than advertised, and unlike newer competitors (Ioniq for instance).

Have 1500 miles so far and I love this car. Comfortable and great commuter car for driving 70 miles round trip. I’ve been avg 90 mpg so far overall and getting 700+ miles on one tank since I’m driving 50 miles on the hybrid engine. I just ask Toyota why couldn’t they make 50 or 100 miles on EV?? That would be awesome.

Outstanding video! This architecture solves my problem: a 350 mile trip without refueling.

The front of this new 2020 facelift looks much much better than the pre iew one!

A "very, very quick" video by Alex, the most thorough reviewer on KZfaq, is still 15 mins long. :)

Thank you very much for your highly informative video regarding the 2020 Prius Prime.

Excellent reviewer , one of the best on KZfaq !!

IONIQ is a more fun drive, Android Auto plus looks better IMO. I also didn't like that the dash was in the center and the constant loud beeping while in reverse made it sound like a truck and was a bit grating. Test drove both before getting the IONIQ phev the following day.

My everyday hybrid car! Good review Alex.

My sister in law has a 2016 one and she loves it!

With the tax credit, there's no good reason to buy the standard Prius. It's $25,410 for the Prius LE, and $23,240 for the Prius Prime LE after tax credit. Who wants to spend $2k extra for the standard Prius?

I have a 2017 one. My only regret is that I wish it were in that blue/ teal color option. Reasons I got it over Ioniq I like its styling more (exterior, interior I’m indifferent) Its reliability Ioniq was to new I don’t believe ioniq had full speed radar cruise control and I wanted that for traffic. And, I’m against leather interiors. I remember them advertising their interior as eco friendly & I was like pshhh ..

A team that always win never change it.

Please do a comparo between this one and Corolla hybrid

And STILL no Android Auto.. come on Toyota.. get it together. 80+% of the world uses Android phones.

When I look at the back of this car it reminds me of the car kiddie rides I would see amusement parks.

Looks great! Toyota actually have new EV and PhEV technology (Electric) in 2020.

Best Reviewer Alex. No young kid outside in his pajamas reviewing a car.

I still have the gen1 plug-in and I love it👍. The future plan is to make it a 100% ev. It would be nice to own this new one but I am broke at the moment.😂

Alex on Autos is totally excellent. A cut above the rest.

Almost Gen1 Volt range...so close Whenever these come to a local dealership I might go check it out. If I could get 60 miles on a charge and 54 MPG I’d switch to an yota

Great review Alex, I actually like the styling on this version, it looks futuristic without being too futuristic. The technology that you are getting is outstanding. It is a pity that the battery eats into the trunk space so much, batteries need to get more efficient sooner!

im in the market, I need full reviews of all hybrids :P bring it on

It should be at least an inch or two higher. Going over speed bumps is going to be a hair raising experience every single time. 😱😱😱

Iv Ubered in many Priuses. Several had over 250K miles on the original powertrain. One had over 300K.

It's really good car I saved more than $120 a month now compared to my other car. From home to work is 26 miles fully charge click auto EV and look at the total fuel range and it took only 5 miles on my tink. At work is free parking and charging for me. I only buy full tink every 45 days it's so great to have this car I use to buy $45 gas every 5days. Since I had the 2018 only one thing bug, their isn't fifth seatbelts, now we are a family of five since 4 months. Wanted to trade the newer model. I have a 2018 fully loaded with 25,000 miles the value is $24,000. I rather buy another pruis Turing than add $16,000 to get a the newer. Trust me it's a good car I love it, but I am not dumb to spend that money to have the same car same only one seat different.

awaiting for your full Prius Prime 2020 review.

The prius prime transaxle is mostly the same as the other toyota hybrids, except it has a dog clutch on MG1 so it can help MG2 propel the vehicle without the combustion engine.

"My work also has a 240v changing station so my cost of travel is in theory $0." LOL! Cost YOU $0.

I do not like that they produce cars too close to the pavement or the ground since they usually hit on bumpers and other obstacles.

Very clear explanation of the purpose of the plug in. Thank you.

Excellent overview of the Prius Prime.

the infotainment UI just screams 2005 aesthetic lmao

I've had my 2019 Toyota Prius 4 for 1 year. I am averaging 63.2 MPG many are which highway miles. It often goes to EV drive and if I do my part, I can often get over 100 MPG....and I fill my tank maybe once a month.....and 10 bucks usually does it. I was looking at the IONIC but I decided on Prius because of history....the Prius has a long history and is the number one choice of cab drivers in NYC. That and the Hyundia's engine....while still a good engine...the Prius engine is better designed and has a better history behind it.

Jesus, I was like hey that looks like my buddy I worked with in the car business. And then I look and you guys have the same name. Hear two seconds of him talking, nope not him lol.

I realize most cars these days are painted by machines but that’s a beautiful paint job

Alex, on your next review please inform about the sun visor. I have a 2018 Prime and the sun visor is thumbs down. I never thought that would be an issue, but it is with the 2018 Prime. Thanks.

Toyota needs to bring the Corolla estate hybrid from Europe it is fantastic looking hope it comes here

Looks better than the older Prius

90% of USA drives 30 some miles per day, back & forth to work... Make the Prime with a 60 Mile EV range battery, and boost the gas horse power combined to 150 Horse power, and add a tow package as standard. Now you have a do everything car ready for work and play.

Hi Alex, how is it compared to Kia Niro PHEV? I found that the Prius is so low to the ground and it scrapes the driveway easily even if I'm being careful with the departure angle.

Best Car Reviewer...

Not sure how I feel about the white stitching on the black leather. Not the case for my 2018 Prime. Like the new wheel covers, however, a lot. And the new black accents do look a little bit more premium/symmetrical.

Transferrable warranty? I really hope the rav4 prime has that

I didn’t know there was a plug in version of the RAV4 coming.

Love the changes!!!!

I cannot BELIEVE the 2020 Prime does not have "Lane Centering" like the COROLLA DOES.

Thank you for visiting my state 🙂 Great review as always.

You might consider not wearing a watch when you lay your arm across the car! You say you drive through mountains. How is the acceleration for passing on inclines?

Does anyone think it's better to get a 2020 Prius prime, a 2020 Prius awd-e or wait for the 2021 rav4 prime? Im curious about what others think!

Bit the bullet and ordered a2020 prime cant wait for the delivery

The Honda Clarity has a 1.5 four, which is smaller than this Toyota's 1.8 four.

I wouldn't be surprised RAV4 will have Panasonic's batteries. P. is already delivering batteries for Corolla for Chinese market. These will be stronger and more "performance oriented". It might improve eAWD as well. That would be good vehicle for me, as I go to the mountains.