It was launched as an all-new model in fall 2011, and has quickly grown in popularity ascending the hybrid sales chart to consistently rank in the top four spots, and in 2012, Toyota sold 40,669 units placing it third behind the Toyota Camry Hybrid and Prius Liftback – although the smaller Prius c arguably deserves this title given sales started in March were just 4,936 units behind despite only selling for three-quarters of the year.

In short, the selling point is this is a car that gets outstanding mileage and good reliability for the space it provides.

Specifically, the Prius v provides nearly 60 percent more interior room, edging its carrying capacity into small minivan territory while giving up only 8 mpg to the Prius Liftback from which it was derived.

The v is bigger, wider and taller and its EPA average is 44 mpg in the city and 40 on the highway and 42 combined. By contrast, the Liftback gives 51/48.

The v also costs a couple thousand more than the Liftback, and a small price increase of between $100-$155 for 2013 was chronicled for it by Toyota over its 2012 price of $26,550 and up.

About the only negative press we’ve seen on the car was marginal crash test results by the Insurance Institute of Highway Safety in its small overlap frontal crash testing. In response to this news late last year, Toyota said it will improve small overlap test results and that a proper fix will require more than just one solution.

Toyota also pointed out that the Prius v has previously been awarded an IIHS Top Safety Pick – which accounts for many criteria except small overlap.

At this writing we do not know if any of these safety engineering changes have yet been made, but it appears they have not.

Beyond that, we said the car will see minor styling updates, and here they are: The 2013 Prius v will be available in a new Seaglass Pearl exterior color. In addition, the Prius v Five will offer a SofTex-trimmed steering wheel.

Motivating the Prius v is Toyota’s Hybrid Synergy Drive utilizing a 1.8-liter Atkinson-cycle, four-cylinder engine producing 98 horsepower at 5,200 rpm. Combined with its electric motor, the system generates a combined 134 net horsepower and Toyota does not publish combined torque output.

A continuously variable transmission (CVT) is employed and to help compensate for an extra 250 pounds over the Prius Liftback – which was never excessively fast to begin with – the v model employs lower ratios to get started.

Toyota says that the 0-to-60-mph time is 10.4 seconds, versus an estimated 9.8 seconds for the Prius Liftback, and this is unladen. Pack it full of people and some gear, and expect an even more leisurely pace.

But the car has what it takes to get the job of everyday traveling accomplished, handles sufficiently well, brakes sufficiently well, and as a reasonably competent all-around vehicle returning excellent mileage, lets you carry lots of stuff.

Behind the rear seat is 34.3 cubic feet of cargo space, which increases to 40.2 cubic feet when the back seats are moved forward. Fold the 60/40 split rear seats flat, and that number balloons to 67.3 cubic feet. That’s more room than the Chevrolet Equinox, Ford Escape, Honda Element or Nissan Rogue crossovers offer.

The Prius v also has a smart key system with push-button start; an electronic shift lever; hill assist control, a back-up camera, and seven airbags – all as standard equipment. Available options include energy-efficient LED headlamps; dynamic radar cruise control with a pre-collision system; and a parking guidance system.

Buyers can also be treated to Toyota’s smart-phone utilizing Entune infotainment system. Connecting the smart phone via Bluetooth or a USB cable allows Entune’s features to be operated using the vehicle’s controls or, for some services, by voice recognition. Mobile apps for Entune include Bing, iHeartRadio, MovieTickets.com, OpenTable, and Pandora. Entune data services include a fuel price guide, sports scores, stocks, traffic and weather.

There are three trim levels offered: the Prius v Two, Prius v Three and Prius v Five. The Prius v Two has increased from $26,550 to $26,650 for 2013, and Prius v Three pricing has increased from $27,315 to $27,415. The highly equipped Prius v Five has increased from $30,140 to $30,295.

For a bit more info on essentially the same car, you can also check out our full 2012 model review.

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Sandwiched between those classic American pony cars? The Toyota Prius.

