2025 Toyota Prius Nightshade Plug-In Hybrid - Review by David Colman +VIDEO

2026 Toyota Prius Nightshade

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It took me a while to warm up to the new Prius, literally, but once I did, WOW!

David Colman

Photos and Story by David Colman
Special Correspondent
THE AUTO CHANNEL

The manufacturer conducted new car introductions featuring a product presentation followed by a guided tour of the vehicle. The final step consisted of an extensive test drive over a preordained route. My introduction to the 2026 Toyota Prius Nightshade was nothing like that. The Prius Plug-In, formerly known as the Prius Prime, was delivered to me on the day I needed to pick my wife up at the Airport. By the time I finished taking pictures of the car and set out for the airport, the November sun had set. So it was pitch black outside and quite cold inside the Prius. Nor had I had a chance to familiarize myself with the operation of this rather complicated, top-of-the-model line $41,304 hybrid.

2026 Toyota Prius Nightshade

Immediate impressions were not favorable. The "Bi-LED" headlights were the problem. On the constantly twisting road that connects my house to civilization, the high beam proved barely adequate and the dipped low beam completely inadequate. Both high and low beams were limited by a sharp diagonal cut-off pattern that left the driver's side of the road black. The Prius headlight design team seems to have been more concerned with protecting oncoming drivers from glare than providing Prius drivers with better night vision. Is that why they call this one the Nightshade?

Once underway, my fingers quickly found the 3-stage heater button for the driver's seat as well as the heater button for the steering wheel. I also activated the defrost units for the front and rear windows, but on this damp night was disappointed to discover that the rear window was not equipped with a washer/wiper. With a backlight as small and flat as the one in the streamlined Prius, a rear wiper should be a standard feature. As far as heating up the interior, it wasn't until I reached the airport that I had time to stop the car and figure out how to activate the heater. Doing so requires you to depress a poorly identified button on the dashboard before you can select a temperature setting. An old-fashioned, do-it-all control knob would have been much preferred.

2026 Toyota Prius Nightshade

After that somewhat disarming initial trip, however, the 2026 Prius Nightshade Plug-In Hybrid laid out its many virtues and won me over. Let's start with its delicious appearance. When the first Prius debuted in the US in 2001, the diminutive hybrid generated a lot of interest from environmentalists and a lot of derision from critics who labeled it the "Pius." Over the intervening quarter of a century, the dorky looking Toyota proved its energy formula was decades ahead of its time, but its clumsy style still repulsed potential buyers. That original Prius generated criticism because it subordinated appearance and performance to function a nd practicality.

Well, the stunningly beautiful 2026 Prius revises that outdated formula. In fact, dressed up in Karashi (yellow) paint like our test car, with meticulous counterpoint from Nightshade blackened badges, outside door handles, roof-mounted shark fin antenna, blacked-out bumpers, and piano black 19-inch alloy rims (shod with 225/50R19 Michelin Primacy All-Season radials), this electric banana simply sparkles. In fact, its sleek show car profile rivals anything that has come down the pike from Ferrari, Maserati, or Alfa Romeo for sheer pulchritude. If Karashi isn't your color choice, the Nightshade hybrid is also available in Midnight Black Metallic or Wind Chill Pearl.

2026 Toyota Prius Nightshade

Toyota turned the page on its long tradition of building a pug-ugly Prius when they re-imagined the brand in 2024 with a longer, lower, and wider body shell aerodynamically chiseled to cheat the wind. They mounted this svelte exoskeleton on a revised version of their latest TNGA platform. Under the hood, they tossed overboard the prior Prius' 1.8 liter inline 4 and its afterthought, plug-in module, in favor of an all-new 2.0 liter inline 4 and totally revamped hybrid system. They upgraded to more powerful dual electric motors and energy-denser batteries. In Nightshade trim, the new drivetrain produces 220hp. That upgrade propels the Prius to 60mph from rest in 7 seconds flat, and yields a standing start quarter mile run of 92mph in 15.0 seconds. Compared to Prius acceleration times of yore, the Nightshade is a virtual top fuel dragster. But it's also a fuel-conserving miser that will run on battery power alone for up to 40 miles before needing a recharge. Toyota provides dual voltage cables (120V and 240V) so you can plug it into your 120V home circuitry (if you have a dedicated socket) for an overnight charge, or a 4-hour recharge on a 240V receptacle. If you run the new Prius on EV and gas, its 11.3-gallon tank will yield a range of 550 miles.

2026 Toyota Prius Nightshade

If there's a more attractive hybrid on the road than the 2026 Nightshade Prius, I have yet to see one. In fact, in a hybrid universe increasingly occupied by boxy-looking, butt-ugly SUVs, the 2026 Prius Plug-In wins Best Design Oscar going away.

2026 Toyota Prius Nightshade

2026 TOYOTA PRIUS NIGHTSHADE PLUG-IN HYBRID

HYPES: Show Car Proportions, Fuel Efficiency

GRIPES: Feeble Headlights, Obnoxious 'Driver Inattention' Alerts

STAR RATING: 9 Stars out of 10

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