What will they cost?

It’s the Toyota Prius that’s held its value best out of these two, but the upshot of that is that it’s now the more expensive car to buy. That gives the Volt the edge, but it’s worth keeping in mind that the Prius will be much easier to find, as it’s much more common, so your choice may depend largely on what’s available within easy reach.

Working out the fuel consumption of these cars is trickier. A full charge in the Prius from a 240-volt socket takes just 90 minutes, while charging the Volt to its maximum level by the same means will take you a full six hours. However, of course, the Volt’s charge will get you further, which means it works out slightly cheaper to run if you’re using electricity alone.

If you’re not, meanwhile, fuel consumption will vary greatly, and depend enormously on the type of use they’re put through. As a very rough guide, though, the official government fuel consumption figure for the Volt is higher than for the Prius, which suggests it’ll be cheaper to run on petrol too.

Both cars came with eight-year, 100,000-mile warranties for their powertrains, which adds some peace of mind; the Prius, meanwhile, came with a five-year, 100,000-mile warranty for the rest of the car, which is more than the volt’s three-year, 60,000-mile item.

We don’t really have enough reliability data on either car to draw full and final conclusions on which will be the most dependable, but as a guideline, Toyota has an excellent reliability reputation, while Chevrolet’s is a little less inspiring.