Toyota / Prius / 5-dr hatch range
Overview
TOYOTA’S third-generation Prius hybrid brings significant strides in engine and handling performance, draped in a sexier outer skin, but continues to be the standard bearer for fuel consumption and exhaust emissions.
Toyota believes that will make it more attractive to a wider audience and so expects it to be the most popular Prius ever, despite the fact it’s significantly more expensive at both base and premium-specification levels.
Offsetting a near-$40,000 starting price are higher levels of standard safety and convenience features, slightly more space and improved refinement, while the $53,500 i-Tech flagship delivers the same Corolla-like qualities of the standard Prius, but adds a host of cutting-edge Lexus technologies like radar cruise control, a pre-crash safety system and the option of a self-parking system.
Model release date: July 2009
Previous model
TOYOTA’S quirky original Prius first emerged at the 1995 Tokyo motor show before hitting Japan in 1997, but didn’t make it on sale in Australia until 2001, priced at $39,990. It was replaced after just two years in October 2003 by the second-generation Prius, which was a five-door hatchback powered by a 57kW electrically-assisted 1.5-litre engine (up from 53kW), priced from $36,990. A higher-specification i-Tech version was also available, priced at $45,090. Before the more expensive Corolla-based MkIII Prius arrived here in July 2009, the MkII Prius was last sold at a starting price of $37,400.
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