I’ve been into cars as long as I can remember. One of my earliest memories is being in the backseat of my father’s canary yellow 1969 Dodge Charger R/T with black racing stripes, smoke rolling into the back windows as he burned the tires. This happened when I was about three years old, needless to say I get my love of cars naturally.

The amount of vehicles I’ve owned in my thirty years of driving could probably fill one (small) wing of Jay Leno’s garage. It all began with a coffee-colored 1968 Chevy Caprice, which probably got ten miles per gallon, if I was lucky, and was as big as the QE2. Then came a 1960’s Honda 350 motorcycle. Next in line was a white and gray 1986 Honda CRX HF, I can’t help but smile when I think of the memories made in that sporty little two seater.

Down through the years I traded and swapped a successive series of cars of all shapes and sizes but only a few were truly memorable. My last car, a 2010 Honda Fit, was one of the special ones. It wasn’t fast but was engineered better than any car I’ve owned. It handled like a sports car and hauled like a station wagon, it was truly magical.

I recently passed the Honda on to my parents and got a used candy apple red 2016 Toyota Prius Three. I bought the car just before my trip to Brooklyn to work on the HardFork Series. I figured what better way to get to know a car than a cross country road trip? I had my sights on a Prius for a long time and riding in @dougkarr ’s Prius during my last trip to New York in December sealed the deal.

We loaded our beagle and three weeks of essentials into the Prius in mid-January and began our journey. Before we even got across the Wisconsin state line it was apparent that this 4th generation Prius was a significant step forward in automotive engineering. This didn’t quite handle like a sports car but was far more responsive than the “driving appliance” nickname that the rabid gasoline worshipping Prius-haters tagged it with.

Interior

The ride is whisper quiet and sound insulation is more than adequate to muffle road noise. With the back seats folded down we had plenty of room for two large suitcases, a beagle, and all of our other essentials. The seats provided well-balanced support even for six or more hours of driving per day. The interior quality was equally as impressive, this one has the two-toned beige and gray interior scheme and I love the contrast in colors and materials Toyota chose.

Every surface you touch in the cabin is soft to the touch and appears to be of high quality. One of my favorite interior features is the wireless mobile phone charger on the center console (you can see the white-framed charging pad at the bottom center of the photo below.) Toyota's Entune app pairs my iPhone perfectly with the car's infotainment system to play music and synch my phone's contact list. Oh and my wife thinks the steering wheel looks like E.T.’s face...I tend to agree.

Exterior

The 4th gen exterior design of the Prius is polarizing. People either love it or they hate it. Overall, the sharp angles of the exterior design remind me of a stealth fighter jet. The front of the car looks like a scowling eagle swooping down and deliver a death blow to its prey. I happen to find a lot of humor in the fact that an eco-friendly hybrid looks so damned ferocious.

Like most Toyotas, fit and finish of the car is outstanding and the paint, a color called hypersonic red, is stunning. I can’t wait to get a coat of wax on it in the spring to see how it will glisten. My favorite exterior feature and of the car are these gorgeous, zig-zagging LED tail lights that are about three feet high. It might sound silly but the tail lights were the singular feature that got me to start considering the 4th gen over the 3rd gen Prius. We were following one on the freeway at night a few months ago and I thought it made the car highly visible in the dark and was just a cool design feature.

Driving and Performance

There’s a learning curve to the Prius. Through its center electronic display Toyota gamifies driving. The touchscreen display gives you “eco scores” that rate the efficiency of your driving as well as a display that shows you, in real time when the car is running on the gas engine, the electric motor, or a combination of both.

The first week or so I found myself distracted by this flood of information that was constantly being displayed...so much so I had a few close calls on the way to New York. Thankfully, Toyota had upgraded the software, which must’ve happened wirelessly at some point during our stay in Brooklyn. The new interface is totally different and far less distracting.

Acceleration is more than sufficient, especially when trying to merge or pass at highways speeds. The electric motor emits almost an imperceptible high pitched whine and, to my surprise, the gasoline engine even gives a little growl when the transmission kicks into overdrive. Lack of power was my main beef with the Honda Fit, acceleration was peppy from a stop but seriously lacked power above 45 mph.

The Prius has Normal, Power, and Eco engine modes and I've left it in Eco so far since there's less wheel slippage and there's ice and snow everywhere now in Minnesota. Steering is tight and responsive. There's four wheel disc brakes and, despite slight initial hesitation due to the regenerative braking system, when they stop they stop hard and fast.

Final Thoughts

After three weeks with this car, I absolutely love it. The owner’s manual is about 800 pages and many Prius owners, including me, recommend you read it cover to cover. After all, this thing is part car, part supercomputer and the better you understand how it works the more joy it will bring. With the Prius, Toyota hasn’t built the perfect car but they have built the perfect bridge between humanity’s fossil fuel thirsty past and our cleaner EV future.

We drove 3312.2 miles to Brooklyn and back. The car was loaded with a two adults, a beagle and a few hundred pounds of cargo, our average highway speed was 75 mpgs (or greater), and we averaged 48.1 mpgs (mostly highway) on the trip. We only spent a total of $147.49 on fuel during our round trip.

Let’s face it, the only way you’ll smoke the tires in a 4th gen Prius is to dowse them with gasoline and set them on fire but the car does have a combined hwy/city cycle average of 55 mpg and looks mean as hell standing still.

This will be the last car I own with an internal combustion (gasoline) engine. My next car will undoubtedly be a Tesla S or 3. For the next few years, I'll enjoy the tiny but mighty growl of this Prius’ gasoline engine while slowly becoming accustomed to the high-pitched whine of its electric motor. This car is training me for a more responsible future in all the best ways.

Yours in the Chain,

Eric

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