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In the market to buy a Prius

Discussion in 'Newbie Forum' started by dinesh75, Mar 18, 2011.

  1. dinesh75

    dinesh75 New Member

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    Hey guys,

    I currently drive a Honda Civic 2 dr hatchback and love that car. However, it's over 11 yrs old and I feel it's time to upgrade. I use my car for camping a lot, so a hatchback is quite important. Mileage is important to me as well, hence thinking about the prius.

    I went to test drive one recently and was quite pleased with the experience. But there was one concern. The prius' ground clearance was so low! A new car (the one I test drove with just 16 miles on it) had the front bumper underside scraped! Since I drive on forest/dirt road a lot, I do want a car with reasonable ground clearance (at least 8"). Is there a way to raise the body of the prius to that height? Bigger tires/Bigger rims etc etc? Would love to get some feedback. Ground clearance is the thing that makes me think twice about the prius

    Thanks!
     
    #1 dinesh75, Mar 18, 2011
  2. nerfer

    nerfer A young senior member

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    8" is pretty hard (impossible?) to fnd in any passenger car. I'm sure your Honda Civic is nowhere near that.

    A Subaru Outback or Forester is 7.5" I think, you can get a transmission option that provides about 30 mpg, that's probably the best you can do. Ford Explorer Hybrid might also work, but is expensive.

    I drive the Prius on gravel roads and haven't had a problem. I only scraped the bottom when exiting my friend's steep driveway onto the street, or getting too close to the bigger concrete blocks in the parking lot.
     
    #2 nerfer, Mar 18, 2011
  3. nerfer

    nerfer A young senior member

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    Okay, I looked up a 2000 CX Hatchback, it has 5.9" ground clearance.
    2000 Honda Civic Exterior - MSN Autos

    The 2010-2011 Prius has 5.5" ground clearance. So you would be losing .4", or 1 cm. You might be able to make up that difference with oversized tires, I'm not sure if that would affect your turning radius. It would obviously affect your speedometer and odometer. The 2005-2009 model Prius has a 5.6" ground clearance.

    hope this helps
     
    #3 nerfer, Mar 18, 2011
  4. dinesh75

    dinesh75 New Member

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    Thanks guys. I did some informal measurements on my 99 Honda civic and I think it was 6-6.5". I would prefer the ground clearance to be at least that, if not more. Yeah 8" is too much. I would love 6.5-7.0".

    I remember reading about 205 tires on the prius. Would that work? What would my net ground clearance with those tires?

    Thanks.
     
    #4 dinesh75, Mar 18, 2011
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