Can the Gen 5 AWD drive on a sandy ocean beach?

Please don’t be that guy. I wouldn’t risk it honestly. Sounds like a really bad idea to me. Have seen plenty of videos of idiots taking their “off road vehicles” on a sandy beach only to get stuck or get washed up by the ocean. DO NOT DO IT.

 

considering the weight of the car (remember the batteries) and the narrow tires, I just wouldn't do it.

 

Yes it can.

Another item on my “why I always buy new” list.

 

Let me pop out and check....

Oh, wait. I live 1200 miles from the closest ocean beach. Maybe someone else can check. lol

 

Use the buddy system on unfamiliar terrain: go with someone else who could credibly tow you back in if need be.

 

Not what the Prius “AWD” was designed for. I would love to add a lift kit but not willing to lose fuel economy and warranty.

 

What ????

Some beaches, yes.
Most beaches a resounding NO.

Unless you are in a place where there are several other vehicles already
on the "sand", then don't try it.
Don't ask me how I know.

 

I’m liking this only because I’m assuming you are joking.

 

thank you for getting it daisy

 

Honestly, it depends on the beach.

You could, at least when I was a kid, drive any car out onto Daytona beach, even 2WD. The sand was a flat hard pack. It's like driving on a gravel or dirt parking lot.

NJ beaches, and I believe your local ones, consist of soft, shifting sand where wheels leave deep ruts. Even trucks with off road tires need to drop the tire pressure to spread the tread out and avoid the wheels digging themselves in. That is going to drop the already meager ground clearance lower.

 

Somehow I've managed to accumulate a few thousand miles on beaches and beach-adjacent dirt roads and trails. I'd agree that different beaches have very different surfaces and present different challenges, including none at all in some cases.

And most Northeast beaches I've been on have included very soft sand. Not a big deal for true 4x4 trucks both because they have real 4WD but also because they have high profile tires. When you deflate those tires to about 5PSI, the sidewalls bulge out and the tires become enormous balloons that can float right over that shifting sand. So that has become SOP for beach operations for generations. You air down when you hit the soft sand, and you air up when it is time to go home.

The problem here is that even the oldest Prius had relatively low profile tires. When you deflate them you don't gain much contact patch- you just lose ground clearance that you were already short of.