I notice the ride is a bit harsher in the back seat compared to the front. Does anyone find it a bit stiff? Is it the design/nature of the torsion beam suspension or is it just not tuned well enough? I remember the 98-03 Sienna's rear torsion beam suspension to be a bit softer than the Prius.
8) I have had people ride in my back seats of my Prius. They all have said how comfortable it was. Ben
Hmm... I came from a Camry. Does that make a difference? Cause the Camry's riding on independent MacPhersons all around and is quiet comfortable and soft. I did remember my test drive's ride being comfortable (I sat at the back once while my dad test drove). Looks like I have to go back out there and try sitting at the back again
My son has a 2004 Prius and I had noticed by sitting in the back seat that the back was not taking bumps very well at all. It was almost like a shock was broken. Took it to our mechanic who looked over the entire rear suspension and found that the bushings were a mess--all rusted and mangled. Now they have to look up the schematics online so that they can order all the parts involved and give us an estimate! Yikes! Plus, the front tire has a bad bearing too. Has anyone else had problems with this type of stuff? We have a 2006 with 75K miles on it and have never had an issue.
How many miles on your son's 2004? I've replaced the rear shocks 2x and the front struts once on my 2004 which now has 118.5K miles. No wheel bearing problems although that is not an unusual failure. I haven't heard about rear suspension bushings being a problem before. I'm interested in hearing about the full list of parts to be replaced.
Patrick, what kind of replacement shocks did you buy? The only kind I know for Prius is Kill Your Back.
That's funny, I hadn't seen that meaning for KYB before... Yes, I bought the Toyota-branded shocks/struts which are manufactured by KYB. You can also buy KYB-branded parts.
