I am debating on taking my Prius to a cabin that is 170 miles away. Only 3 of the miles are dirt road. The road is a washboard in some spots with some cattle guards and small pot holes. I don't want to mess up my alignment or hurt the car. I used to take my Saturn up the road, and my family has a Honda Civic they drive up it each day. I am very ove protective of my Prius, does anyone have any experience with the Prius on dirt roads. We can take my wife's turbo Outback but it will cost us more than twice as much on gas.
I've driven on logging roads for over 50 miles as well as frequent excursions on the nature preserves I manage. The major concern is ground clearance. Just be careful and you'll be fine.
Same as F8L. I live on a farm. The car does about 60Kms or more on dirt rds every day. It handles dirt rds very well. ABS is fantastic when avoiding kangaroos. Just watch you're clearance.
Dirt roads are no problemo. As said, the ground clearance is the only issue. It is not bad, but it is not "offroad" standards. Watch out for the rocks in the center of the road that stick up way high. Also anytime going on dirt roads or back roads pack accordingly. Also, I would read up on how to disable the traction control (it is not intuitive or documented in the manual). You might have a flash flood on the road and make it a loaded passenger car on a mud road and spinning tires may be needed. Just plan for the worst and expect the best.
You should be O'k Prius and Civic have about the same clearance, 5.1" With respect to potholes and alignment: from driving in urban jungles the pothole infested national capital, Prius turns ABS the moment it senses pothole.. it would be extremely hard to hit it hard enough to break a cord or mess up alignment
It looks like I will be saving money and taking the Prius. thanks for all of the replies. One last question: Is it true if you drive faster on a wash board road that it is better for the car because it will smooth it out because of the speed?
yes and no. It is true that going extremely slow puts more strain, but so is driving with excessive speed. The trick is not to use brakes much and make car float w/o picking up much speed. But it is only 3 miles, you'd be O'k if you crawl on your knees, really. As others said watch for big rocks and deep potholes, Prius has tons of plastics under to rip off good luck
Michigan likely has more miles of unpaved / gravel roads than paved. I try to avoid them to keep my cars cleaner and rust-free. (The mud and chloride used to control dust sticks to the undercarriage and traps moisture.) I've also had cars with cracked wheels and suspension problems due to driving too fast on some roads in my area. That said, they are hard to avoid for me since my daughter and a number of friends live on dirt roads off of gravel roads. Heck, I drove more than 3 miles of dry, unpaved roads last night to pick up a pizza. Taking the paved roads around the lakes would have more than doubled the length of the trip. Anyway, the Prius was already dirty from visiting one of my dirt-road friends on a rainy day earlier this week.
You're not going to have a problem. Several of my offices are on "unimproved roads." Priuses aren't quite as prissy and fragile as people make them out to be.....
I live on a dirt road. I often drive on some of the other dirt roads here in NM. As you well know, it is best to take it easy on the dirt roads in any vehicle. As mentioned above, the real issue is ground clearance. If the Prius can avoid bottoming out or becoming high-centered, then you should be OK ... and I would not use the Prius if there are streams that need to be forded. It is your judgement call. You have to gauge what looks reasonable. No one here can assess the potential terrain problems from afar.
The road was fairly rough. In several spots, it was a straight washboard. I maintained 25-30mph and the car did well. There were a few spots where it was really banging and shaking, but nothing horrible. The car then was fine at all highway speeds on the rest of the way home. I hope the rough spots did not hurt my alignment. By the way I got 50 mpg for 410 miles with the A/C at speeds between 35-78mph, and climbed some steep grades. This car is the best. I will never buy a regular car again!
I have a 2005 that i bought new. I have been driving 2 miles, 5-6 days a week on dirt road that sections turn to mud in rain. Not a problem
I have a related question. We are thinking of buying a prius (after 12 years with 4 wheel drive). We have a cabin at the top of a very steep and windy dirt road. From other posts, it sounds like a prius would be fine with the dirt but any opinions/experience with steep grades or slick muddy roads? The road is firmly packed so there would not be deep mud to content with but the road does get slick in the rainy season. Thanks for any advice.
The problem isn't going to be dirt or mud as much as ground clearance. Since the G3 is a front driver, I would not expect any more problems with mud slick roads than other sedans of this type. Several of my offices are on 'unimproved roads', and I haven't had any problems over the last 19,000 miles. Rent one over a weekend when the roads are grimy if you want to be sure. Good Luck!
If the road is only slick, you should rally have no problem. If the mud is couple inches still no issue. The problem will be with the traction control. There have been serveral time i have not been able to get out of my property with slick road. I dont see how the prius could even deal with ice and snow.
i drive dirt roads a lot, live on one and the quickest way to my grandparents house is one. only issue has been when i drive on them my mileage tanks, especially if they're muddy at all.luckily i'm usually not on them more than 5 miles.
You may want to review how to turn traction control off if you get in a situation where you are about to get stuck. And good tires help a lot. The original tires suck big time. With a set of Michelin X-ICE2 tires on I climb the Rocky Mountain passes of Colorado in blizzards all the time.