In the interest of full disclosure, editors at Autoweek.com, admit that the Prius doesn’t get their blood pumping. Yet, as auto enthusiasts covering the full spectrum of the four-wheeled-world, the site’s staffers can’t deny the staying power of Toyota’s market-leading hybrid car.

Without postulating why the Prius rated so high in a publication that values performance facets of cars as much as practicality and comfort, the editors simply let the search results chips fall.

“All assumptions aside, the numbers don’t lie,” wrote Sherrice Gilsbach of Autoweek.com.

Reading (electronic) tea leaves

What does the number two out of 12 position say about the Prius?

There’s no end to the number of ways we could extract meaning from AW’s search results, and what they say about the Web site’s readership, or those merely doing informational searches on the site. To say that the influences of creeping numbers at the pump and the ever-increasing acceptance of alternative-fuel vehicles also likely play roles in boosting the Prius’ profile aren’t stretches of probability.

If you’re the cynical type, weary of a something as simple as a tally of search results telling the greater story of the popularity of the Prius, you need look no further than sales data to see how it is that apparently so many people might hunt down info on the Prius nowadays.

Model-year 2013 marks a commendable 17 years of Prius production, with first sales starting in Japan in 1997. In April 2011 Toyota had sold its 1 millionth Prius in the U.S. since the car first went on sale here in 2000.

For a more current perspective, peeking at our November Dashboard sales totals for the hybrid market you can see that the Prius Liftback’s 8,925 sales is more than twice as many as the next best seller. And 2012 year-to-date Liftback sales of nearly 135,000 units is more than three times the next best selling hybrid in a market of more than 40 models.

First in line

In the U.S. the car has essentially reached cult status; it has transcended from a practical means of personal transportation to being an icon. The Prius has been synonymous with green car technology for most of the past decade and a half.

While not taking anything away from Toyota’s design and engineering prowess behind the Prius, a key factor in the car’s success is often lost in the boiling enthusiasm for the green car market: the Prius got here first.

Yes, we know Toyota didn’t pioneer the technology of hybrid powertrain vehicles; the premise of such a machine has existed for decades. But Toyota was the first mainline automaker in years to make the green car leap into an American auto market traditionally in love with displacement, eye-candy appeal, and a long-running ethos of bigger is better.

Not only did Toyota jump into a red-hot caldron spilling over with fuel-swilling Escalades and Expeditions, but it also stuck the landing, and hasn’t looked back since.

2012 Prius c.

Being first to market with a product can pay immense dividends. A savvy company can leverage a product’s first-to-market status as a tremendously strong marketing and branding tool. If the product is viable and its image managed, a company can leave a positive indelible mark on the market that may reap rewards for years to come.

If you’re a hybrid car enthusiast old enough to remember, think back to a time before you were so enthusiastic. Think also of those friends, family, and casual acquaintances that even now only have cursory knowledge of green cars. When the term “hybrid car” first crosses eardrums, what comes to mind? Probably an image of a Prius.

As a brand the Prius is so well managed that it allowed Toyota to grow the Prius line. Now consumers can pick from among three hybrids: the Prius Liftback, Prius c, Prius v, and a plug-in hybrid, called simply enough, the Prius Plug-in.

Toyota has capitalized on its reputation of building reliable, user-friendly vehicles, and parlayed that cache of credit with consumers – as well as the Prius’ ability to do what Toyota implied the car could do (use less fuel, lower emissions, and save customers money) – into an image for the Prius that goes beyond Toyota.

2012 Prius v Five.

“Prius is a Prius first and a Toyota second,” said Toyota’s Group Vice President of Global Sales, Bob Carter, when the Prius family of cars became a top-three seller earlier this year.

Not universally loved, but loved by a loyal following

The car was, and still is, often derided for being a treehugger’s car of choice. Yet, despite no major departures in the car’s core styling theme that gives diehard auto enthusiasts the willies, the Prius has moved beyond being an automobile.

It’s hard to argue against the notion that for a portion of Prius owners the car is as much a badge of honor, an affirmation of lifestyle, or a 3,000-pound representation of ideologies, as it is a way to get from A to B.

