2026 Toyota Prius Plug in Hybrid | Complete Review | with Casey Williams
[Music] Hey everybody, it’s Casey Williams. I’ve been thinking a lot lately about what I want for my next personal car. You know, I really do want an EV. I have a home charger, so plugging in won’t be all that hard. I’m thinking the new Nissan Leaf, I like that a lot. The Chevy Bolts make a comeback. I like that a lot. The new Subaru Uncharted would be really cool, but I’m not sure that I’m quite ready to give up gasoline for long drives. So, to get an EV and gasoline, this might be my new perfect vehicle. The 2026 Toyota Prius plug-in with the Nightshade Edition. Let’s go a look at it. The Toyota Prius has always had unique styling. In fact, it’s used to become the poster child for what you think of as a hybrid, but they weren’t exactly a sexy looking car, and they were pretty geeky. That all changed with this generation of the Prius. It’s like they took the old geek, combined it with a Lamborghini, and came up with this. And I think it looks really sexy now. And I really do like it in the Nightshade edition, too. And that addition gives you the blacked out trim, the blacked out logos, and I really do like this yellow paint as well. But I like I like this front. I like the blade in the front. I like the design of it. I like the squinty headlamps, the 19-in black wheels, the black surround. But it’s really from like this angle where you really see how low and wide and gravious. It’s just really, I think, really a beautiful car. And when you see it going down the road, you know what it is. you know it’s a Prius, but then you go what’s different about it? It’s like it’s just they just got the design right. Who says that a Geeky Hybrid can’t also be really pretty? I just just the conial creases and lines, the deck, all of it. I think he did a really nice job with it. Another thing I like about the last few generations of Priuses too is the hatchback. Not only is it efficient, not only can you run out electricity sometimes, but you also have a lot of space back here. Split fold rear seats fold down. You get a bicycle in here, you gota get your luggage to the airport, not going to be a problem. A very practical, very usable car. You may think of the Prius as a compact car, but it’s really more of a midsize car in terms of interior space. And you can really see that in the leg room. I mean, it’s pretty comfortable back here. And I’ve had some other Toyota Corollas recently, and they feel much, much tighter, but this is actually very comfortable. Plenty of space. Get a couple kids in here going to school, take a couple friends to lunch, no problem at all. And I like the seats. The seats are super comfortable. They’re even bolstered a little bit. They’re faux leather. They’re not real leather. That’s fine. It just means it’s easy to wipe off the kids stains. Get some dust and dirt out of here if you’ve been bicycling, hiking, and using the car. Nice big armrest with cup holders in it. A couple of nice convenient things that I really like. First of all, I like that the kid child seat hooks are right here. Easy to access them. Some cars you kind of have to dig into the cushions, but they’re right here. Easy to click in. Down below, we’ve got charging ports, USBs, and a household outlet down here as well. So, also very convenient. I like that they extended the sunroof back here. There’s no need to have power covers. This works fine, but you get a little bit of light. Keeps it from being dark back here. Mat pocket here. Be really nice if there’s one on this side, too. It’s not a not especially a cheap car. And you start clicking around, you find some hard plastic. Again, really isn’t becoming of a car in this price category, but overall comfortable and nice back here. I really, really, really like the interior of the Prius. It does feel like electric car. Phil feels very much like the Subaru Uncharted that’s on the way. Mostly because the Subaru was was mostly developed by Toyota. But it really does have that EV feel to the cabin. You sit down in it. You guys nice high console, little flick switch here for the gear selector, wireless phone charging, but also some nice space and just the layout. It feels I you feel the roof come back because I mean it is kind of a low slung car with a a fast roof line. Um but it also feels roomy enough. I like the steering wheel. I like that you can the way it’s designed. You can see right over top of it. See the flat screen gauge cluster. Wide touchcreen here. And it’s got serious satellite radio. It’s got wireless connections for Apple CarPlay, Android Auto, and again wireless connection to charge your phone down here as well. USBs if you want them. But just a lot of space, a lot of flexible space. Automatic climate control, heated seats for both both the front passengers, a heated leather wrapped steering wheel. Again, just a lot of comfort on those those nice cold days. I would really like a proper head-up display, but I think this is a very close second. It’s right in your ey line. You can see down the road, and it is very crisp and clear and easy to see. Sunroof. This does not have the optional audio system on it, but it actually sounds really good. I’ve been you using it all week and sounds sounds pretty good. But overall, I really just really like being in the car and it’s a comfortable place to be. I’ve driven Priuses, you know, pretty long drives, 800 mile drives, um, and was perfectly comfortable inside of them. So, here’s where the Prius plugin gets interesting. You’re probably familiar with the regular Prius. Gets phenomenal gas mileage, good range, just a very efficient, easy car to drive every day. But this is the plugin. And this is why I think I would choose this perhaps over a pure EV. So you plug it in, plug in your home charger, you get 40 miles electric range. So for me, getting to the office and back, running errands on the weekends, take my daughter to school, doing things I need to do on a day-to-day basis, 40 miles range is enough. Especially if I’m at work and I tap into a charger there, replenish while I’m working, you know, then it’s more like 80 miles range in a day. Or if I can find a charger somewhere else, a pedal charger. So, it gives you a lot of EV range very easily. But this also has a gasoline engine. So, you drive the 40 miles, about 40 miles, and the gas engine automatically starts up and you just continue on your journey. So, this was when I had charged in, it was showing about 430 mi total range, electric plus gas. You can drive a really long ways when you’re in full gas mode. And that’s all you’re running just as an EV. It’s a 48 mile per gallon vehicle, so pretty darn efficient. If you combine the 40 miles of electric range and the gas over the o over over the tank, it’s about 140 114 miles per gallon equivalent is what they claim. So, phenomenal gas mileage even when you’re running it as a gasoline vehicle. But again, drive it home, I can plug I did this overnight, plugged it in my home charger, and now I’m full and it’s quiet. It’s full EV mode and all the stuff you’d like about an EV. Plenty of torque, quiet, easy to own. All that’s true of this car as well. But if I want to go to California tomorrow and get in this car, I load up the big luggage compartment and off I go. It’s also pretty powerful and it’s actually kind of fun to drive. The old Priuses really weren’t fun to drive. This one has 220 horsepower with that electric torque, so it feels pretty peppy. Has a multi-link rear suspension now. tight steering. So, you can put this car through the corner. And because it’s low and wide, it handles pretty well. It’s actually a lot of fun to drive, too. Find that curvy road on the weekend. It’s great. And then, like I said, I’ve driven this car, you know, 800 mile days or so. This one has lumbar support in the seat, nice cushions. You know, the Prius is kind of a step above the Corolla, so it feels that way. It’s not a cheap car, but it’s it’s just to me, it’s just been an absolutely delightful car to spend time in. If you’re like me and you like the idea of owning an electric car, but you’re just not sure if you are ready to try to charge a vehicle out on the road, if you have a little bit of range anxiety, and you just want something that’s a little easier to deal with just in case you want to get on the road, I think this car is really a good choice. Again, you get the 40 mi range and then the gas engine fires up and you can just drive it on as you want to, getting 48 m per gallon and enjoying the drive. The other thing you’re going to like, I think, is the price. So, the regular Prius starts under $30,000 without the plug-in system. But this one with the nightshade package, I think it’s really affordable at $41,34. So, 41 grand for a car that you can drive as an EV every single day. Plenty of room in it. Pretty sexy looking styling at this point. Toyota quality and just a very nice car to own. So, next week, we’ll have another fun car and until then, storm forward.
Don’t have time for the full video? Check out the short take.
