Deep Dive into the 2022 Toyota Prius. Is it still a good buy in 2022?

the toyota prius the mother of all toyota and lexus hybrids but how is the 2022 model doing these days on today's video we're going to do a full technical tour of the 2022 toyota prius we're also going to do a conventional review look at the inside the outside and everything about the 2022 toyota prius right after this let us start our technical tour of the 2022 prius with the engine this is a 1.8 liter 2 zr fxe 4-cylinder engine now if you look at the previous generation prius which is from 2010 all the way to 15 third generation prius it also has a 2 zr fxe 1.8 liter engine but this engine actually been updated for this whole generation of prius the fourth generation prius from 2016 all the way to 2022. many updates happen to this engine the first one is which is actually a welcome one from the service side the ignition coils have been all redesigned along with the valve cover the ignition coils made shorter better for serviceability now you can pull the ignition coils out without removing this whole cowl so that's major improvements there the other thing on this engine is which is actually carried over from the previous generation i wanted to note it because many people actually are not aware of this this engine is not dual vvti or doesn't have variable valve timing on the intake and on the exhaust it actually only has it on the intake many folks assume this is the same as a corolla engine but it's actually completely different because it is a single vbti this engine is also atkinson cycle not really auto cycle this is used for efficiency because again this engine needs to be efficient needs to produce very low emissions because it has the help of the hybrid system which we're going to talk about in a little bit here another thing that changed on this engine is the valve cover used to be aluminum now it is plastic or officially resin the jewelry is still out whether these new plastic valve covers on toyota engines is a good thing or is going to end up being a bad thing so far there is no issues with them but they went with that for weight reduction because weight reduction in the prius is the name of the game this is a car specifically made for ultra high efficiency and every ounce counts here with weight so that's why they want the plastic valve cover but otherwise at least physically not much have changed with the engine internally this is still the same thing inside same construction similar construction at least but one curious thing that actually changed with the cooling system on this engine which didn't change with the mid model refresh this is only 2021 and 2022. now we have a proper radiator cap which has been missing on hybrids and at least on the prius side since the second generation now we have a proper radiator cap that sits right next to the expansion tank before the radiator cap and the expansion tech were actually one unit now they're separate let's talk briefly about the hybrid system in the fourth generation prius notably the fourth generation hybrid system some will call it the fourth third generation some will call it the second generation but technically in the progression of hybrids it's the fourth generation toyota hybrid system it has been a tradition with toyota hybrids that the new generation of toyota hybrids starts with the prius so this generation has been going since 2016. believe it or not many of the models in 2021 2022 all of the newer cars venza hybris and hybrid they all use the same or similar fourth generation toyota hybrid system from 2016 prius this is something has been carried on through the generations of the prius and it remains today something very notable about the fourth generation hybrid system which is the massive improvement over the previous generation the transition between engine driving and electric drive is very smooth in this generation it has gotten much improved in the third generation hyper system but it really became almost seamless in this generation the second thing is the ev range or the little ev range that you have or the engine shut off time as you drive dramatically increased in this generation from actual real world driving it was not this long time in the third generation of the previous generation hybrid system the other thing is things are very compact now mainly the inverter converter assembly this is the brains of the operation this is what makes everything work this is what controls everything power going to the battery coming from the battery going to the motors coming back from the motors to charge the battery the ac everything is controlled by the inverter so that's why it is the brains of the operation and now it is smaller than ever it is tiny it is very compact in the fourth generation hybrid so much that for the first time for 2016 and up toyota prius we actually have the 12 volt battery sitting right underneath the hood all the other toyota prius hybrid generations they all had it in the back because there was no space here now we have it here which is a major improvement another thing that is very notable with this toyota fourth generation toyota hybrid specifically the prius the battery size have gotten much smaller the batteries have gotten much more efficient and now they reside underneath the back seat and something very important about toyota hybrids and i mentioned this in every toyota hybrids video that we talk about any hybrid deal there is a cooling fan that cools the battery the life of the battery depends on that all 2016 and up toyota prius hybrids have a proper paper filter to filter the air going through the fan so it wouldn't get clogged that is a major improvement previous generation only had a mesh filter it did okay but it was not the greatest but now we have a real actual filter paper filter that you absolutely need to know about if you own any toyota or lexus hybrid the transmission on all toyota hybrids and let's focus on the toyota prius is a p610 ecvt transmission i want to know clarify one thing in case you are new to toyota hybrids and the prius the ecvt is a name there is absolutely nothing like a conventional cvt transmission there's no belt there's no cones none of that if you want to know a lot more details about how toyota hybrids work i have a full series i'll leave the link in the description prius also has an all-wheel drive model that got introduced after the facelift this is actually an all-wheel drive model