From the stylish sharp design to the innovative gadgets (the T Spirit model has Bluetooth telephone interface and DVD-based full-map satellite navigation with voice recognition and touch-screen controls), it's the intelligent car for tomorrow - but available today. 01 Sensory branding It's easy to filter out advertising from our lives with technology such as anti-pop-up programmes for the internet and hard-drive recorders for digital TV. This is leading the way for what experts are calling "sensory branding". Ever noticed how smoothly and luxuriously certain compacts shut? Well, the cosmetics company Becca spends huge sums getting this sensory detail just right.
No surprise, then, that more than 280,000 Prius have been sold to forward-thinking people since 1997. Today there are three grades of Prius available: the T3, T4 and the T Spirit, each a joy to drive. But more than all that, the Prius is a car that says something about you, that marks you out as someone who is always one step ahead. And the electric motor doesn't just benefit the environment - it makes the car faster and smoother than an equivalent vehicle with a 1.8-litre petrol engine. Though it has an electric motor, it never needs to be plugged in - the batteries are recharged via the petrol engine, and by recovering kinetic energy during breaking and deceleration But you don't need to give that a single thought. Or how about the ways in which the Prius can save you money: it's exempt from the London Congestion Charge; maintenance and repair costs are low; you get an eight-year/100,000-mile warranty; and its lightness adds to the superb fuel efficiency - with the Prius you get figures of up to 65.7mpg combined fuel consumption. It all adds up to a car that's for drivers, whether you need a vehicle for use in the city or for travelling long distances across country.
And, when more power is required, it will draw from both the highly efficient petrol engine and the electric motor at the same time - the Prius automatically knows what to do. But while you are doing your bit for the environment, the Prius has lots of special and enjoyable treats in store for you. There's the exceptionally smooth and silent ride (all down to that electric motor again). Then there's its power and agility: this is a car that goes from 0-62 in less than 11 seconds. The car of the future is already on our roads It's called the Toyota Prius. The world's cleanest family car, it uses state-of-the-art Hybrid Synergy Drive (HSD) technology. This means that as well as having a 1.5-litre petrol engine, the Prius also has an electric motor - which is more powerful than most 1.0- or 1.2-litre petrol engines, and together delivers more torque than a V6 diesel, instantly.