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Grip levels

Discussion in 'Gen 4 Prius Main Forum' started by raspy, Jul 24, 2016.

  1. raspy

    raspy Senior Member

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    I notice significant body roll (even when compared to a regular bottom of the range Ford Focus I was renting for 3 weeks before the Prius arrived)

    However, today I had to take a turn far quicker than I normally do due to the silly actions of another road user, and on my 15 inch tyres, I was expecting the tyres to squeal, and the car to go all wobbly. No tyre squeal, and no wobble. The car just remained glued to the road and responded in a safe and secure manner, without any drama.

    Anyone else noticing that grip levels appear to be above average for a car focused on economy and comfort?
     
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  2. ETP

    ETP 2021 Prime(Limit),Highlander HYB Plat,B52-D,G,F,H

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    Have noticed that for all my Prius's.

    Thought you said gripe levels:LOL:
     
  3. 'LectroFuel

    'LectroFuel Senior Member

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    When I got my gen 4 and when I test drove one, I turned 90° corners going 25mph and the tires NEVER squealed. When you push the car to the max, it actually turns!

    I laugh when I have to take a hard turn in my gen 2. If I'm going fast on a freeway on-ramp and there's a turn, I plow straight, the tires squeal, and it feels unsafe. It might be because that car doesn't have Stability Control.
     
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  4. ETP

    ETP 2021 Prime(Limit),Highlander HYB Plat,B52-D,G,F,H

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    My Gen two was a Touring so not a fair comparison from me.
     
  5. Gen 2 Tom

    Gen 2 Tom Active Member

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    Agreed the Gen 4 corners much better than my Gen 2. Much stiffer ride and quieter.
     
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  6. krmcg

    krmcg Lowered Blizzard Pearl Beauty

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    I agree!
     
  7. JimboPalmer

    JimboPalmer Tsar of all the Rushers

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    Car and Driver got Roadholding, 300-ft-dia skidpad: 0.79 g in a Four Touring
    and Roadholding, 300-ft-dia skidpad: 0.84 g in a Two Eco

    I would have guessed the other way around.

    (They also got longer stopping distances with the Touring, that 85 pounds really hurts)
     
    #7 JimboPalmer, Jul 25, 2016
    Last edited: Jul 25, 2016
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  8. alanclarkeau

    alanclarkeau Senior Member

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    Wider wheels don't necessarily mean better grip or better braking - I've seen some tests to show it can go either way.
     
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  9. MrMischief

    MrMischief Active Member

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    Wow! I have a completely different view on it. I view that the Gen 4 Prius is unsafe at any speed above the limit. This is the first time I've actually paid attention to the recommended speed signs for turns. I'm not saying I follow them exactly, but I notice them and I slow well before the turn. The couple of times I've taken turns fast-ish the car would plow straight while the stability and abs kick on as I try to reel it in. All bets are off if you hit a bump mid turn. I'm in a Three, 15 inch wheels and whatever factory eco-tire is on it. I can not imagine how the previous generations must have been.

    What are you other / previous cars? I'm wondering if my expectations are too high as this is the first economy car I have owned. I'm sure it's not, but I feel more secure in my lifted wrangler without the top and doors on going through a turn than I do in the Prius. I've actually been paying close attention to my speed on a clover leaf near my house. I take it at about the same speed (30 mph) if I'm in the Prius or the Jeep. The Jeep I feel like "wheee!!!" as the body leans way over (I have the front and rear sway bars removed right now) and the Prius I feel like it'll just take one bump to induce enough under steer that I'll slide into the ditch.
     
  10. 'LectroFuel

    'LectroFuel Senior Member

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    I'm sorry, but based on your past posts about your car, it seems like the car was bumped out of alignment or something.o_O My last car (which I still have) is a 2005 gen 2 Prius. It is less confidence-inspiring on the freeway, but is not anything scary. The steering wheel jiggles a little, but that's it. It has 241,000 miles.
     
  11. MrMischief

    MrMischief Active Member

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    Maybe, but I honestly cannot think of where it would have happened. I forget exactly how many miles it had on it when I test drove but it was something like 6 or 9 miles. I put on about 15 or so test driving it, then bought it. Since then it hasn't seen any sizeable pot hole, no dramatic "ouch" moments. I've got a bit over 3,000 miles on it, I'll measure the tread wear tomorrow to see if anything is screwy, and I'll see if I can't get the dealership to check the alignment when it goes in at 5,000 miles for the tire rotation anyways. But I really have no reason to believe the alignment is out at all, no shimmies or shakes, take my hand off and it runs straight and true. IF the alignment is out (very big if), I'll of course get it straightened right away and chalk it up to it was bad from the start. But if it goes out again without any noticeable impact then I'd be trading it in for something built with better materials, I'm that confident that I haven't done anything stupid with it yet.
     
  12. Coast Cruiser

    Coast Cruiser Senior Member

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    You mean to tell me, my cheap plain-jane Three model has better performance numbers than the Touring models?
    My car does feel pretty good in corners, (and stops very well.) But of course I'm not racing thru corners.
     
  13. pakitt

    pakitt Senior Member

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    I have driven my Gen3 at 180km/h and never felt I was unsafe. So much so at lower speeds. It is a car made for fuel economy. You want speed and safety, buy something else. There are plenty of cars for that.
    That said, Gen4 is even better and solid on the ground. I have the version with 17" and the lower and wider profile offer even better grip.
    I had a VW Golf Active rented due to work, and on the highway at 150km/h I thought I would die. I was regretting not being able to use my Gen3 for the biz trip, while the TDI engine BTW was spewing NOx like no other and fuel consumption was anywhere close the Gen3 at the same speeds...
    I don't remember the Gen3 ever squealing, and so far nothing like it on the Gen4. Body roll on the Gen4 seems better. But again, because I like relaxed fuel saving driving, I don't really care much and I know Toyota has designed a car that will behave in safety critical situation.
     
