2019 Toyota Prius Plug-in Hybrid gets a bit of a TITIVATE – and five seats

The Toyota Prius Plug-in, the ‘non self charging’ Prius, get a bit of an update for 2019, including seating for five thanks to a new back seat.

Toyota are keen to keep their ‘self charging’ hybrid cars front and centre as the world gets switched on to electric assistance as a way of cutting running costs and being a bit less polluting.

But even Toyota, with its long history with hybrids, couldn’t ignore the growing market for plug-in hybrids so, logically, along came the Toyota Prius plug-in hybrid. And it’s a decent car.

The trouble is, in the real world, it’s not a huge amount more economical than the regular hybrid Prius, even when you remember to plug it in, it’s a chunk more expensive and, oddly for a car aimed at families, it only has four seats.

But in a bit of a tidy-up for 2019 Toyota has decided that was a bit daft, so the new Prius plug-in will get a proper family back seat with three seats instead of two by dumping the rear centre console. Hoorah.

Other updates include a new seat fabric pattern and a couple of new interior colour options and all-black trim like the regular Prius, a bigger tray for wireless phone charging to accommodate the latest giant phones. and the latest spec Toyota Touch multimedia system.

Elsewhere it’s the same Prius plug-in as before, with an official EV range of 34 miles (closer to low 20s in the real world) and Business Edition and Excel trim options.

The 2019 Toyota Prius Plug-in is now on sale at Toyota’s UK dealers.