Hello and thanks to all... I appreciate all the information you have shared... that I have obtained here at the forum since we bought our 2008 Prius 2... two weks ago. I do have a couple quick questions.... I downloaded and had printed the Toyota Prius User Guide; 8th Edition, 8th Revision for the ICONIC (2004-2009) model. It has so much helpful information in it. Anyways.... I have looked every where and can't find what the ICONIC in the above title means in regards to our cars? I did find this at dictionary.com i·con·ic /aɪˈkɒnɪk/ Show Spelled[ahy-kon-ik] Show IPA –adjective 1. of, pertaining to, or characteristic of an icon. 2. Art. (of statues, portraits, etc.) executed according to a convention or tradition. ALSO; Tire pressure seems to bother me a little as I was always told that the manufacturer sets the pressure for the car and weight for safety resaons... Why then have I been reading to go 44 front and 42 rear versus the sticker telling me 35 front and 33 back????? Thanks
Iconic was used by one of our members to describe the Gen II Prius, since it became what most people think of as a "standard" Prius. It is the icon, or symbol of hybrid cars. I don't really care for the expression, but it seems to have stuck. Tom
Never exceed the maximum tire pressure printed on the tire itself. Always measure when the tire has not been driven far. (cold) The vendor will publish the tire pressure that makes the best compromise between safety, economy, tire life, and ride comfort. A high number of drivers value economy over ride comfort, so raise the air pressure. By keeping the ratio of front to back pressures, they hope to maintain the safety of the car. From a tire life situation, it appears Toyota's recommendation is too low, the edges wear before the center, over inflation would wear the center before the edges. FTLS - Tire Inflation
Higher pressures make it easier to get better fuel economy. It does make the ride harder and does change the handling, but these are matters of personal preference. They're not dangerous. The front pressures are higher because they must carry more than 50% of the car's weight. In no case should the cold pressure exceed the maximum shown on the sidewall of every tire. When a tire is hot (that is, been driven on for more than a mile in the past hour) the pressure may very well exceed that *cold* maximum. This is normal; this also means that pressures should not be measured when tires are hot.
It means nothing. When referencing the 2001-2003 Prius, the term "Classic" is often used since, in the US, that's the first and therefore Classic Prius. It was just a shorthand we used here. When the Gen3 came out, there was a discussion what to "call" the new Prius versus the 2004-2009 Prius. Most Prius owners didn't care. News articles at the time used the term "iconic" in reference to the very distinguishable shape of the Prius per the definition you provided. Someone said, "that's what we'll call it." It was a completely made up reference. Anymore, people just say, Gen1, Gen2 and Gen3.
At this link, the center bulge illustrated with Over Inflation, is disputed. While it certainly happened on past bias ply tires, the steel belted radials used on modern passenger cars should display very little bulging of the center of the tread. Those steel belts have very little stretch.