LIKES
- Top-notch fuel economy
- Good cargo room
- Available AWD
- Good value
DISLIKES
- Drives like an appliance
- Awkward design statement
- Unimpressive trims and materials
- Tight rear head room
BUYING TIP
The 2022 Toyota Prius is no longer at the technology leading edge, but it provides all the right numbers for cost-conscious commuters.
What kind of vehicle is the 2022 Toyota Prius? What does it compare to?
The 2022 Toyota Prius is a paragon of fuel-efficient driving. Although Toyota has for most of this green-car icon’s two decades positioned the Prius as the greenest, most technology-advanced vehicle in the Toyota fold, that status has faded a bit as environmentally aware shoppers shift to EVs and Toyota spreads its hybrid tech throughout the lineup. Today’s alternatives include the Honda Insight, Hyundai Elantra, and Toyota Corolla, as well as hybrid versions of the Ford Escape and Toyota RAV4.
Is the 2022 Toyota Prius a good car?
What's new for the 2022 Toyota Prius?
The Prius gets a Nightshade Edition for 2022 that brings blacked-out wheels, door handles, and badges, plus black trim accents inside and out. It also adds a heated steering wheel and heated black synthetic leather seats.
The current Prius wears triangular shapes, creases, and smooth surfaces that few people find appealing or settling—but it is aerodynamic in the ways that help it achieve high fuel economy. The rear styling is perhaps the most interesting, as sculpting along the sides converges into a split-glass hatchback. The cabin styling is a mashup between a cost-conscious entry model and a quirky eco car, and upscale versions with the larger 11.6-inch screen look a bit more cohesive overall.
The 2022 Prius is offered as a hybrid, in front-wheel-drive or AWD-e form, or as a front-wheel-drive Prius Prime plug-in hybrid. The Prius is perky but not downright quick, with dual electric motors packaged as part of a planetary torque-split transmission, incorporating a 1.8-liter inline-4 and making a combined 121 hp. Look to your fuel budget as the big beneficiary; the Prius returns up to 56 mpg combined. Prius AWD-e models add another small motor to the rear axle to help with grip and boost performance slightly.
Technically the Prius can seat five, but the sloping roofline cuts headroom in back and there’s not enough width for three adults in back—so it’s a good fit for two, or for a small family of four at the most. Rear seats fold neatly to expand cargo space, with volume that’s comparable to some of today’s popular crossovers.
The Prius comes well equipped with a 7.0-inch touchscreen with Apple CarPlay/Android Auto/Amazon Alexa compatibility, keyless start, USB ports, and driver assist features including automatic emergency braking with pedestrian detection, active lane control, and adaptive cruise control. Last year brought Android Auto compatibility to complement Apple CarPlay. Automatic emergency braking with pedestrian detection now includes traffic sign recognition, automatic high beams, and adaptive cruise control that can go down to a stop and restart without driver intervention.
How much does the 2022 Toyota Prius cost?
The Prius comes in L Eco, LE, XLE, or Limited trim with all-wheel drive available in LE and XLE. The L Eco started at $25,520 for 2021, including $995 destination fee, and ranged up to the $33,645 Limited model. We don’t expect 2022 prices to change significantly.
The Prius Prime follows the same logic with a $2,300 upcharge on LE, XLE, and Limited trims. But it’s eligible for a federal tax credit of $4,502.
Where is the 2022 Toyota Prius made?
The Prius is made in Japan.
Styling
The 2022 Toyota Prius faces the wind confidently—and that’s about it.
Is the 2022 Toyota Prius a good-looking car?
How can we dodge the question? The current generation of the Prius has shed the distinctive, podlike silhouette of previous models for a look that’s very busy. Busy at what, we’re not entirely sure. It’s a 3 out of 10.
The combination of a low, split triangular hood, and triangular headlights make the Prius look especially wedgelike, and if you skip to the eccentric rear styling of the car to see the sharp edges and a beltline bisecting the rear window you might find the theme; but in between it gets muddled with creasing, misguided contours and, well, too many triangular wedges.
Performance
Pulse-quickening? No, but perfectly adequate.