having said that let's lift this thing up let's look underneath it and we'll go through the suspension and everything else that makes the 2022 toyota prius let's start our tour underneath the fourth generation prius the first thing you will notice about the prius is how well covered everything is i mean the previous generation had coverings up to the subframe and nothing really further back but this one takes things to the next level everything is really nicely tucked in you have covers on both sides to make the bottom almost flat the front suspension is a very similar design and a very familiar one and a very robust one you have one lower control arm connecting to a ball joint right here which is separate from the control arm that is a very nice feature that many manufacturers actually don't do this is really a toyota special electric power steering of course here we don't have hydraulic on none of the hybrid models mcpherson strut connected to an aluminum knuckle that has been something with the prius for weight reduction for everything else we have an aluminum knuckle connects to a standard mcpherson strut everything doesn't look very different from other toyota models even older ones except the aluminum knuckle the front brakes is a single piston caliper something very familiar with other toyota models something that is nice about the prius the bleeder cap has a full cap that protects the bleeder completely if you live in an area with road salt use it wouldn't corrode unlike others would have a very small cap that is something very nice moving on to the middle and we have a big highlight on the prius here this cross member it is there for rigidity and for structural purposes but also serves a hidden purpose and there's this thick steel shield right here used to be plastic this actually prevents catalytic converter theft i don't know if the original intent of this design was for that but this actually does the exact same thing as some of the aftermarket shields that were installed in the previous generation priuses to prevent catalytic converter theft because you can get to here but you can't get to the front to cut because the catalog converter is here that is something very welcome potentially not by design i am not really sure there is nothing specifically saying that but this is really welcome now you don't need any other shielding for the cat because it's already there moving further down the exhaust to something very special not unique to the fourth generation hot prius but it's actually found the third generation prius but this is a updated and improved version of that this is an exhaust heat circulation device remember the prius is all about efficiency the worst thing for hybrids and evs is heat heat for the cabin and in the case of hybrids where there's an engine heating up that engine to run effect efficiently at cold gasoline engines do not run efficiently this system harnesses the heat from the catalytic converter and uses it to heat up the coolant this is such a smart solution here it is a very basic system there is a little heat exchanger right here you have two coolant lines one going in one going back there is a mechanical actuator that actually is temperature controlled when the coolant is cold it will allow the exhaust gases to route up heat up that coolant when the coolant is nice and hot we no longer need that heating that mechanical actuator closes and now the exhaust gas no longer goes to the heat exchanger at the top it just goes straight back this is a very very smart system really doesn't have issues at this later stage of its use and it's a brilliant design it's a little touch that really makes a big difference because this means your engine will warm up very rapidly and you will have heat very rapidly because the exhaust is possibly the first part of the engine that warms up the most and this is a very brilliant design over here something about the back here you can see the covers these are the side covers exhaust wraps around the fuel tank the fuel tank in case anybody is wondering is no longer a bladder type fuel tank like the second generation prius that was kind of a good idea on paper but not exactly good in the real world this is a regular resin gas tank nothing exciting about it just a good old gas tank covered in shields again heat shields around it for the exhaust moving on to the rear suspension let's cover the rear suspension then we'll talk about the all-wheel drive because this one is actually all-wheel drive very interesting stuff there standard multi-link suspension in the back this is again after all a tnga car so we got one arm at the bottom small arm on the side and then one big arm at the top very familiar design now with many toyota models that we're seeing with the tnga very compact makes the car handle better than the solid beam or the previous design something interesting about the rear brakes so we do not have electronic parking brake we have a regular mechanical parking brake but it's not your standard mechanical parking brake you don't have the two brake shoes inside the rotor hat and all that you actually have as what's called a screw in type caliper basically when the hydraulic pressure hits that caliper there's a screw inside that turns and pushes the piston out and in they did that because there's this lever right here the cable actually pulls this lover and it pushes that screw in this is a design that has been used in many cars i can think of cyanx b matrix previous generation prius as well and you can see the same design here very robust works very well and this is something where the prius slightly shows this age we don't have that big motorized actuator that pushes the piston in like some of the newer models but again this goes back to 2016 this design this works very well it's a mechanically actuated parking brake without the parking brake shoes moving on to the all-wheel drive system and this is something unique to this generation and not even the early ones the later ones we have an all new rear transaxle unit actually that's what it's called inside of here there is an electric motor mgr motor generator rear and from that it goes to two axles and that's what drives the rear wheels on hybrids on hybrids we don't have a drive shaft we don't have none of that we just have a high voltage cable that is your drive shaft going into this motor and that's what drives the rear wheels what is interesting about this is if you look at a highlander