Seriously looking at getting a Prius to see me through my daily 90 mile motorway round trip. One of the only negatives that keeps coming up in reviews/forums is the issue of tyre noise. Does wheel size affect this significantly? Would I be better off with the 15" or 17" wheels?
I don't know about road-noise, I don't find my 15" particularly noisy, but the majority of the noise comes from the ty.res, as the rest of the car is so quiet. Both have ECO Ty.res which I was told with my last car are often noisier. You might have to flip a coin - the 15" are marginally better for economy, the 17s give a little better roadholding. Unless you're in Australia - where you need to fork out an extra $8,000 for the only model available with 17" wheels.
Hello and welcome to Prius Chat from another part of UK. The Prius is definitely a quiet car, but the relative silence means that road noise etcetera seem very loud indeed. The tyres may well be a part of that, but from my experience on British roads and motorways, it is the road surface that is the main culprit. On some of the newer, finer-grain surfaces things are blissfully quiet as the Prius glides over them, but coarser-grained roads can be noisily irritating. Personally, I can live with this and thoroughly enjoy my Prius, but the noise is caused by the road surface... not the rubber.
Welcome! From what I am able to determine there noise varies depending on which actual tires are on the car. Toyota uses a mix of manufacturers so the tires vary from one car to another, even within the same trim level. I suspect LRR (low rolling resistance) tires can be noisier. Some people find quiet replacement tires tend to wear more quickly. Since the Gen 4 is very similar to the Gen 3 Prius, the tire threads there may be useful. The 17" wheels have heavier rims and smaller sidewalls on the tires. I would expect that to increase any road noise.
That's all generally true, but my UK Business Edition has the smaller wheels with generic t/res (t.y.r.e.s is converted to tires on this site) and on certain smooth road surfaces the car is whisper quiet inside even at speed. Change the road surface at the same speed, which happens a lot on British roads, and the noise suddenly hits your ears. For that reason alone, I'm convinced that it isn't the tyres that are the problem.
I don't know if the 90 miles include London CBD but I presume you're aware that the 17" wheels will put the CO2 emissions above the threshold for exemption of the congestion charge? (Hence the no-cost 15" wheel option on Business Edition Plus and Excel). I would think that the type of tyre is more important than the size. You can choose a different compound of tire and it will sound differently even if you keep the wheel sizes the same. Most of the issue with noise is from the road surface. Worn roads and concrete surfaces come through the cabin more noticeably than freshly paved roads. However, without the sound of the engine (if you're travelling in EV mode) to mask the noise, the noise can sound louder than in other cars of similar sound proofing.
Many of our rural roads are made like this - they're noisy. But better than what they were before sealing. Much better, and relatively weather-proof. e.g of before (different road).
Huh interesting. Depending on the classification of the road, our rural roads are paved or packed gravel - they're very rarely mud trails. (Arctic notwithstanding)
Is tyre fixed in links too? Tyre - Wikipedia EDIT it is fixed there too. Good job, @Tideland Prius I am sure @RCO and @kithmo and other UK members will be pleased to easily communicate in their native language.
He could tell you, but then... Try it: tyre Ooh, works. How about this one, the persistent pop up, only on phones. Goes away in the full editor, but a pain:
Rotate the phone from portrait to landscape & back. That gets rid of the popup too. It is especially bad when the popup is over the "Save Changes" button.
I wonder if it works from Downunder - Tyre Tyre Tyre Tyre Tyre Tyre Tyre Tyre Tyre Tyre Tyre Tyre Tyre Tyre
There must be a hit list of words to be corrected? IIRC when you're in the editor those words revert back to their as-typed spelling? Here's one I like to use, always get's fixed, and to my ear the fix changes the meaning: d_u_n_n_o becomes "don't know"
lol. OP is gonna come back expecting to see recommendations of wheel size and instead we're talking about Br. vs. Am. spelling of tyre lol. Someone put an auto-correct on it. I don't know why. Yeah. I don't know why tyre was on that list. Which one of y'all pissed off a moderator? lol (let's see if y'all gets auto-corrected)
Yeah I know that one, but I have to mutter/grumble/curse every time I do it. Don't know, or d-u-n-n-o, lol.
