I have a 2013 Prius (no sunroof, no solar panel) and was wondering if anyone knew if the front of the car or the back of the car was heavier. I ask because I had to replace 1 tire with a new one and wanted to try and control the wear and tear during tire rotations and keep the new tire on the heavier end of the car. I figured the front is heavier because of the engine, but I think the Prius battery is in the rear and I think I heard that it weighs a quite a bit...I just don't know what exactly it weighs. Thanks!
My Gen 1 is 2765 pounds total, split as 1065 rear and 1700 front. It is so much heavier in front that the front tires need two PSI higher pressure. Yes, there's a battery (around 100 pounds) in the rear, but it's got nothing on a front end with a gasoline engine plus two multikilowatt electric motors. Yours is probably similar, though they did a lot of work to reduce the weight of all those components front and rear. You'll find the real numbers at the back of your New Car Features Manual at techinfo.toyota.com. Upside, with a 1700 pound driving end, I have never had trouble in snow. Ice, now that has given me trouble, twice in 8 years. -Chap
Thanks! I live in Los Angeles, I don't have to worry about ice Good thing the car doesn't run on water...because there's none of that in Los Angeles. Though, I'd have no complaints with a water powered vehicle!
The front tires always tend to wear faster, both because of greater front weight and more stresses. If the miles on tires is very low you should be ok, but I've read when doing partial replacements to replace in pairs, to keep left/right the same. At this point I guess you're ok though. What was it that necessitated the tire replacement? I've on two occasions now had a puncture deemed by the pros as too close to the edge of tread, about an inch away, and unrepairable. I decided to try plug repair myself. Both repairs were a few years back, and no further problems with those tires.
The sticker on the driver's door jam lists the max load for the front and rear axles, with the front rated at 95 pounds higher. That would be a good estimate of the front/rear weight distribution, I'd say.
No, it isn't, because those are the limits for the car carrying a maximum load. What the original poster wanted was the weight distribution of the car itself, which you find at the back of the New Car Features Manual. In the case of Gen 1, the front is over six hundred pounds heavier than the rear. The only-95-pound difference you see in the loaded weight is because you will put most of your load mid-seating-area and rearward, you don't add much weight to the front. -Chap
