2024 Toyota Prius Prime SE: Long live the hybrid king

With a range of over 40 miles and limited charging needs, Toyota’s Prius plug-in hybrid may be the last internal combustion engine car you’ll ever buy.

The Toyota Prius Prime remains the king of the hybrids with a class-leading 52 mpg for the lightest SE trim.

And then we haven’t even mentioned the 72 kilometers of purely electric range that this specification offers after charging.

Under electric power, the Prime can travel at around 6.1 km/kWh, which is comparable to some of the most efficient electric cars on the road today.

An overnight charge on a standard 120-volt outlet takes about 11 hours. With a special Level 2 charger that supplies 240 volts, that time drops to 4 hours.

When the range of purely electric driving is exhausted, the Prime can continue on hybrid petrol.

Toyota and the EPA estimate that you can drive about 600 miles per tank of gas, but if you charge regularly, many drivers can go weeks without using a drop of gas.

The Prius’s interior is kept stylistically simple, but it’s packed with solid technology and excellent ergonomics.

What I like most is the freestanding digital instrument cluster. It allowed me to position the steering wheel more easily without blocking important information.

The Prius Prime SE has the most energy-efficient version and is equipped with aerodynamic 17-inch wheels.

Higher trim levels get larger wheels and more technology, which increases weight and reduces the electric car’s range and hybrid efficiency.

The front doors are equipped with mechanical handles.

…but the rear doors feature aerodynamic electronic handles integrated into the window frame.

In the event of a battery failure, each rear door has a small physical button that can be used to mechanically unlock the door.

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