Toyota Mirai review

This is a Toyota. But by the swish materials, plush furniture and sense of luxury, this could be a Lexus. (Why this badge? Toyota is the mothership brand, and they want Toyota to be seen as the tech leader.)

The big screen operates by touch, not by any kind of console controller. For a Japanese car the design is clear enough and the fonts coherent. Not something Toyota can be relied on to manage. There's phone mirroring too, and a useful head-up display. Masses of actual switches mean you don't need to dive into menus too often, though some of them lurk down by your knee where they don't want to be found.

The shape of the cabin isn't at all like the flat-floored airiness of a battery EV. Instead the central tank imposes itself as a high spine down the cabin. In the front that makes you feel tucked in, though not confined.

In the back it's a lot better for hire-and-reward work than the last Mirai, not least because the rear bench takes three people. Legroom is okay, but disappointing for a car this long, and it’s a challenge tucking feet beneath the front seats. And in our panoramic-sunroofed test car, rear headroom was tight. Bit of a dropped ball, that. The boot is also a bit inflexible and smaller than a car this size would possess with a traditional powertrain.

A bonus feature worth mentioning is an air purification system inside the car, a first for Toyota and one which removes ’90 to 100 per cent’ of NOX trying to sneak in through the air vents.

There’s also a H20 button on the dashboard to drop the Mirai powertrain’s waste product – clean, pure water – at a more opportune moment than when you park up. Though it’s not like the stuff gushes out the car’s underside like a bust gutter – you have to be down on your hands and knees to spot it.