Toyota has kept the prices of the forthcoming Prius exactly the same as the previous one, despite it being better in every way. Maybe it's had some Insight?
Whatever, it's an interesting approach from Toyota, who has decided against even a modest price increase for the third generation of its genre-defining hybrid. We'll be driving it very shortly, but no matter how good it is, it's no real surprise that Toyota has taken the highly marketable decision of not adding a few hundred quid across the board, especially when the
Honda Insight undercuts it by thousands.
Oh, but lest we forget, the T4 version is a bit more expensive, but like Toyota we'll mention that in passing then move swiftly on. Ahem. The other models, though, they're all the same, which means you're getting better performance, more equipment, better fuel economy and, of course, fewer of those dirty CO
2 particles that so blight the greenery of our planet.
We'll be driving it very shortly, so be on alert for our first drive of the difficult follow-up to Toyota's smash-hit second outing. Priced from £370 more than £18k, the base 'T3' model gets a head up display, multifunction steering wheel, smart door entry and heated mirrors - but no alloys, disappointingly. You'll have to trade up to a T4 for a set of those, and that's going to be £835 more than the current T4. Damn. And just a thought, but it strikes us that the mid-level model might be the best seller too.
Anyway, the range topper stays the same price, and comes heavily loaded with satnav and parking sensors front and back - and that's on top of the rain sensing wipers, Bluetooth and eight-speaker stereo that come with the T4 model.
It also has a drivetrain that's 24 percent more powerful yet ten percent more economical than the current car, with CO
2 emissions a miniscule 89g/km and a very non-miniscule 72.4mpg combined fuel economy figure. It bodes well, but we'll tell you more in a couple of weeks.
Mark Nichol - 29 May 2009