Toyota Prius T-Spirit: Test Drive

Date: 08 June 2007   |   Author: John Mahoney

Category: Lower medium Prices: £17,780-£20,680 Key Rival: Honda Civic Hybrid

Face it, some of us just can't and never will be able to, park. Even those who can, occasionally walk away from the scene of a parking atrocity: shaved alloys, rubbed bumpers and some wiseass telling you that you could have parked the preverbal bus in there, mate.

Sound familiar? Perhaps you need one of these - a Prius with Intelligent Park Assist (IPA). Standard on the range-topping T-Spirit that weighs in at a substantial £20,612 and 28.5ppm (and with the 1.5 VVTi engine), it uses reverse cameras and parking sensors to accurately steer into parallel or perpendicular car park spaces.

We've tried it before on the VW Touran, but this system only steers backwards - you operate the brake and throttle.

Does it work? Not always. It makes a beeping and buzzing racket, takes an age to manually select a space on the screen, and a few times cocked a wheel on the kerb, which is annoying.

Verdict: For those who just can't park, sometimes the Toyota can.

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