Prius+ In The Pink With What Car? Green Award
It’s only been on sale since July, but Toyota’s Prius+ has already shown winning form in picking up the best MPV title in What Car? magazine’s 2012 Green Awards.
The honour for Prius+, Europe’s first seven-seat full hybrid, recognises its impressive fuel economy and emissions performance, as tested by What Car’s own True MPG programme, as well as its flexible and user-friendly interior design.
What Car’s judging team said: “As well as giving Prius+ green credentials that no other seven-seat MPV can match, its low fuel consumption and CO2 emissions make it cheap to run as a company car and mean that you don’t pay any road tax.
“Prius+ is as practical as a good MPV should be, too. Clever packaging means there’s space for five adults to sit in comfort. Each of the middle-row seats slides, folds and reclines individually, so you can share out space between the second- and third-row seats. The boot is a good size in five-seat mode, too.”
Chas Hallett, What Car? editor handed the award to Jon Williams, Managing Director and President Toyota (GB), at a presentation evening in London last night. Hallett said: “No other seven-seat MPV can run emission-free in town for short periods the way Prius+ can.
“It’s also very well equipped and specified, economical to run and comes with the reassurance of Toyota’s five-year/100,000-mile warranty. It’s a great car that allows motorists who need the convenience of seven seats to reduce their impact on the environment.”
Prius+ marks an extension of Prius from a single model to a self-contained range of full hybrid vehicles, alongside another newcomer this summer, Prius Plug-in. Key to its success as a capacious, seven-seater is the fact it uses a compact but powerful lithium-ion battery pack that is housed neatly in the console between the front seats, so avoiding any intrusion in the loadspace or passenger room.
As well as being highly fuel efficient and clean – official figures of 68.9mpg and 96g/km for the award-winning T4 model –Prius+ Hybrid Synergy Drive system is exceptionally smooth and refined to drive. It combines a 98bhp (73kW) 1.8-litre VVT-i petrol engine and a 60kW electric motor, driving through a stepless electronic CVT gearbox. In normal driving, power is sourced from either motor or engine, or a combination of both, to give the best balance of power and economy; thanks to the full hybrid technology, the driver can switch to Eco or Power modes to suit driving preference, or run the car for a limited distance in all-electric EV mode, cutting fuel use and tailpipe emissions to zero.
The clever Toyota packaging which helped Prius+ clinch its award includes two third-row seats which can be folded flat into the floor when not required. With all rear seats folded, 1,750 litres of loadspace is available, while with a full complement of passengers aboard there is still a respectable 232 litres behind the rearmost seats.