2012 Prius Plug-in Hybrid Electric Vehicle.

In 2007 the <em>New York Times</em> cited a marketing survey that saw 57 percent of respondents say they purchased a Prius because it made a declaration about them as a person, while far fewer (36 percent) purchased the car for its fuel economy.

However, like people and their ideals the king of hybrids isn’t infallible. The Prius has seen its share of safety recalls and negative press.

In November of this year Toyota issued a recall for certain 2004 to 2009 model-year Prius vehicles in the U.S. to inspect and in some cases replace the steering intermediate extension shaft. A total of 670,000 Prius were subject to the recall. In 2010 a similar number of cars were recalled for a coolant pump glitch, and the Prius was also caught up in the floor mat public relations nightmare in 2009.

More recently the Prius c was dubbed by Consumer Reports as a car to avoid.

The consumer watchdog publication reported that the c model it evaluated provided fuel economy figures far below the car’s EPA-rated 53 mpg city rating; the magazine also opined the c had poor ride quality and a chintzy interior. And just last week the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety (IIHS) rated the Prius v “poor” for its performance in the Institute’s new small overlap frontal crash test.

By and large, however, the Prius family of cars is generally regarded as a safe, economical, and reliable choice of vehicles.

Quietly storming the gates of automobile conventionalism

While the alternative-fuel powertrain vehicle market is currently but a sliver of the larger automobile scene, it is trending upward. Yet it’s virtually impossible to surmise the future of the green car merely by how many people visiting <em>Autoweek.com’s</em> searched for the Prius over the period of one year.

One the other hand, with the Prius surpassing the Corvette, not to mention the many other fuel-efficient, economical cars like the Ford Focus and Kia Optima that faired well in the AW.com top 12 searched list, you have to wonder if practicality is storming the gates of power and passion that for so long have underpinned the often emotional act of purchasing a car.

Had Toyota not so effectively implemented its Prius program, chances are that another manufacturer would’ve stepped in and had cracking success with some form of alternative-fuel vehicle.

Commercially successful green technology cars, like the Nissan Leaf, Chevy Volt, Tesla Model S, or Fisker Karma, stand fully on their own merits, and appeared in their own good time. But the path to success for these, and the dozens more alt-fuel vehicles now on the market, were made smoother and more accessible by the Prius’ early and continued success.

How long, then, before the Prius and its contemporaries reach the top of everyone’s search list?

Autoweek.com

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Since then, Prius grew from being a model to becoming a family of models and turned into a sub-brand under the Toyota umbrella.

Today, Toyota offers three hybrid vehicles under the Prius name: the subcompact Prius c introduced in 2012; the third generation of the original, which Toyota has begun calling the Prius Liftback; and the tall wagon Prius v, also introduced as a 2012 model year product.

A fourth Prius, we will come back to in another article is the Prius Plug-In, a variation on the Liftback which can be plugged into a household electrical outlet for the batteries to be charged.

All share an evolution of Toyota’s patented Hybrid Synergy Drive and rely on a mix of conventional gas engine and electric motor to bring forward – or backward – motion to the vehicle.

“But, which one better suits my need?” is a question we often hear.

We spent time with each of them to better understand their strengths and whom they each better serve on a daily basis, using each version as most households would.

Prius Liftback

First, let’s start with the benchmark for this article, the one most think of when the Prius name is mentioned: the Liftback.

The third generation of the original was introduced in 2010 with a heavily touched-up exterior, revised interior and updated powertrain.

Like all Prii, the Liftback seats five. Its generous size means all occupants have decent space and its 106.3 inches wheelbase helps both interior space and riding comfort.

The mechanical heart of the Liftback is built around a 1.8-litere, 4-cylinder DOHC 16-Valve engine designed with Toyota’s Variable Valve Timing w/intelligence (VVT-i) system as well as sequential multiport electronic fuel injection. This reliable engine is combined with a permanent-magnet synchronous motor and sealed nickel-metal hydride (Ni-MH) batteries.