for example or rav4 this unit is massive it's very large and it's very big in the prius however because we don't have a lot of space here again this is the more you put here the less cargo room you have inside they made this unit so compact it is amazing how they are able to put so much because remember this does not only have a little differential here we have an electric motor here that drives the rear wheel so for this unit to be this compact is amazing and and they did a really fine job kind of blending it into everything and making not making significant changes to the body when you have an all-wheel drive that is really good engineering and something else about this marvel of engineering to make this unit so compact the axles typically when you have rear drive unit you have the axles just like the fronts they spline in but this actually has four nuts right here that connect the axle to another housing that that splines into the rear drive unit this is a very interesting design makes service much easier on this and it's really a welcome departure from the standard of the splined in driveshaft we move in the back of the prius where things are open here i feel like there's more space here things are better not as compact and put together by the rear drive unit charcoal canister is right here which is something very nice to see because some of the older generation priuses they actually had the canister on top almost on top of the fuel tank it was very difficult to get to this is very simple actually super compact charcoal canister sits right here nice and neat and everything is good here and last but not least we have this little arm right here that's the level sensor to control the the lights when you have people sit in the back and the car the back of the car drops your headlights start blinding people in front of you so this little sensor tells the computer hey our car dropped our ride height dropped and now it can lower the headlight so you wouldn't be blinding people in front of you that is a really cool thing and actually not exclusive to this car this goes back all the way to the second generation prius and last before we wrap our technical tour here something about the wheels on previous models this is a hubcap this is a plastic hubcap however something about priuses and this has been going since the second generation previous you can kind of count the first generation prayers as well these wheels are actually not steel wheels the wheels are aluminum and they're super lightweight i mean a highlight of this was the second generation prius that wheel's so light because remember you can make the car as efficient as possible but when you have a heavy wheel and a heavy tire it all goes to waste because now you're you have to turn these giant heavy assemblies the wheels are super light on the prius yes the eco tires help but the wheel makes a big difference and something interesting about this 2022 model here they actually switched to the new style tpms sensor that is really a welcome change because this one is much easier service they separate and then you can you can program them on the go just put the sensor drive it for some time and it'll program itself that is really nice to see in the 2022 model let's talk about the exterior of the toyota prius which has always been a point of controversy see the toyota prius is not your average car it is not a corolla it is not a camry it is designed for a specific purpose it is designed to be the most efficient car there ever is and it really does that very well down to the odd shape i mean they made this wedge shape that you see intentionally because this is the most aerodynamic shape to achieve the best efficiency for gas mileage that's basically why the prius has this odd shape that some people really dislike and they feel like it looks like a weird spaceship look the thing looks odd that's there's no other way to say it but you know what if you buy the prius for the looks we have a problem if you buy a prius for performance we have a problem because this is a very very functional car that does one function very well nothing comes even close to how efficient the prius is and that's why it has this odd shape let's talk about the interior of the toyota prius now historically over the three previous generations the interior of the prius was actually cheaper it just felt cheap the plastics were very flimsy everything didn't feel high quality and that was actually intentional because they wanted to keep the weight down but the fourth generation prius i still remember that day when i sat in the very first brand new one that rolled off the truck came to the dealership where i work i looked at it i'm like wow they really did a fine job on the interior look the interior doesn't have high quality materials everywhere but it's a nice place to be most car guys and i am a car guy i'll tell you this most car guys will sit well look at the prius before they even sit in before they even drive it's just a prius we don't care but actually you should care because this is a nice place to be i spend a week driving this car and this is a very pleasant interior you know what it's not over the top but it's very functional everything heals is nice nothing rattles steering wheel feels nice the seats are extremely comfortable and so that's something that's a highlight to me i have a bad back these seats are extremely comfortable everything is laid out very nicely it's a very comfortable car i didn't feel like any function i needed to do here needed extra effort it was a very relaxing drive now one thing remains just like the previous generation hybrids is the sound deadening is at a very minimal here again for weight reduction reasons so the thing is a little loud i think the important things the steering wheel is a nice material the radio on the surrounds all the controls it has this piano black yes it does get dirty very easy with fingerprints but it looks nice and then of course the prius iconic center mount instrument cluster that is actually nice the prius never had a center one per se it kind of extended past the center to the right and the left it's a very nice and functional one and i like that it's a color a very clear color one not like the previous generation it gives you actually a lot and you know this is a specialist efficient car when you can actually calculate how much gas you're saving not in miles per gallon all that with actual money you can put how much