New Toyota Prius vs Volkswagen Golf

The contenders

NEW Toyota Prius Plug-in Excel

List price £39,955 Target Price £39,172

Available only as a plug-in hybrid in the UK, the latest generation of this pioneering petrol-electric model gets a dose of style to go with its expected efficiency

NEW Volkswagen Golf 1.5 TSI eHybrid Style

List price £36,760 Target Price £35,325

Updates to Volkswagen’s family hatchback include improvements inside and a larger battery for the plug-in hybrid version tested here, giving it an official electric range of 88 miles

Toyota Prius. This is the name that immediately pops into many people’s minds when you mention the word ‘hybrid’, and it’s undoubtedly become the car most closely associated with combining petrol and electric power to maximise fuel efficiency.

The rakish styling and more natural proportions of this new, fifth-generation version make it far more visually appealing than its predecessor, and because it shares its underpinnings with the Toyota Corolla (our reigning Family Car of the Year), it should be far better to drive as well.

The other big news is that this Prius is now available only as a plug-in hybrid (PHEV) in the UK (whereas the old model had a regular hybrid option as well), so officially you can travel for up to 44 miles on battery power alone.

The Prius might seem like the favourite in a battle of the hybrids, but it has fearsome competition in the shape of the latest Volkswagen Golf. The current iteration has just received a mid-life update that includes a huge battery upgrade for the plug-in eHybrid model we’re testing here, from 10.4kWh to 19.7kWh (usable capacity). As a result, the Golf’s official electric range is twice as long as the Prius’s (at up to 88 miles). The Prius, then, won’t have things all its own way.

Driving

Performance, ride, handling, refinement

Our contenders can get up to speed at a very similar rate when driving in hybrid mode, using both the engine and electric motor to sprint from 0-60mph in 6.9sec. The Prius responds more keenly when you need a sudden burst of acceleration, but the 30-70mph times are virtually identical as well.

The Golf’s stronger electric motor means it’s far more effortless when you’re running on battery power alone, requiring a gentler squeeze of the accelerator to pick up speed. That said, it feels more lethargic when the battery has been depleted and the car is running solely on petrol power.

Provided you top up the battery regularly, that won’t happen as frequently in the Golf, because its larger battery allowed it to cover an impressive 73 miles from a full charge on our real-world test route. That’s considerably more than any other plug-in hybrid we’ve tested before (the previous best being 57 miles from a Mercedes GLC 300e). The Prius managed 38 miles from its 13.6kWh battery.

The CVT automatic gearbox in the Prius delivers its power in a smoother way than the Golf’s more conventional auto. While both cars’ engines become quite vocal under hard acceleration, the Golf’s sounds more boomy and coarse. And with far less road noise and laminated side windows helping to minimise wind noise, the Prius is the quieter cruiser.

Both cars have regenerative braking to help top up the battery under deceleration, and the Prius has a default adaptive setting that slows you down automatically when approaching corners. Alternatively, nudging the gear selector from D to B in the Prius gives a constant braking effect when you lift off the accelerator. You can have a similar effect in the Golf, but you have to go to a sub-menu in the infotainment system to activate or adjust it – a clunky process. In these settings, both cars will slow you down to walking pace, but not to a complete halt.

When you need to press on the brake pedal, the Prius’s is precise and responsive, so coming to a smooth stop is fairly easy. In contrast, the Golf’s brakes are vague and grabby, although they can actually bring the car to a halt in a shorter distance.

Both cars are comfortable by the standards of plug-in hybrid family hatchbacks, but the Prius has a more settled ride and feels more tied down over undulating roads. While the Golf soaks up most bumps fairly well, it occasionally thumps when tackling sharper ruts and potholes.

In everyday driving, the Prius is more engaging to drive than the Golf, and it’s mostly down to its steering providing a greater sense of connection with the front wheels. A smaller steering wheel also helps the response feel more direct. Start pressing on and the Golf offers more outright grip, but otherwise it feels more laid back.

Behind the wheel

Driving position, visibility, build quality

Each contender offers a wide range of adjustment for the driver’s seat and steering wheel, and electric seat adjustment is standard in the Toyota Prius to help when fine-tuning the driving position, whereas it’s a £505 option in the Volkswagen Golf. However, drivers are more likely to feel at home sooner in the Golf, because it has a conventional dashboard layout with a 10.25in digital instrument panel that you view through the steering wheel in the normal way.

The Prius, in contrast, has a high-set 7.0in digital instrument panel that you’re meant to view over the top of a relatively small steering wheel, but some drivers might find that they have to set the wheel awkwardly low to avoid obscuring the bottom of the display.