The motive power produced by this hybrid poweertrain is sent to the front wheels through an electronically controlled continuously variable transmission (CVT).

This hybrid powertrain allows the Prius Liftback to return an EPA fuel consumption ratings of 51 mpg in the city, 48 mpg on the highway and 50 mpg combined.

This impressive fuel consumption is also helped by the 0.25 low coefficient of drag as well as the 3,042-pound curb weight.

As is true for all Prius models, drivers of the Liftback can select the drive mode; in addition to the standard driving mode, the Prius drive system also includes an Eco driving mode, an EV driving mode, and a Power mode. In Power mode, enhanced mid-range response enables easier coping with slopes and mountainous terrain. In EV mode, the Prius v can run on battery power alone for short distances and lower speeds, up to about a mile. In Eco driving mode, the engine management system prioritizes fuel economy, managing throttle response and limiting power consumption from the air conditioning.

Trim levels start at the Prius Two level ($24,200) and go all the way to the top of the line Five ($30,005 ), which can easily be considered a luxury car. For those wondering, there is a Prius One trim level, but it is basic and reserved for fleets. New for 2013 is the Prius Persona Series Special Edition ($27,130), close to the Four in price and aimed at the style-conscious buyer.

Taking place at the wheel of the Prius reserves a few surprises to the uninitiated. First, the instrument panel is located in the center on top of the dash, not behind the steering wheel as is customary. Second, gone is the usual PRND gate of traditional automatic transmissions; in its place is a gearshift lever could be considered as a joystick by anyone seeing it for the first time. This lever allows the driver to get the car moving forward, backwards, or engage regenerative braking (B on the shifter).

This last function contributes to keep the battery charged as one slows down or goes downhill. The Prius’ Hybrid Synergy Drive system does so automatically, but the driver can choose to emphasis the regenerative braking when wanted. The function can also serve as downgrading to a lower gear when some engine braking is needed, like going down a very steep hill.

Another surprise in driving the Prius is the lack of noise at low speeds and the stop/start function at intersections. Yes, the gas engine will cut off when the car is stopped and the vehicle will leave the intersection first on electric power alone when the light turns green. The gas engine will kick-in when speed, rate of acceleration or energy available in the batteries requires it to do so.

From a practical standpoint, the interior of the Liftback offers many well-placed and useful cubicles and the general size available for occupants compares favorably to other cars of its size.

The trunk, with its hatchback type of opening, can accommodate large objects and is of a decent size even though the batteries do hamper its shape, with a floor that is higher than other cars. On the plus side, the rear seats fold down, and do so creating a useful perfectly flat platform with the trunk.

On the road, the Liftback is no sports car, but power is plentiful to keep up with traffic and to go on with driving duties without feeling punished driving an underpowered car.

The first aspect an owner may start noticing after the novelty wears off is the noise level in the car. This is a direct by-product of pushing to make the car as fuel efficient as possible.

Less sound deadening has been installed in order to keep the weight down, which allows more road noises to get in the car. This combines with higher tire noise coming from the low resistance tires, once again chosen to reduce fuel consumption.

This noise level is far from being as obtrusive as the noise level of cars from thirty years ago, but make sure to pay attention to this aspect of Prius ownership when test driving one. It is very subjective; some can’t stand it, others don’t mind at all. And it does apply to all Prius models, not only the Liftback.

Prius c

As mentioned, the c is the subcompact model of the Prius family and shares many hidden components with the Yaris hatchback of similar size.

The Prius c replaces the 1.8 liter engine of the Liftback with a smaller 1.5 liter 4-cylinder DOHC 16-Valve engine designed with Toyota’s Variable Valve Timing w/intelligence (VVT-i) system as well as sequential multiport electronic fuel injection.

Total system power goes from 134 horsepower in the Liftback to 99 horsepower in the c. At the same time, weight goes down from 3,042 pounds to 2,500 pounds and the wheelbase loses almost six inches.

