I have a 2025 Prius Prime with the solar charging roof, and for the most part like it. What I truly loathed was Toyota’s decision to add a huge wheel with a weird tire size. OEM wheel and tire: 19x6.5” wheel and 195/50R19 Toyo Extensa II tires New wheel and tire: 16x7.5” wheel and 205/65R16 Michelin CrossClimate 2 tires. (Originally mounted Bridgestone Everdrives, but they were awful. Discount Tire upgraded me to CC2s free of charge). OEM diameter (wheel+tire): 26.7” New diameter (wheel+tire): 26.5” OEM tire sidewall: 3.8” New tire sidewall: 5.2” OEM wheel+tire weight: 47lbs New wheel+tire weight: 41lbs I wouldn’t say the ride is much softer, but it is not “crashy” over most bumps anymore, and I can barely feel the smaller bumps. But this doesn’t turn this car into a Camry comfort wise. The biggest benefit is honestly finally being able to drive this car like a normal person at normal speeds and not having to avoid every road imperfection because I was scared of what would happen on the 19” wheels and skinny tires. I live in Chicago, and our roads are trash. What I’m trying to say is, there’s no more anxiety. The car also feels much, much more stable on the highway. I noticed that with the wider wheel and tire the car wants to pull much harder towards the direction of road crown, especially when accelerating. I thought this was an alignment issue, but nope, just more sensitive to road crown now. In terms of fuel economy, no impact vs stock. I think it’s because each wheel is 6 pounds lighter.
That my goal for a winter tire and size. The wheels looks to have cleared the wheel without a problem. Is that a Discount Tire wheel?
Clearance from brake caliper to wheel balancing weights is about 1 pinky. Had to use slim weights, but no issues otherwise.
At 6 lbs of unsprung weight lost, you should be seeing an increase in mpg. Especially if you do city driving vs interstate driving, where you are accelerating and decelerating that wheel mass. Once up to speed, the difference will be negligible. Give it some time. I think all that sidewall looks acceptable because the wheels are black. IMO, it would look terrible if the wheels were silver or white, and the large sidewalls were more obvious.
Mmm look at all that sidewall - beautiful. Also vastly increased tire availability is an additional benefit to the 205/65R16. I also made the switch to 16s for my dailies ~6K miles ago and haven’t looked back.
I would do the same thing on a gen5 but I might consider one of Michelin's long wearing ride oriented tires. The Michelin Cross Climate 2 tires are probably the best all season rain, ice and snow tires out there. I have them on my gen3 here in Central Texas since we now have serious ice storms every winter. However as great as they are, other Michelins are significantly better riding with low road noise and better mpg. The absolute best ride or best mpg Michelins are different designs. I have had mpg tires, ride tires and now bad weather tires and every Michelin has held its balance and lasted 90k-100k miles on my Prius. Great tires.
Michelin Primacy MXM4 are what I went for most recently. Apart from a mpg hit at the outset they’ve been great. Not sure if they come in your target size.
