2027 Toyota Prius Adds Dual-Zone Climate Control, Priced From $28,755

The 2027 Toyota Prius starts at $28,755 for the front-wheel-drive LE grade, and buyers finally get a feature missing for years: dual-zone climate control. Drivers and front passengers can each set their own temperature instead of sharing one setting, a small but real quality-of-life fix for a car people live in every day.

Toyota builds the 2027 Prius at its Tsutsumi plant in Japan and expects the first cars at US dealerships this summer. The lineup spans four grades, LE, XLE, Nightshade and Limited, in both front-wheel-drive and all-wheel-drive configurations, with prices running from $28,755 up to $37,170 for a loaded AWD Limited (each excludes Toyota’s $1,295 dealer processing and handling fee).

Pricing and Fuel Economy

Toyota’s fifth-generation hybrid system pairs a 2.0-liter four-cylinder engine with two electric motors through a continuously variable transmission. The front-wheel-drive LE grade delivers 194 net-combined horsepower, a 0-60 mph run of 7.2 seconds and an EPA-estimated 55 mpg combined, among the best fuel economy figures sold in the US regardless of price. Add all-wheel drive and the numbers shift slightly: 196 horsepower, a 7.0-second 0-60 time and 53 mpg combined, still class-leading territory for a car with real winter traction.

• Prius LE: $28,755
• Prius XLE: $32,200
• Prius Nightshade: $33,005
• Prius Limited: $35,770
• Prius LE AWD: $30,155
• Prius XLE AWD: $33,600
• Prius Nightshade AWD: $34,405
• Prius Limited AWD: $37,170

The AWD system uses a separate electric motor mounted at the rear axle. Wheel-speed and G-force sensors send power to the rear wheels only when the car needs it, cutting front-wheel slip under hard acceleration and adding grip on wet or snowy roads without the fuel economy penalty of a full-time mechanical AWD system.

What Changes for 2027

Beyond the new dual-zone HVAC, Toyota adds a fifth exterior color called Inked to the palette, joining Cutting Edge, Guardian Gray, Reservoir Blue and the Nightshade-exclusive Karashi, plus two premium paint options, Supersonic Red and Wind Chill Pearl.

Every grade gets wireless Apple CarPlay and Android Auto, a 7-inch digital gauge cluster and Toyota Safety Sense 3.0 as standard equipment. The base LE comes with an 8-inch touchscreen, 17-inch wheels and a SofTex-trimmed steering wheel. Step up to XLE and buyers gain 19-inch wheels, heated front seats and a wireless phone charger. The blacked-out Nightshade trim adds unique 19-inch wheels, blackout badging and carbon-fiber dash trim on top of XLE equipment. At the top, Limited grade brings a power liftback, memory driver’s seat, heated and ventilated seats and an 8-speaker JBL sound system, plus a 12.3-inch touchscreen in place of the smaller unit. An optional Limited Premium Package adds Advanced Park and a panoramic camera system.

Safety Equipment Across the Range

Toyota Safety Sense 3.0 comes standard on every Prius grade and includes automatic emergency braking with pedestrian detection, adaptive cruise control that works across the full speed range, lane departure alert with steering assist, road sign recognition and automatic high beams. Blind spot monitoring with rear cross-traffic alert and a safe exit alert, which warns rear passengers before they open a door into passing traffic or cyclists, come standard as well.

Ownership Costs

Every 2027 Prius carries Toyota’s standard 36-month/36,000-mile basic warranty, a 60-month/60,000-mile powertrain warranty and unlimited-mileage corrosion coverage for five years. ToyotaCare covers scheduled maintenance for the first year or 10,000 miles and includes 24-hour roadside assistance for two years.

Buyers also get five-year trials of Toyota’s Safety Connect, Service Connect and Remote Connect services, plus a 30-day Wi-Fi Connect trial with 3GB of data included.

How It Stacks Up

At $28,755, the Prius LE undercuts most rivals with comparable fuel economy figures, and the 55 mpg combined rating on that entry grade puts real distance between the Prius and competitors like the Honda Civic Hybrid or Hyundai Elantra Hybrid, both of which land in the mid-40s combined. The plug-in hybrid version of the Prius, also new for 2027, starts higher at $33,980 but adds up to 44 miles of electric-only range for drivers who can charge at home.

For buyers cross-shopping hybrids purely on running costs, the standard Prius LE remains the cheapest way into a Toyota Safety Sense-equipped hybrid with real cargo space and a track record stretching back more than 26 years.