Help: I love tight handling, wife hates it: compromise?

I would start with larger diameter sway bars first before any chassis braces.

The need for chassis braces will depend on your choice of tires. R888's would call for braces - that would be a fun autocross prius.

As long as you keep the factory dampers, you won't affect ride quality much. Going to 17s and changing springs/dampers will have the biggest impact on ride quality (that your wife will notice immediately).

 

If money is no object, why not get a beater to play with and just let your CFO drive the G3 without the little-boy-racer mods?

 

Stop right there.
You automatically lose.
Haven't been married very long I take it ???

If you want to drive a "sports car", save your pennies and get one.
Problem solved.

 

If you've got a level "5", doesn't it come with 215/45R17 tires, stock 17" rims?

 

At what speed? No problem with mine as I drive it for max EV and hybrid mileage, using minimal braking.

I've been there with other fast cars. Currently, I drive a Prius Plug In and accept it as a non performance, very fuel efficient mode of transportation. No need to spruce it up performance wise for something it will never be. My short daily commute allows me to maximize the benefits of driving a Prius. Going fast is exciting, going slower is interesting, Just another opinion.

 

Yeah.
That's what I was thinking.

Spend money on a car that handles like a pig on rollerskates, and you get a car that rides rougher, gets lower gas mileage, handles slightly better than a pig on roller skates....AND a torqued off spouse!

Find an MX-5 or an S2000 or a Boxter that hasn't been pimped out by a 20-something kid.....

....much more fun and a lot cheaper than marriage counseling.

 

+1

Happy Wife = Happy Life

I am lucky in that my soon to be loves the ride in the Ferrari 458 Italia and the Lambo LP570 and prefers the Lambo's crazier ride! She's a keeper lol.

The Prius is very reflective of Toyota's overall line. It feels like you are very distant from the wheels and it is even more pronounced on the Lexus range. I haven't tried the newer Scion, but the old ones were the same old same old.

I too love a connected car, but really the Prius feels great once you realize that is what it is supposed to do. I have sporty cars to drive sporty and the Prius to drive around talking with people. It is less about the driving and more about the drive. Whereas in the DeLorean we go for a drive with no destination for fun. Different cars required for the different things.

If you can only do 1 car, then your wife wins, hands down. Only remedy if that is unacceptable is to find a new wife.

 

dang man sounds like u got quite a collection... post a few of them at least next to the prius haha

 

Sorry, I have nothing to add here.

I only clicked on the thread because in the box on the home page the title was cut off to read....

"Help: I Love Tight Handling Wife".

I thought maybe we were going in a unique direction with this thread.

 

The compromise is easy, follow the US Family courts system. Find a solution that won't make either one of you happy, that would be the compromise. In other words.....leave the car as is.

 

Install both front and rear sway bars.

The combo I am using is the TRD/PLUS rear sway bar + 3rd-gen RAV4 front sway bar.

The latter is ~1mm thicker than the stock 3rd-gen Prius front sway bar, and is a direct-bolt-on fit. Be sure to pick up the RAV4-bar-specific sway bar bushings as well.

The reason is that the rear sway bar, although effective in reducing body roll, makes the car artificially tail-loose for its fore-aft weight balance and drive configuration.* It also biases roll control on one end, which you can feel if you hit sway-inducing bumps mid-corner. I've been running the front-rear sway bar setup and there's nothing bad I can say about it whatsoever.

* - IMO, a FWD car should NOT be tail-happy as a general-purpose setup. For it to be that way means you have to compromise rear grip significantly. Unless your primary goal is to allow the car to change direction quickly, ultimate-grip/trail-braking-stability/cornering-bump-response/general-usability-be-damned... I think it's a bad tune. Worse, considering that the Prius isn't very receptive to steering by throttle input. That said, the most valid usage of that tune I can think of is AutoX, where getting the car pointed in the right direction outweighs most other considerations by a little bit. The worst (but unfortunately, the most common) application of that tune is by kids who inherited their import family sedan/coupe and think they can Band-Aid its inherent, relative performance deficiencies against more-performance-oriented cars.

 

incremnental. Change one thing at a time until she complains, then back down to the last place she was "uncomplaning". Good compromise, you get "some" (pun intenede), she's still happy with the ride.

 

How much air do you have in the tires? Pumping them to 40+PSI would help reduce how much they squish in turns.

 

Your wife probably won't like the ride going from 15 to 17 inch rims though. Much shorter sidewall = harsher ride.

SCH-I535

 

as what s3nfo suggested, do it one at a time till the wife notices and complains. Did mine like that and my wife didn't even notice it's already as stiff and as low as i can go. once you have the new wheels and tires, brace, front and rear sway bars, go for an adjustable coilover. But don't lower it and just keep to the softest setting and slowly increase it bit by bit till she starts wondering.

 

I have to say that I am really impressed with the handling of my Prius. It's completely stock, and I maintain oem tire pressure. By no means is it considered a performance car, but if you drive your Prius properly it will put a smile on your face.

 

I agree, and I drive with higher tire pressure. I use minimal braking and cornering is fine. Based on that, I don't see the need for any additional body braces or suspension modifications.