price of gallon of gases and it'll calculate how much money you're saving by using your prius which is pretty interesting and the surprise is when you go drive this prius look when you drive the previous generation prius it's a very specific function car it doesn't drive well it's all over the place feels very light that's how the previous generations were but this generation is a surprise this generation rides on the tnga platform it actually drives like a normal car it's very composed at highway speeds doesn't feel like it's all over the place doesn't feel very scary basically that's the word i would use for the previous generations but this feels very composed a surprise for a car that is really meant for efficiency not meant for high-speed driving has small eco tires that are narrow it drives very very well here are some things that i actually don't like about the toyota prius the first one is the visibility the front visibility is awesome the side visibility is great it has very large windows the front it has the quarter glass everything is great but then you turn your attention to the rear view mirror and you are interrupted by a giant body line right in the middle that has to do with the design again with the wet shape but it is not great and i wish they would have over the years found a way to make that middle piece in the back glass as well so people could actually see when they look in the rearview mirror the other thing is and this has to do with the age of the prius this is only for 2022 in 2022 it's starting to show its age folks this is a technological masterpiece in 2016. everything about it the hybrid system the interior the materials that they've used to make everything lightweight but in 2022 it's starting to show its age for example this has a mechanical parking brake not even an electronic one it's starting to show its age they've done a really good job updating it into in 2019 when they face lifted it but it's still it's starting to show its age ready for the next generation of course but if you buy the prius because if it's a technological masterpiece just know there's gonna be a few things key things that you'll find in almost every single other toyota model but in this it will be missing because again this is now a little older and toward the end of this generation i thought i'd note this because some people will be shocked that some some of these very common options now are missing in the 2022 toyota prius so what is the final verdict folks the toyota prius is the mother of all toyota hybrids toyo always displays the newest generation and the newest technology in toyota hybrids you know car guys typically laugh and make fun of the prius and all that and i have a car guy i can understand where they're coming from however as a car and we have to be honest and unbiased here as a car it has always been a very purposeful car it was very efficient very economical and it did that really well but i think toyota did a really good job with the fourth generation prius it still has all that efficiency it really takes it to the next level but overall it became a nicer car even aside from its main function it has nicer interior it drives nicer and the main thing is to me at least the seat is really comfortable i mean the thing is a nice place to be it's a nice car to drive it's an economy car of course it's not a thrilling car but once you start to understand the technology and the statement of the prius it'll actually start grow on you it's a technological masterpiece and it's the ultimate toyota hybrid there's nothing in the toyota lineup that becomes this technological and this focused on the purpose of the hybrid like the prius and folks who are interested in buying one they usually are afraid of the high voltage battery failures and that's going to cost a fortune i just want to say one thing about the fourth generation prius and this is where we're going to end the typical review i'm a toyota technician i work on these things especially this prius i was there they had started i've seen the whole generation from beginning to end similar to the previous generation the previous generation in the first five years there was some issues i'll admit that and everywhere it's no secret everybody talks about him but this generation in the first now we're entering the sixth year almost it has been solid there hasn't been really issues with the hybrid system there hasn't been really major issues with the batteries things have gotten much much better i mean as technologically advanced as this car is as complicated as it is sometimes it's actually super reliable as long as you understand the maintenance that the battery needs very simple maintenance on that filter the cooling is the heart of that battery if that battery overheats constantly you're going to have issues and even in that department toyota has really stepped up their game this thing has a filter most newer generation hybrids they also have filters and in addition to the filter when the battery starts to overheat you actually get a warning message so now you know in case you missed it and you didn't hear about this now you know that this is the maintenance you need to take care of to prolong the life of that battery when you're shopping for a prius you need to understand that this is a purpose built car if you don't like how it looks don't buy one because the looks will only get worse as the more you look at it if you're the kind of person that wants the ultimate efficient daily driver that is going to really save you on gas be very reliable has nice features is a nice place to be in this would be a good choice folks i hope this video was helpful informative i hope you learned something new if you like it consider giving it a thumbs up if you're not a subscriber consider subscribing to the channel check out some other videos and until the next video folks may the lord bless you and keep you and you have yourself a wonderful day

Channel: The Car Care Nut

Views: 199,069

Keywords: toyota prius, should you buy a toyota prius, 2022 toyota prius, 2021 toyota prius, toyota hybrid, toyota hybrid system, technical review, technical tour, toyota technical review, toyota, toyota prius technical review, the car care nut, car review, car deep dive, deep dive, scotty kilmer, car wizard, Doug demuro, toyota hybrid review, should you buy a toyota hybrid, 2019 toyota prius

Id: Y_eXfEHF8zk

Length: 27min 28sec (1648 seconds)

Published: Wed Feb 02 2022