Hi all, Got my 2006 Prius just a few days ago. It was a demo vehicle... I was putting in gas (no Petrol) and I wanted to look at something on the rear aerial. I leaned over the car to reach the aerial and heard "thunk". The metal on the rear door just pressed in. Thankfully it poped out on it's own. Phew! Also, I visited my dad today. I always park my car in their garage. On the right (driver) side of the garage my dad stores a piece of corrugated roofing. As I got out of my Prius, I misjudged and the door pressed against the metal roofing material. Now I see it pressed the edge of the door in very slightly! I'm talking bout half a millimeter. Do you also find that an "incident" that would leave no mark on any other car will leave a mark on a Prius? I was showing my car to a friend. I told him the bonnet is aluminium. He said:" Ooh, that's hard to repaint or repair." Is he talking SH!T?
The bonnet is aluminium and so is the hatch. The rest of the car is ultra-high tensile steel. This means the steel can be made thinner (and hence the car will be lighter) but still retain the same strength as a car with high tensile steel. This is why the Prius seems so flimsy. It's not because it's weak, but because the panels are thin. The doors aren't the one areas to act like an aluminium can. The roof and the rear quarter panels will do the same if you just use your thumb! As for hard to repaint or repair, I don't know but I do know they're very expensive to replace. Our 00 Corolla's bonnet was nearly $2,000 and our Camry's bonnet which is probably twice the size of the Prius' bonnet is probably more than $2,000. That's probably why the insurance company wrote off our car instead of repairing it =(.
Does the Prius dent too easily? Yes. But its not just the Prius, its all cars nowadays compared to older cars. Thinner metal=easier denting.