  14. raspy

    raspy Senior Member

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    Interesting. I took two friends out as passengers this week. One drives a BMW 330i and the other drives a Subaru Impreza turbo and both were impressed that the car gripped the road the way it did round corners. They were expecting it to wobble, given their perception of a Prius.

    Posted via the PriusChat mobile app.
     
  15. MrMischief

    MrMischief Active Member

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    I was thinking about this on my way into work, trying to figure why I feel this car is unsafe and so many other say it feels like a sports car. First, I wonder how many who say that have ever driven sports cars, but secondly it may be how new I am to the hybrid world. I feel that the car is unpredictable, especially on brakes. If I hit the brakes I feel like I never know exactly what I'm going to get. So if I come into a corner hot I am not really confident how the brakes are going to act when I get into them. The throttle is a bit more predictable, put it to the floor and it almost always provides the same feel (unless traction control is limiting your fun), but feathering the throttle and getting consistent results also seems difficult. The steering is numb providing no feedback. All of these things together make me feel that the car is not safe to drive faster than the speed limits. If the limit is 35 mph, I go 35 mph. If it's 80 mph, I go 80 mph. But in a 65 with a 45 mph turn coming up, I'm used to taking it at 70 and being comfortable, but in the Prius I slow to 50 - 55 and I do the majority of that slowing before the turn. The Prius isn't a bad car, it's not an unsafe car, it is a car that is engineered to move you along at the speed limits and it does so just fine.

    Back to the original question of does it grip better than other economy cars, the answer I should have given is "I have no idea." The closest things I've driven to an economy car any time recently is an Impala I rented and a Taurus SHO I test drove before buying the Prius. Other than that, my most recent economy car I've driven or rented was a Mazda 5, but that's more mini van than economy car, and I only drove it down I-94 through eastern Montana.
     
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  16. raspy

    raspy Senior Member

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    I wouldn't say that it drives like a sports car, and I have driven race prepared BMWs on the Nurburgring in Germany. Yes, the brakes are a bit weird, in terms of the feel changes, which I believe is the regen.

    I wouldn't feel comfortable slinging it around corners, partly due to the relatively numb steering as you say, but also the body roll would annoy my passengers. It's just surprisingly sure footed, and I have been watching some videos on YouTube where Toyota brought a Gen 3 and Gen 4 for journalists to compare on some kind of short slalom track, and the journalists seemed to find that the Gen 4 was much better on the slalom vs the Gen 3. Here in the UK, I have to navigate a lot of multi lane roundabouts (traffic circles), and if I need to, I can navigate them rather rapidly in the Gen 4.

    Having said that, it was quite windy today here in London, and driving on the bumpy motorway at 70mph, I could feel the effect of trucks driving past me with the car shifting just a tiny bit in the lane, and I didn't feel that when driving heavier cars before on the same stretch of road.
     
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  17. pakitt

    pakitt Senior Member

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    The Prius in general has a big side surface for its weight. But even then I never felt unsafe.
    @MrMischief I would recommend to try driving it in a big empty parking lot and put it under test so to say. Slowly you will get more confident about what the car can and cannot do. BTW - did you drive manual or automatic sportier cars? Automatic, or like the Prius, gearless transmissions feel not as stable as you cannot down shift to increase rpm and giving a sense of more stability. In the end, whether the engine is spinning more or less fast does not change much, IMHO, the dynamics of the car.
     
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  18. raspy

    raspy Senior Member

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    My watch keeps vibrating today :)
    1469549784307.jpg

    Posted via the PriusChat mobile app.
     
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  19. dangrass

    dangrass Junior Member

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    It's all a matter of perspective and expectations. While the V4 Prius handles far better than the V3 car, which in my opinion had dangerous levels of understeer, it's still no sports car. My 2011 VW Jetta Sportwagen is far more responsive, tracks better at speed, and in general feels almost like a sport car compared to the Prius. But, as I said before, while the V3 and earlier Prii handled truly badly, the V4 car is improved enough that I bought one.
     
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  20. MrMischief

    MrMischief Active Member

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    both... my last porsche was a manual but my current charger (not really a sports car, but it wants to be one) is an auto with a stick you can slap around for upshifts and dowshifts. Thing about the Charger... when I bought it SRT sent me to a day of their driving school where we did auto cross and drag racing and road course work. The lesson I learned on that car in the corners was throw it in and slap the stick for 5 or 6 downshifts, it'll find the lowest gear it can be in, then plant your foot, let the car find the grip as the back end comes out a little and it roars toward the next turn it wants to destroy. Not exactly "sporty" but fun. My wife's camaro has a traditional 3 speed auto. For sporty intentions I prefer the manual but I do have experience throwing old automatics around as well. I don't believe either feel quite like the Prius. There is the thing with nearly no engine braking from the prius, but I believe the "issues" I have with the prius (issues used very loosely here) is more to do with the tire choice and the goofiness of the unpredictable braking. Am i going to run out and put some stickier rubber on the Prius? No. I might buy snow tires, not sure on that yet, but I bought the Prius to be an economy car, not something to throw around the track.