Cabin Noise Level

No one has drivin a prime yet so no word on sound proofing but on one of Kirk Kreifel's drive youtubes I ask the following:

how is sound proofing vs the gen 4? Is it quiter that before? Sounds like a fair bit of road noise comes through - engine when you step on it but that is expected

and he said:

About the same. 17" wheels on LE and 4th gen should be a tad more quiet on rough roads.

Not quite certain how to interpret what he wrote to be honest, 4th gen quiter than the 5th gen? If so, that's a fail in my book - OR - did he do a typo and meant the 5th gen with 17" should be a bit better?

 

the prime and the hybrid will be about the same noise level. i haven't heard anyone mention quietness in the video reviews, but i may have missed it. i doubt they will ever add enough weight to quiet the interior substantially

 

The only mention of noise level in the reviews I've seen concerned the steady engine drone under acceleration. And the comment was "this is to be expected." With a CVT/eCVT, you're going to get a steady drone since the RPM is relatively constant under acceleration.

 

the only caveat is that while they say there is some annoying noise, they are not comparing it to 2022 model. so we don't know yet if the noise is better, worse, or the same

 

I don’t mind engine noise. It’s the quirky noises that occur within the dashboard that drive me nuts and I don’t mean the electrical noises. Obviously my 2009 is an old car now but these noises have been there for quite some time.

 

so much plastic and poor roads, it's hard to eliminate

 

So are they saying the 2023 is louder than the 2022 models? I didn’t have a problem with the sound of the 2022 during test drive but I’m also trying to get used to my new non OEM catalytic converter in my 2009. Anything would be quieter. : }

 

not sure what they mean by 'revs to a high rpm and keeps it there'

that would only happen if you mashed the pedal to the floor and 'kept it there'

 

I heard one reviewer say the gen5 was a little quieter than the gen4, but I have no idea if they had recently driven a gen4 to compare, or were likely relying on possibly faulty memories. I found a video of a pair of reviewers doing a back-to-back drive of a gen4 and gen5 to compare them, but do you think they ever mentioned road noise? <sigh>

 

Someone finally posted a review in which there was more than one sentence spoken about cabin noise:

They actually talk about cabin noise on a few occasions, and the consensus seems to be that it is quiet aside from hearing a bit of tire noise or the engine during acceleration.

 

Since nobody here has yet written about what I consider the biggest culprit in Prius noise, I've found that (in both my 2011 and 2019 models) tire and road noise overpower any other noises under anything but hard acceleration conditions.

 

Cabin noise can be a little subjective. I mean not really they can bring a decibel meter but what one reviewer thinks is loud and what you think might be different. Car reviewers test all kinds of cars. The new prius could well have improved cabin noise compared to the previous years but can still be loud compared to a Luxury car the reviewer was driving last week. Until a reviewer breaks out measuring devices it'll be hard to really tell

 

I agree with Blane, the road/tire noise bother me more than the engine noise which is only evident under hard acceleration. Aside from the cheap shiny black plastic trim, I like my 21 XLE. The new one looks great but would be a non starter if they haven't fixed the road noise. Seems like a few hundred dollars and a few extra lbs wouldn't be that big a deal, though I'd guess the mpg is their main goal. Reviews said they're not expecting to sell a lot of them. I might try some different tires on mine, not willing to go through the effort of soundproofing. If that doesn't work, I'l be trading it in.

 

prius are noisy. if you haven't driven one, you wouldn't know whether gen 5 is quieter or not.

mos gen 4 owners feel that it is quieter than gen 3