2015 Toyota Prius - Quick-Take Review - Car and Driver (blog)
Overview: Combine an engine, an electric motor, and a battery pack and you get the hybrid car, a chimeric mixed-breed vehicle that has existed since the late 19th century but which never got much mainstream traction until Toyota gave us the Prius... This third-generation model arrived in 2010, which is the last time we were motivated to put one on a test track. It placed second to the Honda Insight in a three-way comparison test , soundly tromping a 1998 Chevrolet Metro but otherwise failing to impress anyone who loves cars and driving. The primary one appears on the mid-dash information screen every time you shut it off, like a yummy food pellet that motivates lab rats to run mazes: fuel economy that can top 50 mpg around town. With a fourth-generation model imminent, it’s time to gather some last impressions on this one. This generation was initially marketed in five trim levels, Prius One through Five, but the range now goes from Two to Five (the latter is not to be confused with the Prius V , a different, larger, wagon-y model). The biggest news of this generation doesn’t really apply to this example: Toyota installed a bigger battery pack, a plug, and some software to create the otherwise identical Prius Plug-In Hybrid model in 2012. If you don’t plug it in, it gets the... Source: www.caranddriver.com
