10 Reasons Why The 2026 Toyota Prius PHEV Beats Every Electric Car
Should you buy the Toyota Prius plug-in hybrid? That’s what we’re going to find out. Welcome to Car Help Corner, where we help you, the consumer, master the process of car buying and ownership. When I get asked, what’s the best electrified plug-in vehicle to buy? Whether that’s a plug-in hybrid, a fully electric vehicle, or sometimes even just a regular hybrid, my answer is this vehicle right here, the Toyota Prius plug-in hybrid. And for this video, I’m going to share 10 reasons why it’s better than any EV that you can buy and why in the long run, it’ll actually save you more money. And then, of course, afterwards, I’ll get into some of the drawbacks of the Prius as well. But first, let’s begin with the highlights of what makes this better than an EV. And the first one is the electric driving range. So, just like a battery electric vehicle, the Prius plug-in hybrid is able to run on electric power alone up to around 45 m or 72 km on one charge, which means it has enough range to do your daily driving needs, going to work, running errands without having to use any gas whatsoever. And then when you’re done driving it for the day, you bring it home, plug it in, and charge it overnight. So, for the vast majority of buyers who just do an average amount of driving, you’re rarely ever going to need to use gas. But unlike an electric vehicle, the Prius plug-in hybrid has another major advantage, which is our second highlight, and that is having a backup gas engine. So, when you run out of electric driving range, the Prius switches to hybrid mode where the gas engine kicks on and you get a total driving range of around 600 miles or 1,000 km, roughly twice as much as just about any electric vehicle. So, you can take this vehicle on longer drives or road trips without having to worry about plugging it and charging it. And not only that, but it’s incredibly fuel efficient even when you just drive it in hybrid mode. Driving it around as a hybrid using gas, it’s able to get up to around 53 m per gallon or 4 1/2 L per 100 km, which is remarkable fuel efficiency. So whether you drive it as an electric vehicle on electric power or whether you drive it as a hybrid using gas, either way, this vehicle is a major moneysaver. But of course, having low running costs is an advantage that you get with any electric vehicle. What really makes the Prius Plug-in Hybrid such a major moneysaver and why it’ll save you more money in the long run is because of highlight number three, which is its legendary reliability. Unlike most electric vehicles, which are relatively new to the market and have untested reliability, that’s not the case with the Prius. Toyota has been making this vehicle and its hybrid system for decades now. And the reliability is absolutely rock solid. So much so that these vehicles are known to easily run for 2 to 300,000 mi or 4 to 500,000 km without having any major issues, which is why they’re often the go-to choice for many taxi drivers in many locations. The hybrid system consists of a very simple and proven naturally aspirated 2 L 4-cylinder engine that’s connected to two electric motors along with an ECVT planetary gear set transmission. A bulletproof transmission design that will last the life of the vehicle. And as mentioned, this hybrid system has been around for decades and is now in its fifth generation. So, it is pretty much completely debugged. They are just built to last and they just run and run. And Toyota backs them up with a rockolid warranty. You get a 10-year warranty on the hybrid battery which are easily known to last much longer than that. Typically upwards of 12 to 15 years. And unlike a fully electric vehicle which has an incredibly expensive battery pack, that’s not the case with the Prius. If the battery were to fail at extremely high mileage or old age, it’s really not a big deal to replace. And you can get a replacement battery for a Toyota hybrid for as little as a couple,000. And not only is the Prius known for being incredibly reliable and longlasting, but they’re very low cost when it comes to maintenance. And then we have our biggest money saver of all. The main reason why this will save you more money than an EV in the long run. our next major highlight and that is resale value. Unlike electric vehicles which are known to depreciate extremely rapidly, often losing upwards of 30 40% of their value within the first couple of years. That’s not the case when it comes to Toyota hybrids. In fact, it’s quite the opposite. Toyota hybrids have among the very best resale value of any vehicle type. They hold their value extremely well because they’re known for being very reliable, long-asting, low cost to own in terms of maintenance and fueling costs. And because of that, they are very desirable vehicles to buy, even when