Lifted Gen 4 Prius AWDe

Well my Gen 3 officially got totaled by a drunk driver a few weeks back. The damage was next to nothing but they totaled it regardless. I'll end up buying it back for cheap and will keep using it as a platform to build off road parts on. I took it as a sign and bought a new 2019 AWDe XLE to try and build up into a more capable off road vehicle. I'm not looking to crawl the Rubicon or cross the Dakar in it, I just want to get a few extra inches of ground clearance between a 1.5" lift and 2" oversized tires (205/75R15) to put it in the subaru crosstrek/forrester realm. I did this to my Gen 3 and am incredibly happy with the results and still managed 40+ mpg average without keeping my foot off the skinny pedal. I suspect the MPGs will be in the 43+ range with the 2019 once modified. My goal on road is to not have to stress about parking blocks, steep drive ways, or large speed bumps with 4 passengers in the car. Off road I plan on using it on my BASE jumping/downhill biking, backpacking, trips to access BLM land and fire roads into the back country, where it will also double as my sleeping rig. All while maintaining the comfortable factory ride and benefiting from less road noise thanks to more sidewall on the larger tires (one of the most appreciated differences on my Gen 3). I threw together a couple concept ideas on photoshop to get some motivation going and have wheels and tires ordered along with the beginning of a few parts drawn up and ready to be sent off to laser. Figured I would post up my process on here to see if there was any other interest while i'm at it. Cheers!

 

Air suspension would be the dream setup. I used to work at one of the biggest air suspension companies in the world, and i've toyed around with this idea a little, but the production cost would be massive to get up and running and the cost of kits well out of most peoples justifiable budgets. I plan on offering the lift I will be running on my Gen 4 to the masses once I am confident in it. If you're interested keep me in mind.

My suggestion is to stay away from "pizza cutter tires". I personally would never go below the factory 195/65R15 tires width, and honestly IMO, even this setup is less than ideal. Numerous times on factory tires at recommended tire pressure I found the front end wanting to push during even slightly spirited driving which was only amplified on wet or sloping roads. After stepping up to a 215/70R15 tire and feeling the MASSIVE improvement in road holding ability, reduction in road noise, smoother ride, and only minimal reduction in MPG/acceleration, I could never go back to the factory size. Even the optional factory size of 215/45R17 feels like a much more stable tire in regards to road holding (thanks to the 8.5" width), though unfortunately rides significantly worse with even more road noise due to the lower sidewall numbers. I will be running 205/75R15 tires on my Gen 4 which I feel will be the ideal size for both height and width. Keep in mind the Prius V was offered with 205/60R16 tires so the 205/75R15 keeps that same width and the height increase remains within 5% of the Prius V factory specs which runs the exact same powertrain as the standard Prius. If I were you I would run a 215/70R15 solely due to the increased number of tire options while still benefiting from the increased height and width without a significant increase in weight. There will obviously be trade offs in regards to fuel economy when compared to the factory size, but they are well worth it in my opinion.