Enlarge / The Prius used to be considered quite cool back when it was the first mainstream hybrid on sale. Now in its fifth generation, the new one finally looks really cool. (credit: Jonathan Gitlin)

“It looks fast,” said my neighbor as they eyed the sleek blue car parked in the shadow of their big BMW X5. That’s understandable; from time to time, there are quite fast cars parked in my spot, and this one looked the part, with a steeply canted windshield and big open-spoke alloy wheels wrapped with low-profile tires. In this case, looks are deceiving because the car in question was not a sportscar, it was the new Toyota Prius. Which, no, is not fast at all. But it is rather economical.

Design

The new Prius is a relatively small car by 2023 standards; even with the slight growth in width, it measures 181.1 inches (4,600 mm) long and 70.2 inches (1,783 mm) wide and, in Limited trim, stands 56.3 inches (1,430 mm) high. (Smaller wheels drop 0.4 inches/10 mm in the process.) In fact, that’s about as tall as a Corolla or Camry, yet neither of those cars has the stage presence of this Prius.

That’s because it has had a radical style upgrade for its fifth generation. It’s lower and wider than before and no longer looks like two different cars crashed into each other. Instead, there’s a more acute A pillar than you’d find in a Lamborghini Huracan, and the aerodynamicist’s touch is clear in the scalloped sides and cut-off tail.