they’re 5, 10, even 15 years old. But it’s not just the money-saving factors that make this such a phenomenal car, because we have our next major highlight, which is the driving experience. This is an excellent car to drive. It has a wonderful balance between ride comfort, excellent handling, a nice quiet, smooth ride, and great performance. The hybrid system produces around 220 horsepower, which is more than enough for a car of this size and weight. And because of that, it is surprisingly quick. And not only is the performance excellent, but it has remarkably good handling. In fact, it feels nearly as sharp as a sporty hot hatchback. It’s incredible fun to drive with excellent balance and excellent ride comfort. This car just melts away the miles with absolute ease. It just has this wonderful balance to it that makes it a very satisfying, nice driving car. And that brings us to highlight number six of what makes this such an excellent vehicle, and that is the interior controls and features. What’s really nice about the Prius is that it really does not overwhelm you with having too much over-the-top technology. Unlike a lot of electric vehicles, which have interiors that are dominated by nothing but screens with no physical controls, making them very frustrating to use, that’s not the case with the Prius. Toyota created a really nicely balanced interior with a really nice large infotainment system with a great user interface that’s easy to use, straightforward, and has wireless Apple CarPlay and Android Auto. But they still give you plenty of real physical controls for adjusting your temperature, which is really nice to see, making this interior a lot more userfriendly and just more pleasant to use while on the move. And not only that, but the interior is also very high quality. It has excellent fit and finish, very high quality materials, and you can really tell that the build quality is absolutely topnotch. A major advantage that you get with the Prius is that all versions are manufactured in Japan, which helps explain why the build quality and reliability are just so good. And that brings us to highlight number seven of what makes this such an excellent vehicle and better than an EV, and that is the pricing. Compared to many EVs, which can be incredibly expensive, the pricing of the Prius plug-in hybrid is quite reasonable. It’s priced roughly between 35 to 42,000 US or around 42 to 51,000 Canadian. Now, to be fair, that pricing does put it roughly in the same range as many popular EVs that you can buy in the US. But when you factor in all the money that this vehicle will save you in the long run in terms of fueling costs, maintenance, its lack of repairs due to strong reliability, and the most important one of all that I mentioned, strong resale value. When you factor in all those things, this will save you more money in the end. which is why as far as electrified vehicles go, this one is one of the best values that you can get on the market. And then we have highlight number eight of what makes this such an excellent vehicle, and that is the fact that you can choose whether to get the Prius as either a plug-in hybrid or just a regular hybrid. That’s right. If you have nowhere to charge at your home or if you just prefer to have a regular hybrid vehicle, you can choose to get the Prius as a regular hybrid, which has some of its own benefits, such as the option of all-wheel drive, which is something that you cannot get on the plug-in hybrid version. Either way though, you get the same incredible hybrid system with remarkable fuel economy, low maintenance and repair costs, and excellent reliability. So either way, you really cannot go wrong. And that brings us to highlight number nine, which is a rather unusual one for a Toyota hybrid, and that is the deals that you can get on this vehicle. That’s right. Even though the EV rebates are no longer available, it’s actually surprisingly easier than you think to get quite a good deal on one of these. Unlike most Toyota hybrids, which tend to have very limited supply and extremely long waiting periods to get one, which eliminates the ability to often negotiate a good deal at the dealership, that doesn’t seem to be the same case with the Prius plug-in hybrid, which seems to have much better supply than any other Toyota hybrid vehicle. And at the time of this recording, most of the Toyota dealerships in my area had many of these in stock. And one client that I was helping to negotiate a deal, I was able to get him around $2,000 off the regular price. Now, I’m sure in parts of the US, you can negotiate an even better deal than that. But that’s the kind of deal that’s absolutely unheard of in Canada for a Toyota hybrid. So, if you want a valuepacked vehicle that you can negotiate a great deal on, at least a Toyota, this is the one. And that brings us to the 