Toyota Prius Prime PHEV Hits the Racetrack, Is Not the Slowest

I think we can all agree the Toyota Prius Prime is a pri... strong example in that sense as the plug-in hybrid vehicle was designed with efficiency in mind, and nothing else. That obviously includes design, as any glance at its exterior will immediately confirm. Indeed, it's been years since the current Prius came out and that horrible exterior has not gotten better with time.

The fuel efficiency that made it the flag bearer for ecofriendly cars so many years is still intact, and that's all that matters for the hybrid. It comes with a price, though, and that's the laughable performance figures: you know every horsepower counts when the official output is 121 hp, and not 120.

The guys at Out of Spec Motoring have a new YouTube series called "One Lap" where they take various vehicles - all with some degree of electrification - and lap them on the same track to compare times. Kind of like what Top Gear used to do, but minus the Stig and with more chances of electrocuting. The list of vehicles isn't very rich at the moment since they have to start somewhere, but despite only featuring nine models, it was enough to keep the Prius Prime for landing straight in the last position. What car was slower, you ask?

Well, the fact it's not exactly a car should give you an idea of how badly the Toyota Prius did. It's the 2018 Jeep Wrangler Sahara Unlimited 2.0 mild hybrid with god knows what kind of tires and a center of mass higher than some of the entire height of some of the other vehicles featured on the list.

That being said, Kyle, the guy torturing the Prius on the track, says he was quite surprised by how well the Japanese hybrid acquitted itself of the job at hand. The brakes get very high grades, as do its handling and predictability around corners. The engine, on the other hand, is one of the limiting factors, just like the CVT and, above all, the tires. Put one grippier stuff and you've got yourself a decent drive seems to be the video's conclusion.