Im thinking of buying my wife a Prius. Her commute has about 10-15 miles a day of gravel roads, can a Prius hold up to this kind of abuse? what about lrr tires?
No it cannot. Sits very low. Has very low front lip & front end end & especially the bumper cover and hood will take a beating you won't believe. The hood is a chip magnet in urban driving. And the flimsy plastic fod plate under the front end would not last long. If you lose the fod plate the ac condenser is just sitting there in the front waiting to be damaged. Thats about $1500 right there. I would be horrified to drive my 07 on a gravel road. Think high off the ground pickup.
You do not list a location, so it is hard to judge, but the traction control on a Prius does not allow wheelspin (Gen 2 is the worst) So if steep gravel in snow is in the picture, I would not recommend it. considering a Prius | PriusChat
We are in Loudoun County Va. We will be keeping our uh large suv for bad weather and towing of her horse trailer.
I live on a dirt road, and have no problems with the Prius on it. Snow can be a problem when it gets deep (4-6").
Yes it can, at least where I grew up and dad still lives. The county maintained portion, graded a couple times each year, is no problem whatsoever. The unmaintained portion on private property no longer has a low clearance car traversing it daily, so I sometimes scrap the vegetation growing in the center hump, and sometimes have to carefully pick a path through the soft spot that ruts during the spring thaw. Virtually all my lifetime rock hits, on all my cars, have occurred at highway speed on paved roads, not at the lower speeds and sparse traffic of gravel roads. 'Gravel road' means considerably different things to different people, which may lead to conflicting answers.
'Gravel road' means considerably different things to different people, which may lead to conflicting answers. Very true. I use my very used prius on a rural mail route, probably over 100k route miles on gravel by now (270k total), but I do use backup vehicles for muddy and snowy days which are harder on vehicles.I use 195/65/15 all season tires. The one time I tried LLR tires ( low rolling resistant tires), I had more flats so I avoid them. I also never air the psi over 40 for the same reason, high tire air pressures causes more flats in my experience. I still get over 40 mpg delivering mail which is a very good thing.
As long as care is taken, speeds are low, and the weather OK, the gravel is not necessarily a problem. But it does eat tires more quickly. But that is true for any other car as well. I drive some gravel patches and just take my time and stay on the high parts.
Our Prius performs just fine on gravel roads, but has one major related issue. The plastic that covers beneath the car, in the front passenger area, fill with gravel and then sag about 3 inches from the weight. The dealer charges about $100+ to remove & clean out. The plastic is permanently deformed and fills up much more quickly the second time. To replace both panels is $540 just for the 2 pieces. I’d say this is a major design flaw!!!
Town maintained gravel roads are ok, unmaintained 4 wheeler roads not so much. Winters—-Studded snows.
