Hi Everyone, I have been eyeing the 3rd gen Prius for years now. My 1999 Subaru impreza although very reliable was reaching a point where a few thousand had to be put in to get it back up to a reliable condition. Even though I drive like an old granny, the Subaru burned through gas like crazy! For the months of Aug and Sept, Toyota Canada was offering the Prius Performance Plus package for $3000 off and 0% Financing for 4 years. I sold the Impreza and went to the dealership and got my hands on one of the last ones left in my province!! I would have loved the Blizzard Pearl color but Classic Silver has grown on me Here it is...I am taking delivery tommorow. I won't rice it out with untasteful mods but i'm looking to share my experiences with the car, make some friends and maybe attend prius meets if there any in my City
Hi from Toronto! The car does look great. I have a silver Plug-in and have thought about getting the bits and pieces to turn my car into a Plus, but I have one little worry that perhaps you can help me with. Besides the 17" forged wheels and the aero add-ons for the lower body, the original Performance Plus package as offered by TRD (Toyota Racing Developments) also included a rear anti-roll(sway) bar and a set of lowering springs which apparently lowered the ride height by 1.1" in the front and 1.3" in the rear. So my question is, do you have the lowering springs? And if you do, has the lowered ride height caused you any problems like bottoming out on speed bumps, rubbing the underside of the nose on steep driveway entrances etc.? I think the Gen III Prius is a very good-looking car, and it's even better-looking with Plus additions, so I hope you're getting many admiring glances. I look forward to hearing about your experiences with the car. Cheers! Chris
Hi Chris! The Canadian Prius Plus package did not come with lowering springs, at least not that I'm aware of. My guess is that Toyota Canada probably concluded that since our country gets snow in the winter time, the lowering of the Prius would not be popular with our climate. I know the US version did come with lowering springs. From what I read on the forums here, the people that do have the TRD lowering springs are not experiencing any rubbing issues at all even with 18 inch wheels. As for me, surprisingly; even with non-lowered suspension, I have scraped the bottom of the car about twice in a few instances such as steep driveways etc. The body kit does not get scraped, it is something else on the bottom of the car - I believe it is the plastic shield that cover the drain plug / oil filter. With that being said, I am eyeing Tanabe Pro-OC coilovers for my car. At the highest setting, it will lower .75 inches front and about 1 inch rear. If I go this route, I would probably leave it at the highest setting and not "slam" the ride. I'd like the car to be still practical since I drive the car daily. And yes, the IMO, the car looks beautiful - thanks. Here on the west coast, I've only seen about 4 other Plus packages on the road during 6 months of ownership as this model seems very rare and is not offered for 2014 anymore. As for stares, I don't think I actually get a lot! Theres so many Priuses out there and this 3rd gen has been around since 2010. The body kit and wheels are subtle enough that it probably looks like just another typical Prius on the road. Happy modding. Hope to see your pictures here of your ride. Good luck
Oh by the way, I don't believe the Canadian Plus package came with the TRD rear sway bar either. I had to add that on after the car's purchase. Basically my car only came with the body kit, wheels and rear badging that distinguished it as a PLUS package. Cheers!
G4E, Thanks for the info. Well, I guess we Canucks get the short end of the stick again, at least compared to folks south of the border. It's been a bit of sore point with me for awhile although it hasn't put me off the Prius itself one bit. I'll give you a quick example. When I found out that the head-up display (HUD) is available on the Prius in the US but not here, I got a bit worked up because I consider it to be an important safety feature. Just for interest, I checked Toyota websites around the world and found that the HUD is available just about everywhere else, so I asked Toyota Canada about it, and the only answer I got was that it's not available in Canada. I pressed for an explanation of why it's not available here, but the only "explanation" was that it's not available. So I reckon we'd get the same answer to why the Canadian Plus package is confined to the wheels, aero kit and badges. But given that you've installed TRD's rear sway bar, you're half-way to gaining full Performance Plus status, with only the Tanabe coil-overs to come! I've been considering such mods myself, so I'd be very interested to hear about how different your car feels with the rear sway bar. Has it improved the handling noticeably? I assume there will be a further improvement in the handling department if you can't resist buying those coilovers (go on, you know you want to!). Actually, I'm about to install my first significant mod, a new set of wheels. They're 16x7 Wedsport SA15Rs that I just had powder-coated silver. They'll be shod with a set of Michelin's recently-introduced Premier A/S tires. I decided to go for 16-inch wheels rather than 17-inch because I was persuaded by the PriusChat community that the smaller diameter would have less effect on fuel mileage, and I'm hoping that the SA15R's long-spoke design will sufficiently fill my wheel wells for eye appeal. We'll see! Anyway, when I get the new wheels/tires on I'll post some photos. Cheers! Chris
Congrats.... with our gas prices already over $1.50 per litre here this weekend I'm sure you will get quickly used to no longer having to feed the Subaru. Roland
My friends keep calling me a hippie for buying a Prius. They are all quiet when summertime comes along and gas hits $1.50+ per liter...lol
