New Toyota Prius from $34,990

The fourth generation of Toyota's hybrid icon, the Prius, is now on sale in Australia, bringing an all-new platform, radical new styling, the promise of better handling, fuel consumption of just 3.4L/100km, more standard equipment and a $2500 higher starting price, but the same old nickel-metal hydride (NiMH) battery technology as its three predecessors.

The latest Prius is again available in two specifications, with the entry-level model now priced at $34,990 plus on-road costs (up $2500) and the Prius i-Tech flagship costing $42,990 plus ORCs – $1000 less than before.

Toyota hopes the new model's more radical design and improved dynamics will make it more popular than the MkIII Prius, which went on sale in 2010 and despite hefty price cuts in 2011 attracted just 459 buyers locally last year – down 5.7 per cent on 2014 figures.

Now in its 20th year of sales, the Prius has found more than 3.6 million homes globally since 1997, but less than 20,000 in Australia.

"Toyota has changed the entire focus and perspective of Prius by evoking a more emotional response with a car that is fun to see, touch and drive," said Toyota Australia's executive director sales and marketing, Tony Cramb.

"New Prius is a mainstream car that advances its driving dynamics and driveway appeal while also delivering substantially improved innovation and efficiency."

The latter has also been boosted substantially for this generation, with official ADR 81/02 combined average now falling by 0.5L/100km or 12.8 per cent, to just 3.4L/100km – down from 3.9L/100km and the largest efficiency gain yet achieved by a new-generation Prius.

CO2 emissions are down by a corresponding amount, from 89 to 80g/km, reinstating the Prius as the nation's most efficient non-plug-in model on sale in Australia.

Part of the reason for this is its first use of the Japanese giant's new modular small-car platform, dubbed Toyota New Generation Architecture (TNGA), which the car-maker says brings a 60 per cent more torsionally rigid body structure, 24mm lower centre of gravity, improved body control, stability, handling and comfort, and a 25kg reduction in body-in-white mass.

A quicker new steering rack ratio of 13.2:1 for the Prius and 13.4:1 for the i-Tech compares with 14.6:1 for the superseded model.

However, the new laser screw-welded TNGA platform, which features redesigned front suspension and a new double-wishbone rear-end, reportedly delayed production of the new Prius by up to six months and base kerb weight is up by 10kg to 1375kg due to extra equipment, although the weight of the Prius i-Tech is down by 25kg to 1400kg.

Also making it more efficient is a drag co-efficient of just 0.24Cd (down from 25), thanks to an instantly recognisable triangular profile with forward plunging bonnet line and a low roof, while the air-conditioning system focuses on the driver if it detects no front passenger.

Inside, there's a wrap-around dashboard with padded touch points, tablet-like 7.0-inch touch-screen, soft-touch materials and white inserts contrasting with black upholstery, a larger full-colour head-up display (HUD) and two 4.2-inch multi-information displays in the instrument panel.

Similarly new is a 1.8-litre petrol-electric powertrain incorporating smaller, lighter and more efficient electric motors, reduced mechanical losses in the continuously variable automatic transmission (CVT), a 33 per cent smaller power control unit and a lighter, smaller hybrid battery.

Other advances from the new hybrid powertrain, in which the inverter is now mounted above the transaxle, include a thinner new 43-litre fuel tank, electric-mode coasting up to 105km/h and a 9.6 per cent increase in theoretical driving range.

However, all Prius models sold in Australia continue to be fitted with an NiMH battery, rather than employing more advanced lithium-ion (Li-Ion) battery technology as seen in the Prius V and the previous-generation Prius Plug-in Hybrid.

Toyota claims the 1.8-litre four-cylinder petrol engine, which delivers 72kW of power at 5200rpm and 142Nm of torque at 3600rpm, has thermal efficiency of 40 per cent – a world record for a mass-produced petrol engine. The new electric motor delivers 53kW and 163Nm.

Despite a lower total system output of just 90kW – 10kW less than before, Toyota says the new Prius is more responsive under partial load, quieter under acceleration and more intuitive. To encourage drivers to use its Eco mode, it claims it's more like the old model's Normal mode.

The smaller NiMH battery is, however, now located under the rear seat, rather than behind it, increasing boot space to 457 litres (502 litres in the i-Tech).

There's been a big advance in standard safety equipment too, with pre-collision safety system (PCS – previously reserved for i-Tech) comprising all-speed active cruise control, lane departure alert with steering input and auto high-beam joining seven airbags, reversing camera, stability/traction control, anti-lock brakes, emergency brake signal, hill-start assist and smart entry and start.

All Prius variants also score the colour HUD, auto-levelling bi-LED headlights, LED daytime running lamps and tail-lights, 10-speaker JBL audio system, digital radio, Toyota Link connected services, three-spoke leather-accented steering wheel with 40mm more tilt range, premium door trim and a Q1 wireless phone charger.

On top of this, the top-shelf i-Tech gains blind-spot monitoring and rear cross-traffic alert, plus 17-inch alloy wheels with weight-saving resin inserts (instead of the base model's 15-inch alloys with plastic aero covers), satellite-navigation and leather-accented seats with eight-way driver's power adjustment and front-seat heating.

As we've reported, the Mk4 Prius is 60mm longer than before at 4540mm, 15mm wider at 1760mm, at least 500mm lower at both ends and the highest part of its roof is now 170mm further forward. Inside, the seats are 55 and 23mm lower front and rear, while offering 25.5mm more front head room and 3mm at the rear.

The new Prius is covered by the Toyota Service Advantage capped-price maintenance regime at a maximum of $140 per service, and is available in advanced new 'emotional red' paint tech, and three others that are new to Prius – for a total of seven hues – Eclipse Black, Graphite and Lunar Blue.