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After two months of Prius

Discussion in 'Gen 4 Prius Main Forum' started by DicedPixel, Jun 12, 2017.

  1. DicedPixel

    DicedPixel Junior Member

    Joined:
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    Location:
    Stockholm
    Vehicle:
    2020 Prius PHV
    Model:
    Business Ed. Plus
    I have an EU 2016 Executive package Gen4 Prius, ( all bells and whistles on ) . I live in Stockholm, Sweden.
    Just finished 2000 Km after two months.

    It is my first ever car and while it's a marvelous car from the technological point of view, there are a few things that are quite under par.
    I just changed the windshield, got a nice crack one weekend.
    I had to send it to a specialized service for a proper anti corrosion treatment underneath. Better safe than sorry. The car is new, but, historically, in the match of Swedish weather+salt vs Toyota, Toyota got KO every time. Gen3s have lots of rust under as one garage showed me. ( they had a database of pictures for cars they have treated in the past years).

    I already got two stone-chips on the body, one on the hood and one on a door. The car is black and the paint came off. I got a paint pencil kit from Toyota recently hoping that will suffice to fix those. Anyway, I will send the car to a detailing garage and they will fix the stone-chips and then apply a DITEC paint preservation treatment on the whole car.

    The infotainment, and mostly the GPS interface and experience is slower than an Android phone I used 6 years ago. FFS Toyota, how more expensive would have been to use a faster processor ? Regardless that it is not using Android or Carplay, just having to type an address, it is down right stupid-slow for 2017.

    And the choice of tires. I got from factory, on the original 17¨ plastic rims, the Yokohama BluEarth E70 215/45R17 87W RPB. Their EU rating is Fuel E, Wet grip C, Noise 71 db, in other words, shitty mpg, bad wet grip and noisy tires. ( starting this year, 69 db is the new EU max allowed value). So Toyota, I get it, you have an exclusive deal with Yokohama and Bridgestone, but why the shit choice of compound from the factory door ? Surplus ?

    At highway speeds I have to turn up the music volume to 15 to hear anything. It is a shit experience from a comfort and noise point of view. I do not know if it's the car which is not well insulated or the tires alone are that noisy.
    I am thinking about changing the tires to a set of Debica Presto UHP 2 215/45 R17 91Y XL MSF with the EU rating of Fuel C, Wet grip A, Noise 66 db.
    Or just change to 15¨ rims altogether, there are tires like Nokian Hakka Green 2 195/65 R15 95H AA XL, with the EU rating of Fuel A, Wet grip A, Noise 67 db.
    What do you think, should I stick to the 17 ¨plastic¨ rims, or go to 15¨ alloy ? It is the noise that concerns me most rather than the fuel consumption to be frank.
    The Swedish asphalt/tarmac is quite hard and unforgiving, so that is a factor as well in generating the noise next to the noisy tires, I am aware of that , but I am just trying to reduce one factor.

    P.S. Driving with someone in my car that has a Gen3 with 17 wheels, at 100 Km/h that person said this Gen4 is more quiet than his car. I am flabbergasted.

    Either way, it is a great car,but would not buy it again.
     
    #1 DicedPixel, Jun 12, 2017
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  2. bisco

    bisco cookie crumbler

    Joined:
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    Location:
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    Vehicle:
    2012 Prius Plug-in
    Model:
    Plug-in Base
    it's all built around emissions. except for the 17" tyres. but they probably aren't a big hit. i would go with 15's and a quiet tyre. the gen 4 has more soundproofing, but you can add more, if need be.
     
    #2 bisco, Jun 12, 2017
    RCO likes this.
  3. DonDNH

    DonDNH Senior Member

    Joined:
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    Location:
    Nashua, NH
    Vehicle:
    2016 Prius
    Model:
    Four Touring
    I have the 17" rims on my car. I prefer the better handling that I got with the 15" on my first Prius. Mileage isn't too bad with my driving; currently mid-50 MPG. As far as tire selection, the stock tires are likely to get a bit more quiet as they wear a little. I'm not positive about the EU spec car, but there's an alloy wheel under the rather ugly plastic cover. You might remove the cover from a wheel and see if you like the looks.
     
    #3 DonDNH, Jun 12, 2017
  4. alanclarkeau

    alanclarkeau Senior Member

    Joined:
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    Location:
    near Brisbane, Australia
    Vehicle:
    2016 Prius
    Model:
    N/A
    All cars get stone chips, unless it's stored in a garage, and they all take the paint off to some extent. Unfortunately, with dark colours, and particularly black, it's much more noticeable. The hood is aluminum, by the way. We just pensioned my Dad's 25yr old car off, he drove very close to the car in front - yes, even when getting elderly, and he had almost no paint below the front grille of his car. I forgot to get a photo, but it was far worse than this - almost sand blasted:
    upload_2017-6-13_11-37-0.png

    The rims are alloy, with a plastic trim. I've got 15" rims, I'd have preferred 17" with the better grip levels and safety.

    You say it's your first ever car, so I'm not sure what you're used to - I don't find the PRIUS noisy, I'd rate it as the quietest I've ever owned, 3 VOLVOs, 3 FORD, 1 GM, 10 various Japanese cars, 2 VWs. Unless you're used to a super-quiet Mercedes/AUDI, I'm surprised you find it noisy.

    I agree the multi-media is poor, though I don't have Navigation.
     
    #4 alanclarkeau, Jun 12, 2017
  5. pakitt

    pakitt Senior Member

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    Location:
    Colorado
    Vehicle:
    2021 Prius Prime
    Model:
    Limited
    The 17" rims are alloy. The plastic inserts are to improve aerodynamics.
    The Prius is built to consume the least gas possible. So weight reductions are made everywhere.
    I was in the USA last 2 weeks renting 5 different cars and the Prius, the last one, was the quietest, when the tarmac was smooth and new.
    If you wanted a super silent car, you needed to buy a much heavier vehicle that has higher fuel consumption to carry around weight of insulation.
    I have been in Sweden and the tarmac there, for a good reason, is coarse. And noisy in any taxi (Mercedes typically) I have been in.
    The multimedia is poor, I agree. This is why I didn't bother to get any upgrade/GPS, but I bought myself a Tomtom Navi that does an excellent job in avoiding me traffic. And I would have probably done the same on another car since infotainment systems are in general pretty bad, an afterthought most times.
    You should drive other cars in the same price bracket and see if they are just as noisy and just as low in fuel consumption.
    As for the paint, this is my third car and they all chip. And windshields cracking, I had that in other cars too.
    Ah, Bluetooth works really well in the Prius. I cannot say the same of my friend's BMW 428i which sells for about 50k€....
     
    #5 pakitt, Jun 13, 2017
    RCO and alanclarkeau like this.
  6. alanclarkeau

    alanclarkeau Senior Member

    Joined:
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    near Brisbane, Australia
    Vehicle:
    2016 Prius
    Model:
    N/A
    Yes, I'll agree, the Bluetooth is very reliable. In almost 12 months, the bluetooth has only failed to automatically connect twice and never dropped out once. Both my FORD Focus & FIESTA would fail to auto-connect at least weekly - which I'd notice after I started driving. And they both dropped out occasionally.
     
    #6 alanclarkeau, Jun 13, 2017
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