Interior Noise Level

Two simple ways.

1. Look for either the words Lamisafe or Temperlite on the outside of the window glass just above the door handle(with all the other writing)

or

2. Lower a front window enough to see the top cross section of the glass. If it's tempered, it will be a single piece of glass. If it's laminated, it will be two pieces of glass with a super thin film of plastic in between.

 

The middle European trim is a bit higher-spec than the US middle spec (its model code is "AHXHBW" same as the top trim, rather than "AHXGBW"). It has the laminated glass.

 

For my PPPXP at least it is Laminated (LAMISAFE) windows for the front windshield and front driver/passenger windows, then tempered (TEMPERLITE) for the rear passenger/driver side windows. For the back window it says "THERLITE-T" whatever that is. At least not Thermite which might be bad.

I do have to reiterate my note from my 5400 mile road trip report I posted last December about cabin noise. It wasn't so much wind, tire, or engine noise that was the loudest, it was all the dozens of warnings going off for the weirdest (and sometimes legit) reasons! With my Gen1 and wife's Gen3, the only alarm possible while driving was seat belt, now there are what seems like hundreds of reasons for a beep, boo-bob, ding-dong, or whatever!

will

 

I find it fairly loud, and I see no evidence of either sound insulation, or noise-cancelation.
Something for Toyota to shoot for next year.

 

something we've been saying for the last 20+ years

 

Granted my reference is a Gen1 and Gen3 Prius, but compared to both of those, the Gen5 is a lot quieter in any driving condition. But, it seems there may be differences based on trim level. It ain't no Lexus, but it is certainly a step in that direction compared to earlier generations.

Will

 

Most may comment it is tire noise as a # 1 complaint.

For the OP, my question would be "what noise"?

Engine, wind, undercarriage, firewall, door panels, interior space "echos"?

A tire change and/or lining the inside of the plastic wheel well liners w/ Dynomat could be a first step.
Removing the door cards ie interior trim panels and lining the interior of the outer door skin could also be of benefit.
A bigger project is removing all the seats and carpet and lining the floor with Dynomat.

Wind and engine noise I don't have a quick and easy solution.
As mentioned by other co-members, weight and cost concerns by Toyota may be the reason for a lack of sound deadening material.

Good luck let us know your success.

 

The engine is kinda noisy, when it kicks in I'm always surprised at how grumbly it sounds. But that's probably only because I have the prime and I run EV mode most of the time, so I'm not used to the engine being on. But its nowhere near as loud as my old car with a bad knock sensor.

For me, as far as the economy focused cars class goes its pretty good. The biggest noise really does come from tires and rougher roads. On a fairly newly paved road, that's smooth, even the Low roll resistance bridgestone ecopias that came with the car make for a fairly quiet drive in EV mode up to nearly freeway speeds for the front driver and passenger.

The rear is louder because the hatch brings in a lot of wind noise. I kinda wish they had laminated the rear glass and/or put some sound dampening there. I don't hear that much vibration through the door or noise from the roof or underside. At least in the prime SE. I know the limited prime trim has laminated front driver/passenger windows so it would have even more noise isolation.

Aside from poor roads at high speed, the most bothersome noise is when you're in traffic near super noisy cars. Transport trucks and big pickups are super loud, that noise certainly filters through into the car.

Personally, I think the compromises they've made overall work in terms of NVH for what I want out of a commuter focused car. But I do want to add a bit of dynamat or similar knock off material to the hatch and trunk wheel wells. I don't want to start attaching that stuff to the exterior though, thanks to such rough winters here, the fewer places to pool winter melt and road salt the better. Foam would just hold on too well to that, and the plastic fender liners won't benefit much from dynamat glued to the backside of that either.

 

for sure my Gen3 I put almost 5 sheets of Dynamat it it made a big difference now my G5 is really too loud it seems doors are not as easily accessible waiting for the smart guys to tell us how

 

You should go test drive another $30k car with 50 miles of EV range and the performance of a sports sedan and get back to us with your opinions.