Just a reminder to anyone reading this in the future: While the 2021 uses WS in the transaxles, the gen5 uses TE in both front and back. I'm still three or four years away from needing to do my transaxle fluids(I plan to do 5-7y/50k-70k), but I think I'm going to have a trusted shop do it instead of doing it myself. It's not that you or I can't do it yourself(we absolutely can), it's just that I like taking the car in every year or two just so it can be put up on a lift and given a thorough inspection by an actual professional. It lets you spot small problems before they become big ones, and helps you to plan future repairs so you can do it on your schedule and budget. I'll have the transaxle fluid be the excuse to take it in. I'll probably do coolants at 5y and transaxles at 7y*. Of course the real trick is to find the trusted shop that knows your type of car inside and out and knows what to look for. I'm lucky that Chicago is one of my favorite cities and it's not an absolutely insane drive(it's only mildly crazy ). That means I can use TCCN as long as I can schedule a few months in advance. *TCCN recommends WS replacement in eCVTs at anything from 6-9y and 60k-90k. He's currently recommending TE replacement at 6y/60k, but that's only because it's new and doesn't yet have the track record the WS transaxles do. When I schedule my coolant at 5y, I'll probably ask if he's seen enough TE transaxles at that point to keep to the 6/60 or if he's altered the recommendation because of experience.
I've done three transaxle fluid changes on our 2010. The first around 12 months, something like 15k kms, was by far the darkest. The second and third were done at longer intervals, yet were increasingly clean looking. Haven't really read through the attachment; the 5th Gen Repair Manual appears to have multiple instances of "transaxle fluid change". Also dead-links abound. There's another fluid change instruction for the AWD system? Haven't found as yet.
Benefits of AWD: * worse fuel economy * greater tire wear * greater expense to maintain and repair * more accident prone because drivers feel that since they can accelerate faster in poor driving conditions they can neglect the fact that they can't stop in shorter distances * higher car insurance rates - see previous two bullets
Like for like, an AWD Prius should get fewer miles per gallon owing to an additional 140 pounds. This approximates the penalty of carrying a small adult. That weight penalty is even less than toting around the extra weight of a plug in system. I've seen this observation before and am not confident it's true. The rear motor puts out modest power at low speeds. One of the problems of front wheel drive is understeer in harder cornering; this is a pronounced problem in the current Corolla, a similar car feeding less power to the front wheels. The AWD system cuts torque to the front wheels in order to send more power to the rear motor. It doesn't eliminate that front wheel scrub in harder cornering, but it should reduce it. Anecdotally, the AWD system may ping pong power back and forth from front to back while applying power in a turn. No doubt. While the service doesn't seem complex, that wouldn't stop a dealership from handing an owner an off putting bill over it. Those are not attributes of the car. Of course, the attribute that would have someone buying an AWD car is AWD. If you live somewhere that presents limited traction, it can help a driver sidestep some FWD issues.
Indeed. That's what I've done. I'm in the great lakes region and only ever had a set of winter wheels once. All my previous cars were front wheel drive or rear wheels drive. People in these environments learn how to deal with snow. If the snow gets higher than the bottom of an ordinary car, just having snow tires isn't going to get you around very well either. Feeding all the power through only two wheels is a greater disadvantage in snow than I had thought before I used and AWD Prius last winter. This is particularly noticeable on inclines. Yes the rear motor has modest power, but where your traction is very slight doubling the traction available to move you doesn't take a lot. But good snow tires are better than AWD with all seasons! I don't doubt that, but since I didn't get winter tires anyway and just used the tires that came on the car, that observation has limited value. A snow cat gets even better grip in snow, but it wouldn't be what I want to drive on a warm March day either. But what about braking? Whichever tire you use you'll need to account for long stopping distances. The Dunlop Enasaves that came on my Corolla hatch provided much better efficiency than the Michelin Defenders that replaced them, but would break free with little warning in rain. If anyone finds his OEM tires insufficient in summer, I wouldn't suggest that person use that tire over the winter.
The issue for many drivers here is the variable timing of the seasons. There's been snow here in May, but also warmer temps beginning in February. Sliding all over with a set of snow tires on a sunny 70 degree day might not be ideal.
IMO AWD is generally overrate. Wheels will stop and turn the same whether the car is AWD or FWD. If you want best stopping and turning capability, look at winter rated tires and traction devices (cables, socks, or chains if they're recommended by the manufacturer and fit). AWD means you're less likely to get stuck in a driveway someone refuses to plow. That's about the only benefit. From what I understand more expensive vehicles depreciate more quickly. As a used car buyer I would consider both the AWD and the FWD but my budget is going to win over any whim for having an AWD.
In the Toyota hybrid AWD system, the additional rear motor doesn't add all of it's additional torque to the rear wheels. Instead power is diverted from the front drive motor. This will reduce torque to the front wheels. That influences how much they can be called upon to turn as well. As any owner of a front wheel drive car can confirm, front wheels can propel the car pretty well or turn the car pretty well, but there's a fairly low limit to how much of both they can do at the same time.
Turn, as in turn the car. AWD has a negligeable effect on turning or steering a vehicle. From my experience, while yes, you can accelerate better while turning at the same time with an AWD, that point is moot for me, since it's not a necessity. I don't see sudden cornering and acceleration at the same time as a necessary feature. If the car starts to slip, a person's natural reaction is to take their foot off the accelerator. At that point the steering is the same, whether the car is AWD or 2WD. Both in an AWD and a 2WD your maximum steering is still going to happen with 0, or near 0 torque applied to the wheels.
Right. I understood that to be what you meant. In a Prius, that isn't correct. One of the tricks in a FWD car is figuring out adhesion limits in a turn under power. Some people may not hit those on dry asphalt, many will encounter them in rain, and nearly everyone will encounter them in ice and snow. In modern cars with traction control, the effect will be that a FWD car isn't propelled forward as the car cuts power to the front wheels. It may be moot for you in many conditions, and surely isn't a necessity, but that doesn't mean that they turn the same. Indeed. In the Toyota system, torque is reduced to the front and increased in the rear. The system isn't optimized for steering and doesn't have a tail out fun mode, but can maintain acceleration without the front washing out better than FWD. Even with the AWD, it's easy to get oversteer in snow and something of a trick to get oversteer.
