For more than a decade, the Toyota Prius has been the public face of hybrid cars. A new, third-generation model was completely redesigned for 2010 to offer more features and even higher gas mileage. Now, for 2012, the Prius name expands beyond the iconic hatchback to include two new models.
The 2012 Toyota Prius hatchback hardly meddles with the pattern established in 2004: It's a five-door hatchback with a high tail and a split rear window. It's the most aerodynamic shape for a five-passenger mid-size car, and the Prius has one of the lowest drag coefficients of any car on the market--all in the service of fuel economy, which the EPA rates at a combined 50 mpg.
Inside, the styling is Space Age, complete with a "flying buttress" console that offers storage space underneath, though it can be hard to get to. The dashboard splits information into two areas: an Information Center mounted high and close to the windshield base, and more conventional instruments behind the wheel closer to the driver. Plastic surfaces are mostly hard, but the effect is distinctive if hardly luxurious.
The 1.8-liter engine is paired with Toyota's Hybrid Synergy Drive, which uses a pair of motor-generators that can power the car solely on electricity (at speeds up to 30 mph), add torque to supplement the engine power, and recharge the battery pack during engine overrun or braking. The combined output of the engine and hybrid system is 134 horsepower.
The 2012 Toyota Prius hardly handles in a way to gladden the hearts of sports-car drivers. The 0-to-60-mph time is just under 10 seconds, and the continuously variable nature of the hybrid system means engine noise isn't proportional to road speed--which can take some getting used to for new drivers. The electric power steering is lifeless and numb (as it seems to be on all Toyota models that use it), but it responds fine and the car gets itself around corners adequately. The blending of regenerative braking with the all-disc friction brakes is excellent, and Toyota's had longer experience than any other maker in refining it.
With the interior volume of a mid-size car, the Toyota Prius hatchback offers plenty of space for four adults, or five if the back-seat passengers are willing to stagger their shoulders. Rear-seat legroom benefits from hollowed-out front seatbacks, but in front, the seat padding is skimpy and the hard-plastic center console cuts into knee room for taller drivers.
The 2012 Toyota Prius fits seven airbags as standard, along with the usual array of anti-lock brakes, stability and traction control, and a tire-pressure monitoring system. Radar-based adaptive cruise control, a rear-view camera, and a lane-departure warning system are all optional, as is a "Safety Connect" system to alert first responders after a crash. The much-publicized Intelligent Parking Assist, which controls the steering wheel to help parallel-park a Prius using the car's cameras--though the driver must brake--is a step in the right direction, though Ford's system is better.
For 2012, the Prius five-door comes in four trim levels: Two, Three, Four, and Five. There's an ultra-stripped-down base-level Prius One, but it's only for fleet purchase, and civilians can't buy it. The lowest-level Two and Three models are priced in the low twenties, but the highest-spec trim levels--with either the Technology Package or the first-in-your-neighborhood solar moonroof panel, which runs a small ventilation fan to cool the cockpit when the Prius is parked--will go upwards of $30,000.
Notable features include the Touch Tracer steering-wheel controls, which let drivers swipe and navigate through menus displayed in the Information Display, keeping their eyes closer to the road ahead than if they focus on the close-in cluster. Remote air conditioning, LED headlamps, Bluetooth, and a navigation system are also available.
The biggest Prius news for 2012 is the addition of two new models. The first is the 2012 Toyota Prius V wagon, which offers far more load space, all the traditional Prius virtues, and a combined EPA gas-mileage rating of 42 mpg. After a series of delays due to the 2011 earthquake and tsunami in Japan, it went on sale late in 2011.
Coming in the early part of 2012 is the Toyota Prius Plug-In Hybrid, the first mass-market Toyota to plug into the electric grid to recharge its battery pack. It's virtually identical to the Prius five-door hatchback on the outside, but its battery pack holds three times as much energy, and plugging it in to recharge gives it 8 to 13 miles of all-electric range against the 1 or 2 miles provided by the standard model. Note, however, that unlike the Chevrolet Volt range-extended electric car, the electric range may not be continuous--the plug-in Prius will switch on its engine at any point it needs more power than the batteries can deliver. The EPA hasn't yet rated the Prius Plug-In Hybrid, and like all blended plug-in hybrids, its real-world mileage will depend entirely on how much it's used in all-electric mode.