10th highlight of the Prius plug-in hybrid that makes it better than an electric vehicle, and that is the environmental impact. Now, of course, one of the motivating factors that does push a lot of customers towards plug-in vehicles is the fact that they do improve the environmental footprint. The issue though with a lot of fully electric vehicles is because they have such enormous battery packs, they actually use a very high concentration of rare earth metals, which reduces their environmental friendliness. And because most of the time you’re not even using that battery, just driving it around and using a very small percentage of its total capacity, most of that is just going to waste. Hybrids and plug-in hybrids, however, are a completely different story. Because the batteries are much, much smaller, they have a much lower concentration of precious metals. And because you’re using all of the battery capacity all of the time, nothing is going to waste. Toyota’s approach to environmentally friendliness is having a combination of hybrids, plug-in hybrids, and fully electric vehicles, which is what the company offers in its lineup. and I think that’s definitely the right approach to have. So, there’s a lot to like with the Toyota Prius. But having said all of that, there are some drawbacks to this vehicle that you need to be aware of before you consider buying one. First of all, it is a relatively small vehicle and not that practical. It doesn’t have an enormous amount of space, especially in the back seats, which are definitely on the tight side and also tight on headroom for taller passengers. The cargo area is also not that big, at least for a hatchback. You can fold down the back seats, but either way, it doesn’t have as much space as other hatchbacks or small SUVs. The visibility is also not the greatest. The windows on this vehicle are rather small, which will be bothersome to some because it’s just a regular car. It doesn’t have a lot of ground clearance. And as I mentioned earlier, the plug-in hybrid version is not offered with all-wheel drive. It only comes with front-wheel drive. If you want to have all-wheel drive, you have to get the regular Prius hybrid. Now, in a way, a lot of those things are not really major drawbacks because Toyota will tell you if you want to have all-wheel drive, you want to have more ground clearance and more interior and cargo space. Well, that’s what the Corolla Cross hybrid and RAV 4 hybrid are there for. So, I guess if you look at it that way, Toyota kind of does have a point. So, if this package works for you, you’re okay with its size, the space, and so on, this is an excellent vehicle to consider. It basically gives you most of the benefits of owning a plug-in electric vehicle with none of the drawbacks. And I’d say if you’re looking to get your foot in the door of plug-in vehicle ownership, this is an excellent, safe way to do it. So, let me know your thoughts on the Toyota Prius plug-in hybrid. Is this a vehicle you would consider buying? And would you own it over a regular electric vehicle? Let me know in the comments. And if you enjoyed this video, make sure to like and subscribe. And if you are planning to purchase a vehicle and you live in Ontario, know that OMVic is the vehicle sales regulator that’s responsible for administering enforcing the rules that dealerships must follow. To learn more about your consumer protection rights, visit envik.ca. And if you need any additional car buying advice, recommendations, or help with getting a great deal on your next new car purchase, make sure to visit carhelpcanada.com. including if you want a great deal on a Prius plug-in hybrid.
2026 Toyota Prius PHEV Review. We review and test drive the 2026 Toyota Prius plug in hybrid to find out if it is the best PHEV you can buy. We also cover the regular 2026 Toyota Prius and compare Toyota’s new hybrid to other hybrids you can buy. We also give 10 reasons why the 2026 Prius PHEV is better than any electric car. If you are buying a new hybrid car or considering a 2026 Toyota Prius, make sure to watch this review.
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00:00 Intro
00:38 Electric Range
01:20 Fuel Economy
02:22 Reliability
04:00 Hybrid Battery Cost
04:27 Resale Value
05:20 Ride & Handling
06:13 Interior Controls & Quality
07:30 Pricing
08:30 Prius Hybrid vs PHEV
09:12 Availability & Deals
10:25 Environmental Friendliness
11:42 Problems
13:03 Verdict
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ABOUT ME
With over a decade of experience as a professional car buyer and auto consultant, Shari Prymak has helped thousands of consumers with their car buying needs. Car Help Corner provides honest, objective, consumer advice with all aspects of car buying and car ownership. For more professional advice, check out Car Help Canada, become a member, and subscribe!
