Prius or Volt - Which Would You Rather? - 2016 Toyota Prius Long-Term Road Test

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Prius or Volt - Which Would You Rather? - 2016 Toyota Prius Long-Term Road Test

Our long-term 2016 Toyota Prius is much better to drive than its predecessor, but is it a better overall pick than the Chevrolet Volt?

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longtimelurker

Functionally, they're not really comparable...if you have a 50-mile work commute every day, where the Prius is going to cost you dollars per day and the Volt is going to cost you pennies, that difference you're pocketing is going to immediately start getting eaten up.

stever

I would have guessed that people would go for the Prius only if they needed more interior room. Not because it drove better.

throwback

I rode in the new Prius recently. it certainly rode well, but that interior just hurts my eyes. The exterior is well, thankfully on the outside.

jlaszlo

The Prius must be an life-changing car to drive to overcome the ugliest exterior since the Aztek.

willin58

I figured the only people that would choose the Prius would be blind.

desmolicious

The Volt. Essentially 'free' to drive for the first 50 or so miles, and in my neighbourhood there are plenty of 'free' charging locations. (work, malls etc) Co-workers have them and tell me that sometimes they go months w/o having to go to a gas station.
It also looks nice.

misterfusion

I have nowhere to plug-in, so I guess in this comparison I would take the Prius. But in reality if I were looking for a hybrid car, I would probably take the advice of a previous post in this blog, and get the Malibu.

kirkhilles1

At an average of 55 MPG or so for the Prius, I think it's getting a harder and harder sell. I guess it depends on your driving, but if I/you can get 46 MPG easily on the 16 Civic on the Highway, it'd be silly to get a Hybrid for mostly highway driving. Now, for City Driving it would be better at 50 mpg vs 35 mpg, but even so I don't think the extra cost and complexity is worth it. Might as well go fully electric at that point. Toyota has done a great job with the Prius, but to me Hybrids have always been a transition vehicle going from ICE to Electric.

bankerdanny

If you know that you will need to carry 3 passengers in the back seat more than a token distance more than a token number of times a year then the Prius is the choice.

actualsize

I go back and forth on this one. It used to be easy, because the first Volt didn't have enough e-range for me, was half-baked on gasoline (noisy, so-so mpg, premium required, etc.) and had that huge cleft in its cargo area due to its separate rear seats. And wonky controls. My biggest beef with the last Prius was the crude ride and handling it had because it rolled on the suspension of a Yaris, but I could overlook that more than the Volt's shortcomings.

Now the Prius rides and handles nicely on a transformative new suspension, and it's even smoother and more persistent-feeling on what electricity it has at its disposal. But the Volt made an even bigger leap over its predecessor in terms of electric range, gasoline MPG and noise. There's now enough range for me to be interested in the electric side of it. They fixed my beef with the cargo area. The controls up front are no longer maddening. It's biggest problem is it now has the cruder of the two suspensions and the less-composed ride.

But that styling, though. Toyota made a huge mistake there. Why dare people to buy your car like that? I don't get it. The only one that deserves the Aztek award more is the Mirai.

csubowtie

I would go Volt all the way. I could easily go for months (possibly years, if we kept the "family car" for long trips) without filling up. The Volt is a good looking car. The Prius is just a huge vomit puddle of ugly. It really sets the bar for ugly, one that the Aztec could never reach. Plus the Prius just seems to me like more of a status symbol for people who don't like cars.

roadburner

Prius or Volt?
No.

ab348

Hard to imagine why anyone other than a Toyota loyalist (or GM hater I suppose) would pick the Prius.

justoneopinion

Volt -- like my 2017 -- by virtue of its exterior/interior style, premium electric experience 80% of the miles driven and 45+ mpg when the gas engine assists on a long trip. It also has the most efficient controls and infotainment interface of any car I've driven. I downplay the GM connection, though. I tell people I drive a Volt, not a Chevrolet.

A person might choose a Prius if they needed more rear seat space (Volt rear headroom is tight) or a smoother ride (Volt is jiggly hard) or they lived at an apartment community without charging facilities.

stever

A reporter would like to talk with car shoppers who either purchased or considered purchasing a Toyota Prius in the last few months. If you're willing to share your experience, please reach out to us at pr@edmunds.com by no later than Friday, September 16, 2016.