TOYOTA PRIUS

Back by popular demand with a cool new look and greater driver appeal

- MATT PRIOR

TESTED 3.9.24, DUNBARTONSHIRE DELIVERIES OCTOBER

It's nearly two years since Toyota took the wraps off the fifth-generation Prius and told British drivers they wouldn't be able to buy it. Sales of the previous model had slowed dramatically to fewer than 600 a year, as private buyers had quickly migrated to the cooler-looking C-HR crossover, while private hire buyers were being nudged towards the Corolla estate a move that suited them because it had more luggage space and suited Toyota GB because the Corolla is built in Britain.

But finally here we are: the model that got the great car-buying public used to a degree of electrification is returning to the UK. In short, enough people wanted it.

Quite a lot of things have happened to the Prius since its arrival in 1997, when 'I drive a Prius' was a badge of honour worn by those who wanted to virtue signal about how much they weren't into cars. Now low, sleek and sufficiently wedgy-profiled that Toyota is inclined to call it a coupé, is it actually becoming an enthusiast's car, I wonder? I wouldn't have expected that two and a half decades ago.