To boost long-distance comfort, both cars have adjustable lumbar support, although it doesn’t extend as far out into your back in the Golf. That said, the broader seats in the Golf provide more shoulder support, and the use of grippier, suede-like material (rather than faux leather in the Prius) holds you in place better when cornering.

While it’s easier to see over the low dashboard in the Prius, the long, steeply raked windscreen pillars impede your view ahead to a greater extent than the more upright ones in the Golf. The latter provides clearer views over your shoulder and out the back, too, thanks to larger side and rear windows and rear pillars that, while chunky, are nowhere near as substantial as those of the Prius.

To aid low-speed manoeuvring, both cars come with front and rear parking sensors and a rear-view camera to help out. The Prius also has a camera on the roof that can feed a live view of the area behind the car onto a display in the central rear-view mirror – a handy feature if the rear window is blocked by a passenger or luggage.

Adjusting the climate control is far more straightforward in the Prius, because it has a row of physical switches on the centre console. You have to use fiddly touch sliders or voice control to adjust the temperature in the Golf, while the rest of the controls are inconveniently located on the infotainment screen.

Our contenders don’t feel as opulent inside as the best family cars, but they still rank above mainstream rivals in terms of quality, with a robust feel and well-damped controls. There’s a reasonable amount of soft-touch material on the upper sections of the dashboard and doors in both contenders, but the Golf uses a wider range of materials and trim finishers to create a more upmarket feel.

Infotainment systems

Toyota Prius

The 12.3in touchscreen in the Prius is easy to read and displays a column of shortcut icons on the side closest to the driver, so hopping between functions is a breeze. The menus listed on the left side of the screen will be more of a stretch for some drivers to reach, while some of the sub-menus could be easier to find. Wireless Apple CarPlay is standard, but Android Auto still requires a cable, and you don’t get wireless phone charging.

Volkswagen Golf

At 12.9in, this touchscreen is bigger than that of the pre-update Golf, with sharper graphics and slicker responses to inputs than the Prius’s. You can customise the home screen and save often-used functions in the top right corner to boost usability. Beyond that, the system is still fiddly to use; some settings, including those for the regenerative braking system, are so buried that making adjustments while driving is distracting.

Space and practicality

Front space, rear space, seating flexibility, boot

Up front, there’s plenty of head and leg room for six-footers in both cars, but the Toyota Prius feels more confined than the Volkswagen Golf. This is partly because the top of the long, sloping windscreen comes relatively close to front occupants’ heads, while the ceiling curves down quite low at the sides; some people will have to duck to get in or out of the Prius. This isn’t an issue in the Golf.

Although there’s ultimately more room to stretch out your legs in the back of the Prius, the Golf is far from cramped in this respect, and both cars provide plenty of foot space under the front seats, so leg movement doesn’t feel restricted.

What really separates our contenders in the back is the amount of head room available. There’s loads of clearance above a 6ft-tall passenger in the Golf, but anyone of even average height will find their head against the roof lining in the Prius.

This shortage of head room means a middle rear seat occupant will have to duck to find enough space in the Prius. It has a smaller floor hump that’s easier for a middle rear passenger to straddle and climb over, but the slightly broader Golf is still a better option for three sitting side by side.

The Prius is the only one to come with an electric tailgate for added convenience, and it has a much larger boot opening than the Golf’s. Whether you have the rear seatbacks up or down, the Prius has the longer load area, but because it’s also shallower, it can only match the Golf in accommodating five carry-on suitcases under its load cover. There’s a little more space left over in the Prius to fit a rucksack or the bag of charging cables – and that might come in handy, because neither contender has any underfloor storage space for stashing such things.

Nor does either car have a height-adjustable boot floor. Helpfully, the floor sits flush with the bottom edge of the boot opening and the rear seatbacks (which split in a 60/40 configuration) when they’re folded down in both cars. The Golf has the added flexibility of being fitted with a ski hatch, so you can thread longer items through from the boot between two occupants in the outer rear seats.

Boot space

Toyota Prius

Boot capacity 284 litres Suitcases 5

Volkswagen Golf

Boot capacity 273 litres Suitcases 5

Buying and owning

Costs, equipment, reliability, safety and security

Because our contenders are in low benefit-in-kind tax brackets, they make a great deal of sense for company car drivers. The Volkswagen Golf’s long electric range places it in the 5% tax band, compared with 8% for the Toyota Prius. As a result, the Golf will cost anyone in the 40% tax bracket £45 less per month in salary  sacrifices than the Prius in the current financial year, although the latter is still a lot more affordable than a petrol, diesel or even regular hybrid equivalent.

For private buyers looking to purchase a car outright with cash, the Golf’s list price is significantly lower than that of the Prius. The gap is even wider when you take discounts into consideration; research by our Target Price mystery shoppers suggests you can already expect to get around £1435 off the Golf, whereas you’ll get less than £1000 off the Prius.