In short, the c’s powertrain is very similar to the one originally found in the second generation of the regular Prius.

Fuel consumption is EPA rated at 53 mpg in the city and 46 mpg on the highway, for a combined rating of 50 mpg.

As one can quickly realize from these numbers, the c makes a great city car. Its length of 157.3 inches allows it to fit easily in most parking spots and both its city fuel consumption and its size makes it a perfect city fit.

What it looses in size on the outside it does not lose completely on the inside. Yes, the inside is smaller, but this will be felt marginally in the front where most tall adults will feel just as comfortable in this c when compared to the Liftback. The c offers a little less shoulder width, but a tad more headroom, both for front and rear passengers.

The rear trunk offers 17.1 cu. ft. of very useable space compared to the Liftback’s 21.6. The space is very accessible with the help of the hatchback design and the folding rear seats gives even more cargo space when needed.

While the c is down 35 horsepower total, it is also lighter by 500 pounds; the car thus does not feel underpowered and will be more than sufficient for most situations. Even on the highway, the c does handle well and will not feel underpowered.

But when compared to the Liftback, the c is clearly at its best as a city / suburbs car, with occasional jaunts on the highway. It will carry five adults, but those having to often carry rear adult passengers will prefer the Liftback.

Prius v

While the c was a compact evolution on the Prius theme, the v is the model expanding the Hybrid Synergy Drive technology in the tall wagon market.

While the v shares the same mechanical components, it does so in a larger car. The v is 231 pounds heavier, has a little over three more inches of wheelbase and is bigger in all dimensions.

Most of all, it has a higher roof that reaches out further in the back, allowing for a trunk of the size found on many SUVs.

While it was designed as a seven seater for markets like Japan, only the five seat configuration is offered here.

All the extra size and weight has an impact: fuel consumption drops to a still respectable 44 city, 40 highway and 42 combined.

The v’s strength is in the practical aspect of its interior. It offers SUV interior space with drastically better fuel economy.

Practical cubicles abound and the rear seat has the benefit of offering some travel fore and aft while the seat back’s angle can be adjusted. The extra space available is felt all around the car and the difference between the v and the Liftback’s interior space is felt a lot more than numbers would lead us to believe. While stepping down to the c may not be felt too much space-wise, stepping up to the v makes a huge difference.

The extra weight and size does hamper performance, but the only time an owner would really feel it is while driving on the highway. In comparison to the Liftback, the v relies a lot more on its gas engine and will be constantly pushing to keep the wanted speed, while the Liftback seems to do so effortlessly.

We believe this explains why the vehicle is offered only as a five seater in North America. It is not unusual for a car in Japan to be in low speed traffic most of the time, with close to no trips on the highway. Considering Americans go faster more often, the extra weight of the passengers would hamper performance to a point where North American expectations would not be met.

Handling is in no way hampered by the extra size or weight. The long wheelbase contributes to make this v even more comfortable over bumps while the extra width compensates well for the extra height and weight when turning.

As expected, the trunk in this v is very useful with 34.3 cu. ft. of available cargo space before folding the rear seats. It grows to 67.3 cu. ft. when the rear row is folded down. This makes the v a perfect choice for active families.

So, Which One?

A huge part of this answer relies in you fully understanding your needs.

The Prius Liftback is a great all-around car and this is key to the success of the Prius nameplate. Not too big for the city, good on the highway and in the suburbs, it will answer the needs of most families of four or less.

The Prius c brings better city fuel economy as well as a size that will be beneficial in tight areas like San Francisco, New York or Montreal … Or any downtown core where space is at a premium. This c will make you happy if most of your driving is in the city and suburbs, or as a very practical second car used for commuting while a bigger car is kept for family outings.

The Prius v is perfect for those active families who find themselves often together in the car. Happier in the city and the suburbs, it will still carry the family on that occasional family trip, offering plenty of space and conveniences to four or five occupants.

If most of your driving is done on the highway, then the Liftback is preferable … Or step up to the Camry Hybrid, but that discussion is for another article.

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