The Toyota Prius has aimed at providing high-mileage motoring first and foremost for its 20-plus years. Although it’s more exciting to drive than earlier versions of this green-car icon, the bar has risen and especially in base form it remains one of the turtles of the new-car market for its leisurely acceleration and unexciting handling. That makes it a 3 out of 10.
Is the Toyota Prius 4WD?
Front-wheel drive is standard on the Prius and Prius Prime, but all-wheel drive is available on the Prius LE and Prius XLE versions.
How fast is the Toyota Prius?
If it’s Prius or bust, the AWD-e models are the quickest, with 0-60 mph acceleration in about 10.5 seconds, while the base L Eco takes an estimated 12 seconds. The front-wheel-drive plug-in hybrid Prius Prime isn’t any quicker than AWD-e versions.
That said, the Prius is reasonably responsive on city streets, when its electric motor system can pitch in its torque right where it matters—with the ‘B’ setting there for more regenerative braking that aids with long downhill grades. But on a highway it can feel sluggish; remember to save some time and space for passing.
Comfort & Quality
Great cargo versatility makes the Prius a great shopping companion, but fully grown human companions might be cramped in the back seat.
Passenger space in the Prius is about as you’d expect for its exterior. Five people can fit snugly, but head room is a bit tight in the back and cramming three across simply won’t work in some cases. But the Prius has a low cargo floor, folding seatbacks, and as much cargo space as some of the crossovers it might get shopped against. That boosts it to a 6 out of 10.
The manual-adjusting front seats in most models of the Prius are neither skimpy nor plush; higher trim versions get eight-way power adjustable front seats that add customization if not comfort. Rear leg room and passenger space aren’t up to the standards of smaller crossovers, and taller riders in back will find a shortage of head and leg room.
The Prius may be low and sleek, but it doesn’t skimp on cargo space. With 27.4 cubic feet behind the rear seats, it’s as good as many small crossovers and actually better than mid-size sedans. With the seatbacks folded (split on all but the base L Eco) the number boosts to 50.7 cubic feet—enough for quite the grocery stock-up.
Safety
The 2022 Prius has a strong list of safety features, although narrow rearward visibility leaves us wanting.
How safe is the Toyota Prius?
Crash-test results and the features list both point to high standards of safety. While the Prius is no longer at the leading edge of efficiency tech, it offers a solid suite of driver assistance features—sold as Toyota Safety Sense 2.0—that includes automatic emergency braking with pedestrian detection, active lane control, adaptive cruise control, and automatic high-beam headlights. Blind-spot monitors and parking sensors remain on the options list.
With automatic emergency braking standard and a NHTSA five-star overall rating, let down only by poor rearward visibility through the narrow angular windows and sloping roofline, it earns a 6 here.
Features
Value and mpg are what defines the Prius, and the L Eco model is the way to find that.
Good connectivity and safety features make the 2022 Toyota Prius a strong value—especially among the most affordable vehicles in the lineup. That value plus good infotainment earns it a 7 for features.
Which Toyota Prius should I buy?
The 2022 Prius is offered in a base L Eco model, while both the Prius hybrid and Prius Prime plug-in hybrid are offered in LE, XLE, and Limited models. LE and XLE AWD-e models add all-wheel drive via an additional motor for the rear wheels.
All-wheel drive costs only slightly more (just $1,000 on the XLE, and we tend to think it’s worth the upsell.
The Prius Nightshade Edition, new for 2022, builds off the XLE trim but sounds a lot like the Special Edition model last year, including blacked-out 17-inch wheels, headlights, pillars, and mirrors.
How much is a fully loaded Toyota Prius?
Fuel Economy
Few vehicles top the Prius’ 56-mpg fuel economy.
Is the Toyota Prius good on gas?
The Toyota Prius is one of the highest-rated vehicles for fuel economy, and one of the most efficient models without a charge port. That earns it an 8 in this category, with the rating based on the stronger-selling gasoline model.
In L Eco trim, the Prius earns an EPA rating of 58 mpg city, 53 highway, 56 combined, thanks to more aerodynamic features, low resistance rolling tires, and a lower curb weight. Other versions of the Prius earn a rating of 54/50/52 mpg, and the AWD-e all-wheel-drive models drop about 3 mpg, to 51/47/49 mpg.
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