Low Clearance Issues?

No speed bump issues but you have to be aware of curb height when parking nose in. It is best to get in the habit of always stopping before the nose goes over even the lower curbs so that a high one won't catch you by surprise.

 

Does anyone know of a clear adhesive protector that can be self-installed on the lower spoiler to protect it from curb bumps? My mom has an S2000 and the front lip is all scratched up from hitting curbs and parking space concrete blocks. If I get a Prius, it would be nice to find something inexpensive that won't damage the paint when I remove it.

 

You can apply the clear Bra I think your referring to. I don't know if you hit it hard though, that it will protect the bumper fascia completely. It will help but I don't believe it will eliminate marks if you hit something hard. I would check with a dealer that installs the product. You can apply them yourself, they are tricky somewhat depending on curves and shapes...but it can be done.

 

I have found that curbs in head on parking places can cause problems, but that's true in most newer cars. The Prius has more ground clearance than my BMW did and I am grateful for that.

Unpaved roads are not really a problem as long as you don't go to fast and avoid boulders, ground clearance is listed in the specifications at 5.5 inches. I avoid unpaved roads when I can but sometimes I need to use them and it causes no problems, the biggest danger is rocks thrown up by other cars and trucks going to fast. I have actually pulled over to the side to let some of them by.

Check this out: http://www.meetup.com/PortlandHSD/
We meet once a month usually around the middle of the month on a Saturday. We have lunch and talk about our cars. In the summer we take trips. Bill Merchant, a member of this site is our organizer.

 

Ditto!..

Don't play the game of easing forward until you "feel" something.

Just stop short and call it good.
When you get out, take a quick look and in time you'll learn how close to get.... always keep a buffer and don't try to get as close as you possibly can. The prius is short enough, there should be no reason you need to park the absolute closest to the curb in front of you.

It only takes one miscalculation to crackup the front.. I don't see the point of chancing it time after time.

 

Protective film on the underside of the bumper won't really help due to the forces involved when you do scrape something. There's a lot of grinding that takes place...

Just stop short when parking. You'll soon get the feel.

And the Prius does just fine on most dirt roads that have been graded and are relatively flat. The ground clearance isn't that bad.

Bryan

 

A few times I've had to go slow..at some crazy intersections. but if all else fails, hit the obstacle at an angle if you can.

I've never had a problem in the past 4 years of driving every day.

 

The clearance seems to be a little higher in the 2010 Prius compared to the 2004 Prius. There is a dip in one street near my house. In the 2004 Prius, the car bottomed out no matter how slowly I drove over the dip. In the 2010 Prius, it usually passes the dip with no problem.

I had a much worse problem with my previous car, a 1998 Eagle Talon. That car was so low that I kept damaging the front bumper every time I pulled into a parking space. It scraped on the curb or on the barrier at the front of the space. I haven't seen any damage like that on either Prius.

 

After some of what I read here I thought I was going to have problems with a few friends' driveways but so far, so good. As for not pulling too far forward in parking spots I still think the front of the car is about a foot longer than it is so that's not a problem!

 

How about the rear clearance? I saw a 2nd gen prius with 2 people in the back and the rear was sagging a lot. Is the 2010 any better or worse in this area? Anyone experience dragging on driveways with a full load?

 

There is the same problem at my daughter's and with my previous car I could only get on/off the driveway by entering it at an angle, no passengers in the car. I expect the same type of problem with the Prius, which is .5 inch lower, it probably will mean street parking.
Question, a long time ago I remember seeing small metal sticks with a spring on bumper corners of vehicles, specifically to let a driver know how close curbs were. Anyone else remember something like that? They looked like tentacles.

 

I remember them, but I'm an old guy. They called them curb feelers, haven't seen them around for a long time but they did work pretty well I think.

 

When I had 4 certain persons in my car, I would center drag going out of my driveway with my GenII.... I don't do that with the GenIII.

I attribute it to better firmer suspension.

 

The only clearance issue I've had was with a rock in the middle of my lane (mountain road and no time or room to avoid it). Crunch!!! But no problems, phew. What a scare. There is a small scrape in the front center, underneath but the front air dam is fine. I thought it would have been very damaged, with the sound of the hit.

 

I see it on driveways with a slope - you learn quickly to avoid them, and drive very slowly...

 

1 - Loaded w/ multiple sacks of dog food and buckets of cat sand, etc. at Costco, one will bottom out going over speed bumps unless you go really slow.

2 - My wifes 'parking sensor' has been me yelling "Stop!" before running into/over curbs and parking barriers. Just yesterday we had to have the front right fender liner reinstalled w/ a new 'mud flap' type piece that hangs down about an inch or so. Cost: $62.

 

Yes, as others have mentioned, the front corner fenders are low enough to require much care pulling into parking spaces sue to curb stops. I also scraped my right front corner (underside) while pulling into a curved driveway with a rather high curbed edge. You have to be extra cautious because it is very difficult to judge the clearance.

Speed bumps and railroad tracks are no problem as the clearance is standard and adequate for all but those pesky curbs.

 

I traded in my 2002 MINI cooper for my Prius, and yes...they would both scrape easily on the front end. Where I live, we have those horrible "rolled curbs" that don't have a real curb cut for the driveway. I just had expensive cement work done, as both the MINI and the Prius would hit at the air dam under the front bumpers. The MINI was worse, it damaged the car and cause an AirCon leak. Once I got the Prius, I said no more and had the cement work done to get a real curb cut. And the Prius still sometimes bottoms out on deep gutter cuts in intersections if I'm going over 15MPH.