2017 Toyota Prius Four

2017 Toyota Prius Four Hybrid

Test Drive

Written by Marco Carvajal

Photographs by Marco Carvajal

In 2017, The Prius is celebrating its 20s birthday. It comes with a sleek futuristic design, upgraded interior and several safety features, this birthday boy would surprise most car drivers, it is a completely new Prius. It feels like a car-space ship, but it doesn’t fly…no yet!

2017 Toyota Prius Four is a full hybrid electric 5-door hatchback. It has a sharp design and looks like a Japanese origami.

Introduction

2017 Toyota Prius Four

The Prius 2017 model is available in 7 trim levels: Prius One, Prius Two, Prius Two Eco, Prius Three, Prius Three Touring, Prius Four and Prius Four Touring.

The 2017 Prius Four is a full hybrid electric 5-door hatchback. It has a sharp design and looks like a Japanese origami.

Toyota engineers must have had hard times designing a vehicle, which would demonstrate a good performance and yet consume very little gasoline. Hard to believe but the Fourth generation Prius promises to cover 54 miles on a single gallon of gasoline. I drove the Prius in several areas of Florida, and I was not able to spend the full tank, it is amazing how much you can save in gas when you drive a Prius. However, besides such hybrid electric and gas engine, the performance was good.

The highlight of 2017 Toyota Prius Four is its twisted Bi-LED elements in the headlights, integrated fog lights and accent lights, what bring us a very cool modern futuristic design to this machine.

But not only the looks sell. Safety does also. That’s why on all 2017 Toyota Prius Toyota Safety Sense-P is a standard feature, something that was optional on the previous 2016 Prius Models.

I am impressed by how quiet is the engine, turn on or turn off the engine and there is almost no difference in the sound. As I drive the Prius I can hear sounds surrounding the road, that I can’t usually hear when I drive other cars because of the engine’s noise. Driving the Prius Four feels like if you are playing ambience music due to the super quiet engine.

Toyota History

Kiichiro Toyoda founded Toyota Motor Corporation and the automotive Toyota Group. The idea of his own business goes back to the time, when he used to assist his father’s carpentry business, and decided to find a way of improving the batten-equipped tall loom.

In 1890, Sakichi moved to Yokohama in order to apply a patent for his renewed hand loom design, traveling to the patent office in Tokyo to file the necessary application. It was a wooden handloom and the patent application was accepted in November that year, and was awarded a patent No. 1195, “Loom”, the following year on May 14, 1891.

June, 1933 he started to prepare for the new Automotive Production Division and sent his director to the U.S. and Europe to buy machine tools for automotive production that had been thoroughly carefull studied beforehand and concentrated his efforts on a design that used common parts, so that customers could use service parts for the Ford and Chevrolet vehicles that were prevalent in Japan at the time. The very first SB truck was launched in April 1947, small truck equipped with the S engine.

In 1997 Toyota, has manufactured Its Prius, which translates as “first”, superior”.

I am impressed by how quiet is the engine, turn on or turn off the engine and there is almost no difference in the sound. As I drive the Prius I can hear sounds, surrounding the road, that I can’t usually hear when I drive other cars because of the engine’s noise. Driving the Prius Four feels like if you are playing ambience music due to the super quiet engine.

Pricing & Versions

The Prius is available in very diverse pricing options for all budgets, from 20K to 30K. Very affordable price for one of the most fuel-economy cars available making 52 MPG wow!.

Exterior

2017 Toyota Prius Four has a beautiful exterior, especially if you like modern futuristic cars with a trendy silhouette. I wasn’t in love with the Prius before, but the Prius Four definitely got me. The exterior look is really beautiful. The Prius’ exterior is catchy, very Japanese ultra modern.

