Prius

Hi, I just test drove '05 Prius today. I found it very noisy (road noise and engine noise on acceleration mostly). It reminded me my old 1995 Toyota Tercel. Our other car is 2005 Subaru Outback. Prius seems to be MUCH noiser then Subaru. Ride is also a bit rougher (probably because it close to the ground). It also gives kinda "tincan" feeling (not too offend anyone on this group), probably due to close ceilling.

The car I tried had 20k on it (used, but still 2005). What do other people think about my observations? Thanks

Reply to
LB
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I noticed my 2005 was quite quiet compared to my Ford Explorer. Several of my passengers have commented to that effect.

How close a car is to the ground has little effect on the ride.

You must have a very, very quiet Subaru.

Reply to
Bill

  • I have both a Subaru Outback wagon (2001) and a Prius (2005). In my opinion, the Prius has better acceleration and is just as quiet as the Subaru.

The best gas mileage I have ever achieved on the Subaru is around 23 or 24 MPG. My long-term average in the Prius is 49.7 MPG -- and that is after about 13,000 miles.

The Subaru wagon is a fine car -- I have used it for the past four years.

The Prius is fantastic! I am leaving tomorrow to visit my daughter and her family in Pasadena -- I expect to get around 51 or 52 MPG on the trip (San Francisco to Pasadena/Los Angeles and back).

Since there is only my wife and I, this car is the ideal size -- we can put all of our luggage and have plenty of room.

The ride is not rough at all -- I generally use a tire pressure of

42/40 (front/rear), which is around 6 or 7 psi more than the recommended pressures. This adds somewhat to the gas mileage and does not really degrade the roughness of the ride.

I am extremely happy with this car -- I have no complaints -- and I just take great pleasure in filling the gas tank -- after about 450 or 500 miles with 10 gallons of gas.

Good luck!

earle

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Reply to
Earle Jones

On the contrary, when I drove an '05 Prius I rented for three days, I was impressed with the quiet. Roll the windows up, turn on the temperature control system, set the temperature for about 70 degrees and the fan on "2". I was amazed how quiet the Prius is.

I was thinking when my Prius comes in, about putting it up on jack stands and coating the undercarriage with asphalted undercoating to make it quieter!

Stan

Reply to
Stan and Dee Bringer

Others have reported that it doesn't make the car noticeably quieter, and it certainly makes a mess.

Reply to
richard schumacher

Seems odd. Prius is one of the quieter cars I've driven.

Reply to
richard schumacher

I picked up our 2003 Prius in Weatherford Texas and drove it 700 miles back to Huntsville AL. The only noticable road noise came from a stretch of I-20 in west Louisianna that needed resurfacing and another stretch where the road joints had gone uneven. It was quite ordinary noise. However, we have new Michelin tires, the 2003 had 49,300 miles when I picked it up.

As for engine noise, the only noticable noise came when going up hills at highway cruising speed, 50-75 mph, when the engine / motor would rev up. It wasn't loud as much as different from ordinary vehicles. It has a rumbling quality that at first made me think "are the motor bearings OK?" but that was it. We get the same noise going up overpasses on the Parkway.

I had to make a U-turn in Shreveport and scraped bottom on an uneven patch. No damage but it reminded me to make sure and stay on even road surfaces.

The 2003 cabin seems quite fine to this 6 ft. 240 lb. driver who spent a lot of time in it.

You might have added more details about the driving conditions such as road conditions and speeds and driver dimensions. Also the duration of the test and any test drive objectives you were looking for. For example, when I test drove the Ford Escape hybrid, I was looking for its 'motor only' modes, cruise control operation and noise at highway cruise speed.

Bob Wilson

Reply to
Bob Wilson

To some extent I agree with you on the road noise, most of which seems to be the fault of the stock Goodyear Integrity tires. I'm hoping that switching to another type, like the Goodyear ComforTread, will dampen some of the noise. Tirerack.com has the noise listed in their tire comparisons and the stock Integrity is near the bottom of the list for noise. Also, a mentioned, road surface ahs a lot to do with it. If they neglect to roll it well it's a bit noisy as are some aggregate surfaces they mix. I-5 through California mixes it up a lot and some stretches I wear ear foams to drown out the noise.

Ride is stiff no doubt due to the new shocks. However, I do prefer that over the bouncy and swaying of my older car (it was 11 years old and the shocks were shot). The car noise (excluding tire noise) is far less in the Prius with the exception of going up hills as already mentioned. It's a lot better over railroad crossings than my older car that required a good braking before crossing else it bounced all over the place.

Ceiling is actually taller in the Prius than some others. Try the new Chrysler 300 or Magnum if you want a low(rider) roof. I hit the roof in the Chrysler without even trying and my knees were into the dash. The Prius seems to be around 3" taller. If you notice you're sitting about level with some pickup trucks. The Prius seat is higher than most cars. I know it's tall because I have a hard time reaching the center of the top washing it (I'm 6 foot, btw). It does give a little top-heavy feel in the canyons though (it's narrow, although I'm adjusting to that as it appears to be less likely from door strikes in the parking lots.

It does take some adjusting, but seeing the result on the gasoline credit card statement makes it worthwhile (mine went from $220 month down to $80).

B~

Reply to
B. Peg

I usually have the fan on and the stereo playing. I don't really notice any road noise at all in that mode. A few days ago, I switched off the fan, and the stereo, just to listen. There was some road noise, but it was not bothersom. My guess is that the folks who have complained about the noise live in areas where the streets are not perfectly smooth, or they are sensitive to noise in the frequency band produced by the stock tires. As one other person said, you could probably get different tires to fit the car. However, you might be trading off road noise for MPG by going to softer tires.

As to the comment about it sounding like the old Tercel, I understand that the Prius engine design comes from the old Tercel engine, with some modernizations thrown in.

Paul

Reply to
Paul Missman

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