Cars.com Reviews the 2010 Toyota Prius

Interested in getting 50 mpg? Want a car that fits five people comfortably and is loaded with tech? Then have I got the hybrid for you: the 2010 Toyota Prius. After a thorough test of the new-generation Prius in Napa Valley — where the current-generation car is more plentiful than wineries — I came away more than impressed with the utility and interior refinement of the car.

The fact that it was nearly impossible to get under 50 mpg didn’t hurt, either. Oh, I did have a gripe or two. Check out the full review and ask any additional questions you may have in the comments below.

2010 Toyota Prius Review

Toyota Developing Rival for Honda Insight

Now here’s an escalation in hostilities the world can definitely use.

Mere days after Honda announced pricing for its 2010 Insight — billing it as the first hybrid on the market to come in below $20,000 — a Japanese business daily is reporting Toyota will fire back by developing its own cheap hybrid.

Toyota’s goals for the vehicle are to keep the price 20% to 30% cheaper than the Prius, and to get the car to market by 2011. Toyota presumably wants the vehicle to come in below $19,800, which is the price of Honda’s hybrid.

No one’s talking about expected mileage yet, but for comparison’s sake the EPA rates the Insight at an impressive 40/43 mpg city/highway, while the 2010 Prius tops that with 51/48 mpg city/highway. We’d expect Toyota’s new model to fall short of the Prius but stay competitive with the Insight.

Toyota Has Plans for a Cheaper Hybrid (Wheels)

2010 Toyota Prius Trim Levels Will Be Confusing

As I sat in my cubicle poring over data about the 2010 Toyota Prius for an upcoming review, I got to the meaty part of the research where I look into the trim levels that people will be able to buy when the car finally goes on sale in a few months. There was one problem: There were no trim levels listed, just equipment groups with a string of numbers, not names.

Not to worry, Toyota’s diligent PR department told me. There are trim level names to help consumers decide which Prius is right for them, they’re just not the same as the previous generation’s Standard, Base and Touring designations. Nor do they follow the naming conventions of other Toyotas, with trims like LE, SE and XLE. Nope. They use Roman numerals.

Toyota Revises 2010 Prius Mileage

Figuring out a car’s mileage rating is a tricky business, especially for hybrids. Toyota experienced issues while testing the new Prius, due out later this spring. Originally thought to be rated at 50/49 mpg city/highway, the company now says those numbers have been revised to 51/48 mpg.

The combined mileage remains 50 mpg.

More Toyota Prius news

2010 Toyota Prius Touch Tracer Display

There I was checking out the all-new 2010 Toyota Prius, the most hybrid of all hybrid cars around, and one feature surprised me more than anything. No, it wasn’t the solar panel roof or the remote start for the A/C. It was the Touch Tracer Display.

What? You haven’t heard of the Touch Tracer Display? Neither had we.

Every Prius comes standard with steering-wheel-mounted buttons that control the stereo, climate and display functions for the hybrid system. What the Touch Tracer display does is pop up a digital overlay on the center-mounted gauges showing what button your finger is on before you press it down to make your selection.

Ever turned the volume up instead of down? Ever hit the “channel up” button instead of “volume up”? This negates those blind presses with a useful display right in your line of sight.

The Touch Tracer display is standard on all 2010 Toyota Prius trim levels.

We’ll have more on how the system worked on the road later this month. Manufacturer supplied images of the Touch Tracer are below.

More Toyota Prius News

2010 Toyota Prius Rated at 50/49 MPG City/Highway

Toyota has announced that the 2010 Prius will be rated 50/49 mpg city/highway. The company had previously announced only a combined mileage rating of 50 mpg. The EPA ratings do not take into account the new Prius' Eco mode, which the company says adjusts the throttle and air conditioning to make the car more efficient. The Prius also features an all-electric EV mode, a Power mode for more-spirited acceleration, and a standard driving mode, which is the mode the EPA tested.

Last week, Cars.com was able to drive the new Prius and talk with a number of its engineers, but we won't be allowed to discuss the mileage we observed during our testing until March 25.

2010 Honda Insight vs. 2010 Toyota Prius

With the recent introduction of Honda's new 2010 Insight hybrid, comparisons to the Toyota Prius are inevitable. Both are relatively affordable hybrids, and each is a model unto itself, with no gas-only version offered. Each is a four-door hatchback with five seats (or at least five seat belts), and to top it off, all it took was some early Insight photos several months ago to drum up accusations of copycatting.

That's the least relevant comparison; I illustrate in my full Insight review that it's not so clear who's copied whom. I tested the Insight before the Detroit auto show, where Toyota unveiled its third-generation Prius, the 2010 model. Though we haven't driven it yet, colleague Kelsey Mays and I took the opportunity to compare it to the 2010 Insight at the auto show, extending my comparison with the current, 2009 Prius. If you don't have the wherewithal to watch a video of two nerdy guys talking about two nerdy cars, I'll give you the conclusion: It's an unfair test, at least until the companies announce pricing.

2010 Toyota Prius Video

Plug-in hybrids are all the rage right now in the press, but the king of the road when it comes to efficiency is still Toyota’s vaunted Prius. The third-generation 2010 Prius was one of the most significant cars to debut at the 2009 Detroit auto show, with a combined mileage estimate of 50 mpg. Check out our video in which Cars.com’s Kelsey Mays takes you in for a closer look at the new hybrid, inside and out.

2010 Toyota Prius vs. 2010 Honda Insight Video

One of the major stories from the 2009 Detroit auto show was the debut of the Honda Insight, which will supposedly be the lowest-priced hybrid on the market. Then Toyota came in with the 2010 Prius, which has an EPA combined fuel economy rating of 50 mpg, making it far and away the most fuel-efficient car out there. The race for king of the hybrid segment is on, and Cars.com’s Kelsey Mays and Joe Wiesenfelder have the first take on where each vehicle stands.

Up Close: 2010 Toyota Prius

Certainly the most anticipated car at the Detroit auto show was the redesigned Prius; at today’s unveiling, more rabid journalists surrounded it than any other car at any show I can remember. Even at a show rife with extended-range electric cars and lithium-ion batteries, a 50-mpg gas-electric hybrid with old-school nickel-metal hydride batteries is nothing to sneeze at. Especially because the new Prius suggests that Toyota, a company responsible for recent disappointments like the Corolla and Land Cruiser, could be back on track.

The front end looks busier but more enticing than before, with Scion-like shapes in the headlights and grille. From the side and rear, the car looks much like its predecessor, which, given that car’s iconic stature, is probably a good thing. Toyota doesn’t have any specs yet on exact volume, but the cargo area looks comparable to the Honda Insight’s, and, like before, there’s a large storage bin underneath the load floor, above the spare tire. The Insight has only an oddly contorted cubby around the spare tire.