You might be planning to sign up to a PCP finance deal instead, and again the Golf is the cheaper option, helped by a larger manufacturer deposit contribution of £3250 (compared with £500 for the Prius) at the time of writing. With a £3600 deposit for a three-year deal and a 10,000-mile annual limit, the Golf costs £521 per month, which is by no means cheap, but less steep than the £631 required for the Prius.

Overall, the Prius will be cheaper to run over three years for anyone buying outright. While it costs a little more than the Golf in terms of servicing and insurance, the Prius is predicted to lose its value far more slowly, and it will be cheaper to fuel if you run these plug-in hybrids on petrol power only. Our real-world economy figures are achieved with a depleted battery to demonstrate the worst-case scenario, and the Prius returned 53.8mpg, versus 48mpg for the Golf. But because the Golf is more efficient than the Prius when running solely on battery power, it will cost you significantly less in electricity if you’re able to top up regularly.

Both cars come with adaptive cruise control and full LED headlights. The Golf has three-zone climate control (so both front occupants and those in the back can set their own temperature), rather than the Prius’s two-zone set-up, but the latter car comes with keyless entry (a £400 option on the Golf), plus heated and cooled front seats.

The Prius is too new to have featured in the 2024 What Car? Reliability Survey, but the Golf didn’t fare well, with the petrol version coming 23rd out of 26 models in the family car class and the diesel finishing last. The Golf comes with a standard three-year, 60,000-mile warranty, while the Prius can be covered for up to 10 years or 100,000 miles, provided you have it serviced annually at a Toyota dealer.

The Golf is the only contender to have been tested for safety by Euro NCAP, achieving the maximum five-star rating in 2022. Both cars come with plenty of safety kit, including automatic emergency braking, traffic sign recognition, lane-keeping assistance and blindspot monitoring. Each also has a driver attention monitor.

Our verdict

This Prius has broader appeal for private buyers than its predecessor, not only in terms of looks but also because of how well it drives. Its relatively low running costs make it a good choice for that group, too. 

However, PHEVs are mainly used as company cars, and here the Golf has a huge advantage, thanks to its class-leading electric range and lower price. What’s more, its greater practicality makes the Golf more suitable for family duties. 

True, it could be quieter and smoother to drive, but neither issue is enough of a concern to prevent the Golf from winning this test.

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1st – Volkswagen Golf

For Much longer electric range; cheaper as a company car and on a PCP; more rear seat space; more upmarket interior
Against More road noise; fiddly air-con controls; grabby brakes
Recommended options Winter Pack (£475)

Volkswagen Golf review >>

Volkswagen Golf deals >>

2nd – Toyota Prius

For Sharper to drive; more frugal with a depleted battery; calmer ride; better predicted resale values; long warranty
Against Tight for rear head room; restricted all-round visibility; driving position won’t suit everyone
Recommended options None

Toyota Prius review >>

Toyota Prius deals >>

Specifications: Toyota Prius Plug-in Excel

Engine 4cyl, 1987cc, petrol, plus electric motor
Peak power 220bhp (combined)
Peak torque 140lb ft (petrol engine only)
Gearbox CVT automatic
0-60mph 6.9sec
30-70mph in kickdown 5.9sec
Top speed 109mph
30-0mph 9.3m
70-0mph 49.3m
Noise at 30mph 61.8dB
Noise at 70mph 68.7dB
Kerb weight 1560kg
Tyre size (standard) 195/50 R19
Fuel tank 40 litres 
Battery capacity 13.6kWh (usable)
Peak charging rate 7kW
Minimum charging time 4hr (0-100%)
CO2 emissions 17g/km

Specifications: Volkswagen Golf 1.5 TSI eHybrid Style

Engine 4cyl, 1498cc, turbo, petrol, plus electric motor
Peak power 201bhp (combined)
Peak torque 258lb ft (combined)
Gearbox 6-spd automatic
0-60mph 6.9sec
30-70mph in kickdown 5.7sec
Top speed 137mph
30-0mph 8.7m
70-0mph 48.0m
Noise at 30mph 64.5dB
Noise at 70mph 69.9dB
Kerb weight 1649kg
Tyre size (stanadard) 225/45 R17
Fuel tank 40 litres
Battery capacity 19.7kWh (usable)
Peak charging rate 40kW
Minimum charging time 26min (5-80%)
CO2 emissions 6g/km

Weather conditions Dry, 24deg C

Cars pictured

Toyota Prius Plug-in Excel with Scarlet Flare premium paint (£950)

Volkswagen Golf 1.5 TSI eHybrid Style with Anemone Blue metallic paint (£730) and 18in Catania wheels (£585)

Read more: Best and worst hybrid cars >>