'16 Prius as a loaner. Toyota seems to have listened!

I've been driving a new mid-level prius as a loaner while my Rav is getting seatbelt recall and axle noise fixed.

The new prius has an interesting new behavior and a few other changes. This is great to see, as I have been in a 3 year focus group for Toyota specifically for the Prius. Many of my gripes have been addressed. (Admittedly, they didn't address the need for a fully electric prius, lol)

MPG so far has been over 70. For reference, my same driving pattern in the rav gives me over 4.0m/kWh

-The biggest surprise? Power mode stays persistently activated, even after powering the car off. I always drive in sport in the Rav, and it's annoying that in the Rav it defaults back to normal.

-EV driving is available more frequently and without much effort. The car seems like it jumps to full EV at every opportunity. Even at much higher speeds.

-'Net zero' on the power meter is also much easier than before.
-Initial engine warmup cycle is extremely fast, so you're not stuck sitting at a red light with the engine running.

I'm not at all planning to go back to a hybrid, but for those who cannot make an EV work, this is a pretty good option.

While it's not at all my cup of tea, I expect the 2017 Prius Prime will do well in the marketplace - mostly because it looks so much better than the 2016 Prius Liftback. In all seriousness, it should be a serviceable PHEV that can actually be driven all electric until the battery is depleted, quite unlike the original Plug-in Prius.

I received a fully loaded loaner, I wasn't that impressed by it. Tons of road noise, cheap plastic despite being the model IV and the drivetrain is still slow compare to the RAV4 EV. If you can get a good deal, I would go for the RAV4 hybrid. My mom recently got a brand new one for 26.5K (MSRP 30500), I don't think you will get that in California though.