Is the 3rd Gen Prius "Easy to work on"?

When you have a headache, or cut your finger, do you go to the doctor for and asrpin
or a to wash out the cut and have them put a bandaid on?

 

Bottom line, owners can do “some” stuff, the basics, leave the deep stuff to pros. And “deep” varies, depending on owner’s knowledge, tools. It’s a funny balance, don’t sell yourself short, nor get outa your depth.

 

Yes lil sidewall vs a real sidewall makes a big difference . That low sidewall makes everybody Mario and you see all the damaged wheels with rash all over em

 

Yes, this will happen to any car when you go from 65 series tires to 45 series tires.
Do you and your parents compare mpg info?

Plus the width, 195 vs. 215.
Plus LRR vs non-LRR tires.
The 215/45-17 tires will definitely feel and perform 'Sportier'. (Plus the Level 5 has a quicker steering ration!)
But at what cost to MPG?
That's my issue. I can't get above 41 mpg at ~77mph while on long Road Trips!

The subject of how toyota put the same EPA mpg rating on the Level 5 vs 1 thru 4 is,,,, lost to history.

I'm waiting to see if an EV I'm selling goes with the spare Winter Wheels and tires.
If not I have a new set of 195/50-15 Winter tires. This will have my Prius sit ~0.5" lower. Not great for snow clearance but may help with mpg...

 

Yeah, I don’t think it’s just the wheel size; see post 17.

 

The 17s do feel a lot sportier, but also a bit ponderous in a car like the Prius. They don't track mpg and I can't say I've paid attention to it when driving their car ( their gas too haha). I still get around 49 mpg in mine. If I recall it's generally mid 40s in theirs. But I suspect their battery is dying too. I'm waiting for a bluetooth dongle to arrive so I can check the remaining capacity.

I also have a set of Nokian Hakkapelitta R2s on steel winter wheels/tires that I think also lower the car slightly being the smallest size I could get. The Nokian R series still gets fantastic mpgs which greatly surprised me after being used to taking a huge mpg hit with Blizzaks and the like. The steel rims feel ridiculously heavy when accellerating and braking though.

 

What size are they? If you've downsized them far enough maybe your mpg "improvement" is due to more tire rotations per mile than stock?? In short: you've spoofed the car into thinking you've gone further than you actually have.

 

I just checked and they're actually the same size as my summers - 195 65 R 15. I think I was confusing them with a previous set of Blizzaks I had on an RSX that I bought 2nd hand and were actually a size smaller than factory. I often get 48 mpg on the Hakkapelittas instead of 49 or 50 on my Michelin Energy Savers. They are genuinely fast rolling.

 

I get better mpg on our 15” Michelin X-Ice than 17” Michelin Primacy MXM4.

 

I picked up a rental car in Asheville. It was driven from DC. It's dunk like weed and all the tires were different pressures. Somewhere in the '20s some in the '50s. How do we decide who's qualified to do what on which cars? because the way I see it is people can't even do an oil change correctly. Much less set air pressure and tires. You've got to see what I for me to have such a grim outlook on people touching automobiles You know that opinion came from somewhere

 

I find it's a bit of a toss up. If I take my car into a shop, they definitely know what they're doing, but also don't particularly gaf about my car. If I try to DIY something it might take me 4x as long, but at least I know I'm gonna get things exactly as I want them. Whenever I have tried to ask a shop to inflate my tires to 40 psi during a service they would be set to 32 psi 9 times out of 10.

 

Posted via the PriusChat mobile app.[/QUOTE]

+1 I agree. As an owner of a 2006 Corolla S and a 2012 Prius, the older Corolla was much easier to work on. The 2006 Corolla was the easiest DIY oil change ever. All I had to do was lie down beside the car and reach for the oil filter and oil drain plug. Jacking up the car was not necessary.

The older Corollas were designed much simpler. There was plenty of clearance to reach bolts. No extra engine covers or clips for more fuel efficiency. The Corolla is the 1st to 3nd most sold cars in the world in terms of quantity, so there were plenty of cheap parts available with lots of DIY videos. The Corolla was also very very reliable, such that it was very worry-free maintenance. There was no need for Techstream as a regular OBD2 reader would do the job.

The newer Corolla is designed for fuel efficiency. It is no longer designed as simple as before, so I cannot vouch for how hard it is to work on the newer Corollas.

 

Generic OBD readers dont have full functionality. Dealer computers are required to get all the features

 

I had the X-Ices on my last car - a BMW 535 xi wagon (awd). They weren't bad. I foolishly got the run flat versions thinking that it'd be better than changing a flat tire on a mountain pass. But the stiff sidewalls of the run flat construction made the ride awfully harsh.

That car was beautiful to drive, gobs of torque and hp. But when it was out of warranty it just was anxiety provoking as things would break down and you'd get hit with another huge repair bill. That killed whatever driving enjoyment there was to be had.

The Nokians are honestly the best winter tire I've ever driven (haven't used any studded ones). They embed crystals in the rubber that act like micro studs and really give you a ton of grip even on ice.

 

In my locale bare road manners are important too, I don't mind giving up a bit of traction for that. The X-Ice run pretty smooth/quiet in that scenario.

 

The X-Ices were definitely the best handling on normal dry roads... not much different than an all season. The Blizzaks felt like marshmellows and the Nokians definitely feel like a winter tire. I used to live in CO where studs were legal. A lot of the mountain roads had grooves from being worn down from all the studs. And even in town a lot of cars made the popcorn sound of studs on dry pavement. I imagine studs must be a pretty big mpg hit.