Base suspension vs Touring

Congrats and welcome to PriusChat.

I think you did the right thing in getting the Touring Edition. At the package 6 level, it's only about $350 more than the Standard Edition package 6. And for that $350 you got better handling, the "tuned suspension", bigger, wider and nicer looking wheels and tires, and a bigger spoiler.

BTW, the differences between the Standard and Touring Prius has been the subject of many threads before. You might want to look at some of the following threads with "Touring" in their title:

PriusChat Forums - Search Results

 

Sorry, but to give a short answer to your question, I believe the tuned suspension of the Touring Edition consists of a different stabilizer bar in the front, and different stabilizer bar, shocks and springs in the rear. These different suspension parts, plus the bigger and wider wheels and tires, result in better handling.

 

Short answer: Less body roll at the expense of a stiffer ride. Think of it as being more like a sports car, although the Prius will never really be a sports car. You also get different wheels and tires.

Tom

 

Just last week I test drove a regular Prius and immediately followed by test driving a Touring model.

The objective was to find a warehouse parking lot and do serpentine turns at about 25 mph as well as hard braking. I thought this would best differntiate the suspension systems, especially in emergency maneuvers.

In the Touring, I felt less sway/roll in a serpentine pattern and less dive while stopping short. While the difference was not dramatic, it was noticable.

Today, I put down a deposit on a Tourning model. I think they are both great cars but, for me, I chose Touring because I'm coming into a Prius from an SUV and feel like I'm putting myself into an increased degree of jeopardy if involved in a collision (compared to the SUV), so I wanted the model that offered what I felt to be the widest moat of safety in an emergency maneuver.

If the ride turns out to be too stiff, I'll get some sheepskin seat covers.

 

You will be safer in the Prius than the SUV. Most SUVs are not all that safe in accidents, as they are not required to meet the same safety standards as passenger cars. It's a common misconception held by most SUV drivers.

Tom

 

As long as you stay right side up in an SUV accident you will probably be safer. However, since SUV's are taller, and maneuver poorly compared to cars, they end up upside down far too frequently. All of the big Amercan SUV's will generally kill most of the passengers/driver if they flip over because the roofs are so weak. As noted in a previous post, SUV's do not have to meet the roof integrity standard that cars do. Specifically, they do not need to be designed to support the weight of the vehicle when inverted.

 

I guess my wife was lucky. She was t-boned in her '99 Expedition several years back by a Ford Ranger traveling a determined (by police and witnesses) 65mph with a truck full of 5 gallon paint buckets. The force was enough to flip her over, knock both beads off of the drivers side wheels and dig one of the aluminum wheels into the ground so much it chunked half of it off. I got the call from her (asbout 2 miles from home) when she was able to get her hands on her cell phone while still upside down in the vehicle after the crash. You've never seen someone peel out of my neighborhood so fast when I got that call.

The aftermath of this was the following:
Zero glass on the Expedition broke.
There was zero buckling of the roof.
No body panels protruded on the inside of the vehicle.

The only damage to my wife was a hair line fracture of her sternum from the seat belt.

This was the primary reason I bought my Navigator after this. The Navigator was based on the next generation Expedition and since we decided to have kids shortly after this accident I wanted them to be just as safe in a similar collision.

I have seen some fullsize trucks collapse in accidents. I believe a large SUV has a slightly better chance since there's more roofline to take the force. Regardless, you don't want to be in any vehicle that flips over and a SUV has a larger chance for that to happen for sure.

 

This is not necessarily true. Many SUVs transfer impact loads through their frames to their hapless occupants, resulting in more injury than would occur in a unibody vehicle with good crumple zones. Granted, SUVs are big and can inflict frightful damage to smaller vehicles, but it doesn't mean it's going to be good for the SUV occupants.

Tom