• Bi-LED projector low- and high-beam headlights with auto on/off feature
• LED Daytime Running Lights (DRL) with on/off feature
• LED taillights and stop lights
• Heated power outside mirrors with folding feature
• Color-keyed outside door handles
• 15-in. 5-spoke alloy wheels with two-tone wheel covers and P195/65R15 tires
• Intermittent rear window wiper
• Rain-sensing variable intermittent windshield wipers

Interior

2017 Toyota Prius Four has a very nice interior, I like a lot the control panel, again it make me feel I am driving a spaceship, very bright lights and a high resolution screen. Many tools available with the push of the button, you can monitor the Prius 100% with its cool control panel. Star Trek and Star wars would easily use the Prius Panel as one of their small spaceships when stopping by and visiting a planet on their journey. The backup camera is very good, great rear view and amazing display quality.

Some of the Interior features are:

• Smart-flow climate control system with pollen filtration
• Integrated backup camera
• Entune^® App Suite – Destination Search, iHeartRadio, MovieTickets.com, OpenTable^®, Pandora^®, Facebook Places, Yelp^® and Slacker Radio; real-time info including traffic, weather, fuel prices, sports and stocks. Access to Entune^®App Suite is subscription-free
• 4.2-in. color dual Multi-Information Display (MID) with customizable screens including Energy Monitor, Hybrid System Indicator and Eco Score, Eco Savings Record, Drive Monitor, Eco Wallet, Eco Diary, climate control, driver support systems, audio system content and navigation system content
• SofTex^®-trimmed heated front seats with seatback pockets; 8-way power-adjustable driver’s seat with power lumbar support; 4-way adjustable front passenger seat
• Soft-touch upper door trim with chrome accent, SofTex^®-trimmed door armrest area with chrome accent interior door handles
• Smart Key System on three doors with Push Button Start and remote illuminated entry
• Power windows with auto up/down
• Power door locks
• Dual sun visors with illuminated vanity mirrors
• Cargo area tonneau cover
• Two front and two rear cupholders; two front and two rear bottle holders
• Qi-compatible wireless smartphone charging with charge indicator light

The backup camera is very good, great rear view and amazing display quality

Safety

2017 Toyota Prius Four has several safety features that will help you make your ride easy and secure.

• Star Safety System^™ — includes Enhanced Vehicle Stability Control (VSC),²³ Traction Control (TRAC), Anti-lock Brake System (ABS), Electronic Brake-force Distribution (EBD), Brake Assist (BA)⁴⁶ and Smart Stop Technology^®(SST)
• Driver and front passenger Advanced Airbag System
• Driver and front passenger front seat-mounted side airbags, passenger seat cushion airbag, driver’s knee airbag, and front and rear curtain shield airbags
• LATCH (Lower Anchors and Tethers for CHildren) includes lower anchors on outboard rear seats and tether anchors on all rear seats
• Tire Pressure Monitor System (TPMS)
• Toyota Safety Sense^™ P (TSS-P) — Pre-Collision System with Pedestrian Detection (PCS w/PD), Lane Departure Alert with Steering Assist (LDA w/SA), Auto High Beams (AHB) and Full-Speed Dynamic Radar Cruise Control (DRCC)
• Blind Spot Monitor (BSM) and Rear Cross-Traffic Alert (RCTA)
• Hill Start Assist Control
• Engine immobilizer

Conclusion

2017 Toyota Prius Four definitely can get anyone’s attention. It has sharp super modern design, amazing fuel economy results at an average of 52 miles per gallon, soft-to-touch interior with all the technology that any modern car has on board and more.

For those looking for a city friendly hatchback at reasonably fair price around 25K, then the 2017 Toyota Prius Four should be in your shopping list.

The 2017 Toyota Prius Four doesn’t differ much from its predecessor 2016 Toyota Prius Four. Toyota Safety Sense-P, which is a standard feature now on all 2017 models, and some small differences. But it continues being a great innovative car that those who like save gas and money would love. Besides a great price and great full economy it really is a nice car to drive and to look at. If you don’t like modern cool looks and prefer a classic more elegant card, then maybe the Prius is not the best car for you.

According to The United States Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and California Air Resources Board (CARB) the Prius is the cleanest vehicles sold in the United States based on smog-forming emissions, so those who love helping the environment should give it a try. A great hybrid for a great price.