Toyota Prius : PRI WATERSHED

The archetypal environmentally-friendly car is aiming to stay that way. June Neary tries itâ€¦

When the Toyota Prius first came on the scene, the very fact that it was a hybrid car was enough to guarantee it success. If I'm honest, the magic hasn't completely worn off and there's still a sense of anticipation attached to driving a Prius, centred around the fact that it remains one of the most futuristic cars on the road. Hollywood celebrities and city dwellers pilled into ownership of this eco-friendly Toyota in order to project the right image to the world at large but if the car is to really catch on and sell like the Ford Focus or BMW 3 Series does, there will have to be more to it than a rosy public perception. That brings us to the latest Prius, a hybrid that aims to do more. The Japanese designers were obviously well aware that to take things to the next level of commercial success, the Prius had to pass muster as an ordinary family car. It was no good relying on the hybrid factor to generate sales because pretty soon, there will be lots of hybrids on the road and the advantage the brand worked so hard to build will be lost. Today's Prius still feels ahead of its time but it's also bigger, better looking, more powerful and easier to use. I like the sound of that.

At 4,460mm long and 1,745mm wide, this Prius is a large vehicle. Rear legroom is good but the swooping roofline means anyone over six feet tall will struggle for headroom. The battery pack is located under the boot floor and this means that the luggage space available in is quite shallow but there's plenty of length and a 445-litre capacity is far from stingy. The Prius exterior has a little more drama about it these days, the car looking wider and more planted on the road. The classic aerodynamic Prius shape is obviously retained (how else would everyone know you were driving a hybrid?), but the shapely headlight clusters, more pronounced wheelarches and a sharp crease running down the flanks make it more a engaging thing to view. The cabin itself is standard Toyota stuff, very well built but lacking a little sparkle on the design side. At least the neat blue gear lever offers some respite from the muted grained plastics. The wide dash top display screen is another point of interest with its series of graphical representations showing the operation of the hybrid system or various measures of how efficient the Prius is being and has been. The car gets a heads-up display as standard which projects key information onto the inside of the windscreen to avoid the driver's attention being diverted from the road.

Hybrid cars use various combinations of electric motors matched to internal combustion engines to save fuel. The Toyota Prius is one of only a few such vehicles that you can buy today and arguably the most advanced. From a driver's perspective it's incredibly simple. You can forget about keys, ignitions, clutches and gears. Get in, hit the power button, prod the jewelled joystick of a gear lever into drive and you're off. It happens in near silent electric mode at first but with the petrol engine joining in when required. If you don't particularly like the mechanics of driving, the Prius gets rid of a lot of them. The petrol engine in this Prius is a 98bhp 1.8 which can generate up to 134bhp with the electric motor's assistance. That's a respectable amount for a mid-sized saloon and the Prius has the performance of a respectable mid-sized saloon with a 0-60mph sprint of 10.5s. The engine is extremely quiet and the hushed experience is only spoiled at higher speeds by the wind and road noise. The ride is comfortable but there's nothing very sporty about the Prius. That might be asking too much of a car that can return 72.4mpg combined cycle fuel economy and 89g/km emissions.

Price is going to be an important factor for the Prius. We tried the range-topping T-Spirit model and it came fully-loaded with a hard disc satellite navigation system, an on-board music library, a reversing camera, Intelligent Park Assist and automatic wipers. The problem is that it's still a car that holds efficiency and the resulting low costs up as a key selling point, yet it's priced at over £21,000. To combat more affordable rivals, Toyota is emphasising the size and sophistication of the Prius, comparing its capacity to full-size family cars in the Ford Mondeo class. In truth, it is a little shy of these larger vehicles in terms of space and the driving dynamics don't compare but the Prius scores big on economy in this company and it certainly feels special.

I could live with this Prius. You don't feel like you're making major sacrifices with the car in order to get its hybrid drivetrain and excellent economy. That wasn't the case with previous versions of the car which felt small and sluggish by comparison. The latest design looks good too so all in all, I might have to declare myself ready to join the hybrid sisterhood.