SEPTEMBER 2019 MOTORTREND.COM 41Finalist: 2000s
2004 Toyota Prius
It’s easy being green
the teeny Insight and handily
beating the Honda Civic Hybrid
and even the (pre-Dieselgate)
Volkswagen diesels.
More than just a triumph
of engineering, the Prius was
the complete package. It was
spacious, comfortable, and a
“competent” performer loaded
with impressive features for
the day—including optional
front curtain airbags, a voice-
activated DVD-based nav
system, and Bluetooth. What’s
more, it did it all for just $25,939
($35,600 today) fully loaded.
Fresh out of Toyota’s private
museum, this 2004 Prius just
feels familiar. You’ve seen it
everywhere, a million times.
Even if no one in your family
ever owned one, you’ve ridden
in one. You knew someone
who had one, or your taxi/
Uber/Lyft has been a Prius. A
cultural touchstone, the Prius
became the official “it” car of
green Hollywood—driven to the
Academy Awards and beyond
by Cameron Diaz, Leonardo
DiCaprio, Tom Hanks, and
the rest of the A-list. That this
funky hatchback became
a mainstream vehicle sold
in the millions is all the more
astonishing.It’s easy to see why, though.
Everything the Prius did, it did
while being “as easy to use as
a TV,” we wrote. The same way
Apple changed the world with
an iPhone that “just worked,”
the Prius brought reliable future
technology to the masses with
just a bit of styling quirkiness
so everyone would know
what you were driving. Sliding
behind the wheel today, only
its low-res screens give it away
as a 15-year-old car. It rides
well, it’s comfortable, there’s
tons of room, the powertrain is
smoother than some new cars,
and it handles like a minivan.
“The penalties for such envi-
ronmental consciousness?” we
asked. “We haven’t found any:
That’s the magic of the new
Prius.” SE“ W
e love horsepower,
naturally. And
responsive handling—
the more g’s, the more
grins here at MotorTrend HQ.
Sexy sheetmetal? Always gets
our attention. We’ve never
denied our affinity for luxury
amenities, either.
“Above all, though, we are
admirers of brilliant design and
engineering. Which is to say,
design and engineering that
advance the state of the auto-
motive art without forcing users
to relearn what they already
know about the automobile.”
So we opened our argument
for our 2004 Car of the Year,
the second-generation Toyota
Prius. We knew even then it
would become the symbol of
eco-friendly car buying and
that our readership wouldn’t
be the target audience.
“How could MotorTrend—the
bible of tire-smoking perfor-
mance—hail a 110-horsepower
econocar?” some would
write. “You’ve caved in to the
tree-huggers,” others cried.
But we were as right
about the Prius as we were in
predicting it would preview
“a future where extreme fuel
efficiency, ultra-low emissions,and stirring performance
will happily coexist in one
package.” Witness: Porsche
918 Spyder, McLaren P1, Ferrari
LaFerrari, and Tesla Model S.
Making such a controver-
sial call weighed on the staff.
Mixed opinions on the design,
power, and handling made it
into the story, the win as much
a surprise to the staff as it was
to our readers. After all, this car
beat out the Mitsubishi Lancer
Evolution VIII, the face-lifted
second-gen Subaru Impreza
WRX STI, the controversially
styled fifth-gen BMW 5 Series,
the reintroduced Pontiac GTO,
the Mazda RX-8, the all-new
Scion brand with its xA and
xB, the luxurious Audi A8L, and
its cost-no-object cousin, the
Volkswagen Phaeton.
But we recognized what the
Prius portended. Hybrids to
date, we pointed out, were the
niche first-gen Honda Insight
and the forgettable first-gen
Prius. The new car, though,
represented a sea change.
The groundbreaking hybrid
drivetrain technology—the
patents would later be licensed
by major competitors—offered
an eye-bulging 48/45 mpg city/
highway, nearly as good as