It’s long been the go-to for app-based taxis, but is the new Prius about to change all that? We picked up a passenger and set the satnav for Scotland to find out
WORDS TOM FORD PHOTOGRAPHY JONNY FLEETWOOD
I also have no idea why they’d ask me if they can take a selfie with him, or what this represents for the future of international relations. Everyone seems very excited apart from The Stig, who shows about as much emotion as an oversized ball bearing. We’re outside Heathrow Terminal 3, nothing makes sense, it’s raining, and for some reason The Stig is not getting wet. Still, after mere moments, the white suit strides over to my car, opens the back door, ducks awkwardly under the roofline, fastens the belt and folds pronoun unspecific arms. My satnav pings with a set of coordinates somewhere a very long way away, and I raise my eyebrows. “Are you sure? I mean, that’s not really within the M25...” Literal reflective silence is my only answer. And so my day begins.
The backstory here is the car that I’m driving, a New York taxi cab yellow/mustard hued fifth-generation Toyota Prius. A car that wasn’t destined for the UK, Toyota believing that we would prefer a diet of SUVs and Corolla shaped things rather than a boring old saloon. Except that it’s not a boring saloon. The New Prius has caterpillared into a butterfly, and it no longer resembles something you’d buy from Office Supply Warehouse. A brief angst of mild upset and customer reaction later, and we are set to get a Prius allocation, albeit not unlimited and priced at £37,315 for the Design grade and £39,995 for the Excel, both top end plug-ins. Which is good news. But because we thought we weren’t getting it, no one’s really tested it in the UK, so TopGear borrowed one from Ireland and set about assessing it in the most Prius way possible. By becoming an Uber.
As cliches go, it’s worn translucent through overuse. But cliches are just proven truth in a colloquial hat, and you can’t get away from the fact that private hire loves a Prius. They’re frugal, reliable and relatively spacious, the OG hybrid that changed the game, and when you rely on your car for a living, that stuff matters. So I’ve collected my standard Magic Tree air freshener (New Car Scent), stuck a phone holder on the windscreen, plugged in some extra USB chargers and headed off to pick up my rider, who just happens to be TopGear’s tame racing driver. Why Heathrow? Well, Uber’s longest ever trip was Heathrow to Loch Lomond in Scotland
