By William Byrd
Oh boy, I’ve been looking forward to this one! That’s something I’ve only ever said once when a Toyota Prius appeared on my review roster. It was about two years ago when I got my first taste of the fifth-generation XW60 version. For 2025, a new trim, the Nightshade Edition, is now available. Sounds pretty cool, and it’s certainly bright. Let’s see what’s what.
2025 Toyota Prius Overview
Your 2025 Prius menu is quite extensive. It starts with a base price of $28,350 for the LE model and goes up to the high-end Limited AWD, which costs $36,765. In between, you’ll find the new Nightshade Edition, starting at $32,560. This aligns almost perfectly with the Prius’ average price of $32,557.50, making it an excellent midrange option in the Prius lineup.
You can read through the standard stuff below. Our tester has only two upgrades: the 12.3″ Toyota Audio Multimedia for $735 and the Fixed Glass Roof for $1,000, bringing the grand total to $36,830.
Let’s see how this midrange Prius tackled a week of D.C. commuting.
2025 Toyota Prius Limited: Inside & Out
“Holy shit it’s yellow!” I exclaimed as it was dropped off at my house. It was replacing a 2025 Audi Q6 e-tron in a fairly mundane shade of bluish gray, so I was excited to see a fun paint color. The official name is Karashi, though it says “Mustard” on the window sticker, which is a bit less interesting.
There is nothing uninteresting about the Prius, and the Nightshade looks phenomenal in yellow. When I first tweeted about its arrival, a comment noted that it… looked like a taxi. That’s hard to unsee, yeah. Still, the lines are stunning. The designer blended a great mix of angles into a curvy, slippery shape that helps the Prius achieve 53/54 mpg in the city and on the highway.
The interior is not as dramatic, embracing recent Toyota design language while infusing the Prius with some of the original quirkiness it was known for. Similar to the OG Prius, the driver’s screen is positioned prominently at the top of the dashboard. Unfortunately, depending on your seat height and the angle of the wheel, it can get blocked at times.
The large (and upgraded) touchscreen provides most of what you need to see, and I was able to connect to wireless CarPlay pretty easily. The Prius has an excellent spot for the wireless charger, essentially where I usually place my phone. However, it doesn’t always work; I found that bumps and turns shifted it just enough to prevent it from staying connected, so I ended up using the USB-C cord for charging.
The sound system isn’t particularly special, but Warren G’s “Regulate” had things bumping quite well. There’s even a volume knob, but it’s placed far away on the right side of the infotainment screen. Interesting fact: the Prius has two sunroofs as part of the optional glass roof. However, they aren’t powered; you just use your hands to open the covers.
There is 34.8 inches of maximum rear legroom available, which is often a source of one of the few complaints from buyers. Of course, the previous generation Prius had 1.4 inches less legroom. Cargo space measures 20.3 cubic feet, which is enough to fit a euphonium, in case you were wondering.
Overall, the compact Prius is an excellent size for everyday driving, provided you don’t need to transport a lot of people.
2025 Toyota Prius Limited: On the Road
The 2.0L inline four-cylinder produces 196 horsepower and weighs a (now reasonable) 3,285 pounds. This allows it to accelerate to 60 mph in approximately 7.7 seconds. That’s adequate; it gets you moving from a standstill or into a passing lane without much fuss. What I particularly appreciated was how smoothly the transition is between hybrid power from the electric motor and the gas engine. However, I did notice that the EV light which appears on the dash resembles a turn signal, so I find myself staring at it, thinking I left it on.
On a crowded highway or city block, visibility isn’t always great. With the relatively low ride height and sleek shape, it’s difficult to see the front corners. I nearly ran over a curb in a median, only noticing it at the last second. Toyota offers a comprehensive suite of Safety Sense driver assistance features to help mitigate some of that, though.
Summary
What I still didn’t expect was the reception from random people on the street. I think it’s a very attainable desire to see it and learn more about it since it looks so good. The color, in particular, was very popular. I walked out of a store behind a family who were saying, “I really like that, love the color.” My daughter, whose mom has a new black Prius, didn’t even notice what it was at first!
In summary, it has a super-impressive mpg rating, looks amazing, and is reasonably priced. You should go buy one.
I’m not suggesting that this car is irrelevant, or that the review of it is in any way sub-par, but it’s not Hooniverse-worthy. At least, it’s not within the scope of the Hooniverse that originally got my attention several years ago.
Most of the content now is Autoweek-level stuff. There are dozens of websites putting out similar material— predicable, vanilla coverage of ordinary and often banal vehicles. I used to come to Hooniverse for the quirky, unpredictable insights: the unusual finds, the spotlight restos, the reader queries. Now it’s mostly normal car reviews.
If this is the result following the intended business plan, or if it’s just the inevitable evolution of the website, that’s fine. It is what it is, and I’ll move on. But if it’s just on autopilot because life has pulled the influencers in other directions— and I understand that completely— then it’d be nice to know if and when someone’s planning to grab the wheel, goose the throttle, and drift this thing into a power slide.
That’s a very fair point, we’ve discussed this among the group. Most (all) of us have day jobs and specifically in my case I get new cars to review for fun. Next week I have an LC 500, this particular week I had a Prius. A lot of the not-too-hoony articles still bring in some site traffic but totally understand your point.
I’m actually wondering if this is the natural trend not only for here but other car centric websites.
To be fair, I’m glad that William is reviewing a mid tier Prius ( with normal-ish pricing)as compared to the plethora of blob like SUV reviews that proliferate the auto spectrum.
Hopefully the pendulum will swing back not only in reviews but automakers introducing more exciting cars.
Currently working with a local dude to build the rear axle for my Mustang, cooking up a camping trip as well as updates for the Montero, and yes the MB wagon is still waiting to get built. Hopefully I will have news on all three of those soon. As they are all more fun than most news cars out there… but also editing a video on the Charger Daytona EV, which is a confusing yet interesting thing.