2010 Prius V...terrible ride.

Friend of mine just picked up a 2010 Prius V after obsessing over the idea for several months. He'd only driven the lower end models with the 15" wheels, never the V with the 17" wheels and low profile tires. Both he and his wife felt the freeway ride home was unbearable, to the extent that they phoned the Toyota dealer and asked if there was some way to return the car afterward.

Has anyone else experienced a large difference in ride between the 17" wheel/tire package and the 15" setup?

Is there any difference in suspension, i.e., spring rate/damping, between the V with 17" wheels and the 15" wheeled cars?

And additionally, would anyone know what the easiest way to go about swapping would be? Assume dealers would want an arm+leg, and they likely won't be available on Craigslist just yet.

Maybe the wheels need to be aligned?

Tire pressure is a possibility. A couple threads down an op reported a very harsh ride with just slightly elevated tire pressures. On the other hand we've bumped our V to 44/42 and it still rides comfortably with no noticeable degradation in ride quality.

Shouldn't affect the ride quality, only tire war, mileage, etc. He'd be aware of it too. An out of balance tire would do it, but again, he knows what that is...it's a general ride issue.

Have they checked tire pressure, to make sure it is not too high for their comfort? Many seem to arrive with 40 psi.

Many of us with 15" tires want the higher pressure for efficiency reasons, but there is a comfort tradeoff, and that will be more pronounced with the 17"s.

On rough roads, the ride is harsh. On smooth roads, it rides like a Lexus.

We Have owned our 2010 V for about 6 weeks and 2000+ miles and it came with 40psi from the dealer and we have not observed any ride problems. Some thing is strange with this situation.

Unless it's a GX470, which has a trucky, bouncy SUV ride even on smooth roads.

True, but what I meant it rides smoother than most. At least compared to the car it replaced.

Where have you found smooth roads in California?!?

Orange County

I bet the dealer never adjusted the pressures in the tires. If I am not mistaken, sometimes these cars are delivered with upwards of 50psi of pressure for the ride on the auto carrier. Inattentive dealers when prepping the car will fail to check and correct the pressures. If the ride were so bad on the V we would have lots more people complaining. I have not driven/ridden in one yet so I have no basis of comparison.

On a final note, people should be more aware of the differences in ride characteristics when they go from a 15 to a 17" LPT. I've test driven cars in the past with different wheels and I usually prefer the less aggressive profiles due to the ride. Yeah they handle better, but most of the time you're just rolling along and I'd prefer to roll peacefully.

The 2010 V comes with 45 profile tires. Very low profile for a tight little car. My 07 has 60 series tires and there's a world of difference in ride quality in just going between tire pressure of 35 psi and 42 psi much less cutting the tire profile almost in half. The suspension on our cars are unforgiving and all about the tires.

I'm with your friend. I couldn't drive it either. But were both a little older I bet. A 45 series tire is going to hit hard and feel every pebble in the road but corner really well. The V is set up for performance handling not pleasant driving.

Don't change the tires around because the suspension is set up for that aspect size tire. Return the car asap and move down to the 15 inch 60 series tire base model Prius. Run that tire at 36 lbs till they get worn or until you can't stand the noise anymore and you'll be very comfortable. If the dealer gets cranky about the down grade just tell them you want to return the car back period. That should do it. States vary but I believe you have 3 days to do that by law. Giddy up....

Good luck!

If you like the features on the V then just trade out the wheels. There are dozen's of people here that would love to trade you (and give you money to boot)! I tried my 17's at 40 psig and found it to be really harsh. At 36 I believe it is a good trade off. Yes, the 45 profile tires will be firmer, but I don't consider them too harsh unless you pump them up pretty full. personally, No way I'd go to the 15's, even with the FE hit I take.

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Please tell us what tires you have as some tires ride differently. Hozz

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Will gladly trade my 15s for his 17s. : )

My recently sold 2004 seemed to have a pretty firm ride, almost all cars do now. That's fine on smooth roads, but drive over badly washboarded gravel roads, you'd swear the doors were going to fall off

My FJ, especially with 16 tires on, is very compliant over rough roads. However, it's NOT as compliant as the old Ford work truck at the hobby farm. That old truck, you can drive down washboardy gravel roads, with hardly a jiggle. The FJ gives a jiggle

Sadly, there aren't too many new vehicles that can be driven on badly frost heaved roads up here, or washboardy gravel roads, and give a ride compliant enough that your fillings won't pop out

I'm not a boy racer, never was and never will be. There is something wrong with current marketing research when it's okey-dokey for cars to ride so stiff, you roll over a wet cigarette butt on the street and feel it

Correct

I don't think we're old coots yet. But at a car show last weekend, our Civic Holiday long weekend in Canada, I had a chance to ride in a 1959 Ford Fairlane. This car was a "correct" restoration, not rodded out with low profile tire crap

From the fairground to the access road was a fairly deep rut across the road. I gritted my teeth, as when I drove in with my FJ, that rut gave a good bump. Instead, the car hardly even jiggled, you could hear the suspension go "clunk, clunk" as first the front axle, than the rear axle, hit the deep rut

I guess I want it all: great fuel economy, and a ride that completely isolates me from the road

I'm an old coot myself, but with proper air pressure I don't think this is a rough riding car at all. It's certainly a better handling car. It does make some noise over the expansion joints regardless of the pressure but when I lowered my pressure it was not a harsh ride. I would not have wanted a Prius with a "wallowy" ride.

As for the suspension, everything I've read is that these cars are identical regardelss of the tire size. The steering box/turn ratio is the only difference and that won't affect the ride. Shocks, struts, springs, etc are the same on all models.

Before you do anything drastic I'd drive one of the other models. I would hate to see you drive away with a IV and find out in a week, "Gee this is a really mushy ride".

I'm not sure why a lot of people think if you don't like it you can just return it. That's what test drives are for. I'm not a lawyer, but once you do the paperwork it's yours. It's a used car. There is no way a dealer will simply "take it back". There are a lot of contracts out there you can cancel before three days, but when you drive off in that car, it's yours.