"History," quipped America's greatest philosopher, "doesn't repeat itself...but it does rhyme." Mark Twain died 101 years ago, just as the practice of a whistle and a snap of the reins to your buggy's horse was giving way to hand-cranking newfangled automobiles. I'm no Twain scholar, but it's easy to imagine him lowering one of those famous caterpillar eyebrows and raising the other as those nutty new contraptions clattered past his Connecticut home-rather like our contemporary bystanders in Newport Beach, California (though with much better eyebrow grooming), who stopped and pointed as we photographed a Prius test car next to our long-term Chevrolet Volt and Nissan Leaf. Those Twain-like glances are understandable, though; it's been a century since any of us has known anything but petroleum-burning propulsion.What's brought us to this once-a-century inflection point? Pick your slogan: "Global warming is real!" "Imported oil endangers national security!" "Gas costs four bucks!" Whichever spikes their adrenaline level, people are starting to seriously ponder electric grid-assisted, or entirely grid-powered, automobiles (and creating some odd bedfellows along the way). What are the tradeoffs with living with a plug-in car? To find out, we compared the Prius I mentioned -- which, at a 50 combined mpg, is the most efficient "conventional" car in the country (hands down, in fact) -- against these two levels of electro-pluggability. If you're curious to dip a toe in the electrical current (with the other remaining in a familiar barrel of oil), there's the Volt, which hedges its 35-40-mile EV bet with a range-extending, 1.4-liter engine. Want to swan dive into the EV deep end? The only reason a Leaf needs to visit a gas station is to put air in its tires.
And, yep, for the first time ever, we've enlisted a Prius as a mere technological yardstick. The flip side is the implication that it's time to finally admit that the Prius is actually a mainstream (and even profitable) car. Supporting evidence: The Prius recently cracked the millionth-U.S.-sold milestone; its once-bizarre drivetrain is now discussed in commodity terms; and its nickel-metal-hydride batteries (originally so fretted about) are trying to outlive the cars they're mounted in. It's "effectively" conventional, too, in the sense that if you're oblivious to what's going under the Prius' snout, it doesn't matter. Just fill 'er-up with gas like any other car. (No need to search for any of those "exotic" diesel stations, even.) Motor Trend Rating: 
In Bob Lutz's cigar-smoke-scented new book, "Car Guys vs. Bean Counters," the father of the Chevy Volt declares that the Toyota Prius is a marketing stunt that bled Toyota to the tune of $300 million. However, Lutz continues, that money was very well-spent, as the Prius paid massive dividends in terms of good will from ill-informed consumers ("My Sequoia must get great mileage -- it's a Toyota!") and positive coverage from the elite, liberally biased press. ("Toyota builds the planet saving Prius; General Motors ushers in Armageddon with Hummer H2.") What Maximum Bob fails to mention is that Toyota has sold more than 2 million Prii, more than 1 million alone in the United States (with one third of that subtotal sold here in California) and has amortized the hell out of the initial investment by licensing its Hybrid Synergy Drive technology to any OEM that raised its hand. 
I just drove the Prius V, the second of four planned Prius models (or "family members," as Toyota likes to call them), proving that if nothing else, Toyota's hybrid machinations are much more than just a marketing exercise. In fact, you could argue that the Prius and its new siblings represent an honest-to-goodness business case. But is this new, bigger Prius any good? 
Let's get the not-so-positive stuff out of the way up front. Due to its size and state of tune, the 238-pounds-heavier V doesn't get 50 mpg combined-it gets 42 mpg (44 city, 40 highway). Meaning that if you don't actually need the extra space (A V is 58% more accommodating than the regular Prius), you're hurting the planet to the tune of 8 mpg in the name of comfort. Now, in Asia, the V is called the Prius Alpha and it has a third row. Here? There's no third row. Why? Well, Mazda can't give away its nifty but cramped three-row Mazda5, and Toyota knows full well that us Americans want and need more space. Which is why instead of the new V, Toyota will happily sell you a three-row Highlander Hybrid. Never mind the extra $10,000 or so. Motor Trend Rating: