Most vehicles and their producers are understandably timid with a pending release date around the corner.  Not the Prius Plug-in.  But with the world's first real and highly regarded hybrid vehicle - a taboo term mind you in the days of one-dollar gallons of fuel - as your forbearer, what do you have to be worried about?  With a stellar fan and pundit reception alike, record-setting sales, Toyota Care and Toyota's STAR Safety System inclusive, high tech gadgetry, and ever-increasing EV mileage stats, the Toyota Prius Plug-in is sure to set the green world aflame once more.  But what do the uptight naysayers think?

Enter Forbes Magazine's Most Anticipated Cars of 2012 list, a veritable who's who in the world of cars.  And topping that list?  You guessed it:  none other than the upcoming Prius Plug-in hybrid electric vehicle, soon to arrive in Vermont in fact at Handy Toyota of St. Albans.

To reiterate, what could really go wrong when Toyota Motors - renowned for making safe, reliable, and well-built cars for a competitive price - combines the Hybrid Synergy Drive technology that made the Prius a household name (and in fact a family name with the recently coined Prii) with cutting edge 4.4 kWh lithium-ion batteries to achieve an astounding 15 miles of purely electric, zero fuel-using, zero emission-spewing driving?  In this humble writer's opinion, very little; as I outlined in my blog from November 9, 2011 titled Test drive:  the 2012 Toyota Prius Plug-in in which I gave an honest account of a Prius Plug-in test drive, the Prius Plug-in is sure to be a winner for Toyota.  Not only does the Prius PHV feature up to 15 miles of electric driving on a single 1.5-hour charge from a 220-volt Leviton charging kit (or as little as 3 hours from a normal 120-volt house outlet) but after that electricity is depleted the Prius Plug-in becomes a normal Prius, capable of the well-known 50 miles per gallon combined.  Additionally the Prius Plug-in uses the same, albeit advanced, regenerative braking as the current 2012 Prius IV giving that 15 mile electric driving capacity a boost.

And it's these very things, coupled with a starting price of only $32,000 which includes a host of premium content and is allowing the Prius Plug-in to shoot to the top of the "most anticipated" listings.  Additionally Toyota has unveiled that an estimated $38,000 second tiered version of the Prius PHV will be available with green leather (a non-animal based faux leather), JBL Audio's GreenEdge technology (which blasts the same sound at 60% power consumption), an accessories remote button (one you can use to remote start your air conditioner or heater), Toyota's well received Entune infotainment system, and navigation displayed on a large 7-inch LCD touchscreen.

The only downside to the Prius Plug-in is that if you didn't step up to the plate and make a pre-order during Toyota's Priority Registration period which ended in the fall of 2011, you can't really get one until 2013 - at least it's not likely.  All the same for a 100% certain answer, contact your Handy Toyota sales team by email or read more on our Prius Plug-in information page.  You can also check out previous Prius Plug-in blogs, read my Prius PHV test drive blog, or subscribe to our blog for up to the minute news.

Chris Dugan
Handy Toyota
St. Albans, VT  05478