Handling, how is it?

Living here in northern New Jersey we have some nice hills with wonderfully curvey roads. There is one particular one through the South Mountain Reservation from South Orange to Livingston. It has a posted speed limit of 35 mph I've never had trouble hitting between 60 and 65 mph through the turns. It scares the hell out of the SUVs and even some of the BMWs.

 

i was.. but.. it's just soo fun.. and the tread life on these tires are AA so... well.. i wanted to test that. i notice they slip kinda easy though. maybe it's the poor center stance the prius has.. well.. it's not that poor.. so maybe it's because it's not very wide.. tall.. and.... no.. that can't be it.. everything is soo low it brings down the center of gravity for the car...

it's the body roll.. i want to change out a few components in the suspension.

My old Lincoln Mark VII had worse body roll.. untill i replaces the shocks.. lower control arms.. etc etc.. then it handled like a mustang.. but had an airbag suspension.. smmooooth ride well... as smooth as as a mustang with air bladders would be. hehe.

 

FBear:

I have the same thing out here. there is one corner that i love. It's about a 180 degree corner. a little less. Very tight corner. my friend are always extremely impressed when i go around it smoothly at about 35 - 40mpg. on other areas of the road.. right.. left.. right.. but all farely smooth.. the car sways more than i like. *shrug*

My new tires are fun.. but since the roads in this country suck.. they bottom out a decent amount. It's damaging my rims. *shrug*

If anyone know of a company that would make some stabalizer bars or anything like this.. let me know i keep looking online.. but, nothing for the prius.

I'm thinking of getting the lowered springs. I'm thinking that new shocks won't help much. sway bars should help. Tower stabilizer bars would be good. I may have to create them myself though. I could weld them.. but.. not sure

 

I'm probably late to respond to this thread as well.

I test drove a Prius this past weekend. Hmm, and how should I say it... it feels like driving a Buick Park Avenue. :|

That's not necessarily bad, but when I am used to driving an Audi A4 quattro, ITR, 330i & TL-S, the car left much to be desired in terms of handling.

My biggest worry is the electric steering. It gives almost zero feedback as to what the tires were doing. It felt very numb and I didn't like the no dead zone response. Maybe it's one of those things you just have to get used to. I would also have to swap out the tires right away with something like Bridegstone Potenza S-03 to stiffen up the suspension & get a bit more feedback.

All in all, it would be a great "transportation" for most people. I'm not 100% sure if I can be subdued to drive the car (even with a weekend toy). Hmm...

Oh, I definitely think the Civic Hybrid has more road feel than the Prius does. But, that difference is not car specific, but manufacturer specific. Honda/Acura = a bit more sportiness. Toyota/Lexus = much more luxury oriented.

-Sean

 

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Sean:

Um ... ok. How does the fuel economy compare though? That's the primary reason I bought my Prius.

Admittedly, I wish it had a *softer* ride. My parents always drove large Buick cars - their current one is a 2003 Buick LeSabre - so maybe I got used to the cosseting feel of those cars.

 

Drop in MPG for sure. I used to be able to achieve 60.. i now strive to achieve 45.. u average between high 30's and 40's with my low profile tires. My ride is much better but the car still sways.. simply put. i posted this above. When i move out of CA.. i'll be sure to put nicer tires on. I won't be driving every day.. my poor prius can rest during the day again not sure when that day is for sure though.

 

jayman - I was just replying to the post starter's question about the handling of Prius compared to the cars that I'm familiar with.

By all means, Prius' soft ride & lack of feedback are not bad features. But, for me, it was "weird" to put it gently.

Yes, all of the other cars I have mentioned suck more gas... but, that was not the question the thread starter asked about.

S-03 is probably heavier than the tires that come with Prius, and it is 100x more stickier so the gas mileage will go down. But, I've gotta make some sacrifices to make the car suit me.

 

I drive pretty aggressively through the traffic in Los Angles and find the Electric boost great for passing unsuspecting muscle cars.

I will say this for what has been described as "body roll" in the Prius. There really isn't that much, the suspension is pretty stiff, with a slight tendency to push the front end when diving into a corner with some speed. The sensation of "Body Roll" comes from YOUR body rolling. This is due to the rotational inertia effect on your body due to the Prius rather high seating position. You, as the driver are farther away from the axis of rotation for a car of similar size and this causes your body to experience more force in a turn.

 

my semi layed my seat down on purpose.. there is no place to get body roll down in L.A.. i've driven my prius down there. take a cruise along PCH where you have switchback patterns of driving. You will then experiance body roll in the car. high speed traffic driving is a lot different than mountain road driving.

I seet almost laying down. i used to sit up proper but then you get tossed around. The front windshield is nice and low.. the sides of the car has all kinds of windows.. recline the seat.. push it forward a bit so you can still reach the wheel well.. and then your center gravity of the car lowed a lot. It also helps the car perform now since there is'nt 100+ lbs bouncing around above it's center gravity.

I also have 17" low profile rims.. it still sways.. not as much as first.. but it does. It's pretty stiff.. but nowhere near my 85 bmw. It's not possible for that prius to compare to even an old bmw.. but with modding... it could be a lot more stiff around corners.