I'm hoping to get some feedback from those who routinely drive on rough streets. I haven't purchased one yet, but I'm going to put an order in soon. And since driving over some terrible potholes here in new york recently (can anyone say Cross Bronx!?!? :fear: )I started wondering if anyone chose a touring suspension over the regular one because of where/how they drive. Or perhaps some of you just added something here or there to make it more manageable? Or perhaps it does fine without anything??? Any feedback is greatly appreciated! TIA! :thumb:
KCobby, My wife and I both drive Touring models primarily because of the better handling, firmer ride and much better emergency stopping capability than the Standard Prii which tends to provide a "mushy" ride. Our streets in Tulsa are rough and in poor shape and the Touring handles them fairly well. I have found running the tires at 40 psig front and 38 psig rear is a good compromise between better mileage and ride comfort. The 42/40 that many on PC subscribe to seems too hard on my kidneys and the cars suspension. There are many posts here on PC debating the Touring vs the Standard model. Use the search feature to research them. Good luck and let us know what you decide.
Rwhoyle - Thanks for the advice and info! Besides just the touring vs basic debate, I'm also wondering whether anyone has, say, upgraded the shocks, swapped out anything else, or maybe even just run different tires to accommodate rough roads. Maybe I'm over thinking things, but considering what some of these streets have knocked loose on my VW, I'm already concerned about what they might do to a brand, new baby!
We have pretty bad roads here too, especially in Winnipeg. Let's face it, if you want a car to absorb the bumps, there are better choices than the Prius. These cars will typically average less than half the city fuel economy of the Prius Of course, when I compare my FJ to my Prius, the FJ suspension is designed for a lot of travel, and is soft. Combined with the larger tires to absorb impact, I will let it sail over potholes, frost heaves, and washboardy gravel roads that would make me slow down and wince in my Prius A co-worker of mine used to have a 2006 Range Rover HSE, which had 4 wheel independant air suspension. That thing easily ate up bumps I feel in my FJ. He recently traded it for the new Toyota Sequoia, and although the Toyota isn't quite as soft as the Range Rover, it also rides quite well over bumpy roads. Surprisingly, it offers 4 mpg more than the Range Rover. The Prius ride is quite good compared to a lot of cars the same size. It all depends on what you are used to. I guess I would stay away from the firmer suspension if you routinely have to ride over potholed, frost heaved roads
I haven't done anything to my Standard Prius to prepare it for NYC potholes. Don't think that there's much you can do about them within the range of reason, other than trying to avoid them. If you're concerned about damage to the front's underside, you can consider getting the BT Tech Skid Plate. I would think that runflats with stiff sidewalls might prevent some damage to your rims. But personally, I don't want runflats.
