After putting about 20,000 on my Prime, I really only have one main complaint: why is it so stinking close to the ground? Is it really that important for aerodynamics? I can avoid most bad situations. However, I've been in several situations where I am on unfamiliar roads and get to a point where there's only one way to go, with traffic behind me, and there's no way to angle my car through to not scrape. I can't stop and wait for a magic carpet to float me over the dip. I have to go super slow and as angled as possible and it still scrapes. It's really annoying because I know it's going to happen and there's nothing I can do. Also, there was one speed bump that was almost exactly equal to the ground clearance. I couldn't let the suspension flex at all. I probably should have asked my girlfriend to get out of the car, but it's probably for my own best interest that I didn't. There's a trade-off between aerodynamics/efficiency and usability and I think they should have added another inch to the clearance. The problem would be mitigated if the bumper didn't stick out so far in front of the front wheels. I also can't fit any hydraulic floor jack under it. I even have a "low clearance" jack that still doesn't fit. My car ramps would hit the bumper, so I can't use those. I had to fabricate my own ramps out of wood to raise the car up enough to get my jack underneath it.
Compared to 2014 Prius Plug-in, Prime dose not scrape front bottom as often in my area of driving. But I understand your frustration. Posted via the PriusChat mobile app.
Yeah, it's low. I did my first scraping of the front bumper a few weeks ago. I do think it does contribute to the fuel efficiency though. Must be the less air passing under the car better the fuel efficiency.
As there are cars with good fuel economy that aren't so low, obviously not. But the Prius aims for great fuel economy and to get that >50mpg rating it needs to squeeze every little advantage it can. I suspect many of the odd-ball design choices in the Prius/Prius Prime are there to squeeze out another 1% increase in fuel economy.
3600 mile road trip last two weeks. Scraped the nose on a whoop-de-doo in the road, scraped the plastic tray under body twice in gas stations, got a stick pushed through the plastic panel below the passenger door in a camp ground. It's a low car.
In the west, most often in-town streets are sculpted with the drain cast with the curb (for the occasional rain). When turning from one street to another, there is the dip that must be crossed .... often with a scrape if not careful. Even in front of the Toyota Dealer .... the drive is heavily scarred, scraped and rutted where vehicles have bottomed out turning into the dealership. I can understand that Toyota wan't to achieve every mpg possible, and aerodynamics are important. But at what speed does it really become significant?
I saw improvement on a HHR with a not optimately placed air dam. My speed averages in the 30's on roads posted for 25mph to 55mph, and I did exceed the highway one at times. These and lowering are a somewhat common ecomod.
