Exactly what is changed in the USA Touring suspension?

Hi Narf,

I have only just learned that the Prius is going to be offered with upgrades relating to performance. I'm pretty excited.

The tires that come with the regular US Prius are Goodyear Integrity sized at 185-65-15. The new Euro-style wheels that are now available in the US have tires sized at 195-55-16. Does anyone out there know what brand or type of tires come with the new Touring Edition? Surely someone out west must own one by now.

Cheers,

~Andrew

P.S. Does anyone know the answer to the suspension half of Narf's question?

 

The Touring Edition Prius comes with Bridgestone Turanza 195/55R16 tires. 70,000 mile prorated tread-wear after 3 year "Platinum" warranty.

 

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(Charles Suitt @ Nov 1 2006, 02:55 PM) [snapback]342105[/snapback]</div>

Yes, that's it! we own the car, but my husband has it and I could not recall the specifics. Now that you provide them, I concur.

My observations to date about the Touring are that I wish we had better milleage. The average provided by the car exceeds the real milleage when computed by me, and neither is great. I am not complaining about the car, rather feeling guilty about my driving. I can't seem to average better than 43 on city streets, doing constant starting and stopping. My husband seems to get around 46 to 48 on the highway. When we compute -- as we have only done for one tank -- we get around 43.5.

I hope there isn't some problem where the Touring gets worse milleage than the other models.

We got it because I wanted the latest and greatest. We did not get Leather and Nav, just a Touring #3.

The dealer and finance manager drove us batty! The finance manager tried to sell us all these warranty packages, and scared us to death about how we will have 5 thousand dollar bills to fix broken computers!
We almost fled the office, but were hoping it was just a bad sales strategy. We turned down all of the extra warranties and extenders and prepaid service packages.

Now we are alone with our car, driving it and loving it. There are issues, however.

I had this wierd event where it wouldn't let me get it ino Drive. I just don't know why that happened. It was remedied by turnging off the power and turning it back on again a couple of times. Here's roughly the sequence:
Pull into son's tennis lesson parking lot, self conscious because all of the massively swanky car owning people are standing around noticing that I am not driving my 18 year old dilapidated Honda Lxi and instead appear to be in a new car. Though it is not swanky, it did get their attention. My son attempted to put his tennis bag in the back, but couldn't get the hatch open. This happened once before, and was only solved by my getting out while holding the keys and standing near him while he opened it. Now I am sure there was something I could have done from inside the car, but I have not figured that out yet.

Next I talked for a moment with the instructor, and then I got back into the car. It was in Park with break on. I tried to put it back in drive and to take the break off. It would not go into drive.

I tried turning it off and back on and still it didn't seem to want to let me go.
A second try worked.

My husband thinks it has something to do with my not understanding that, logically, Park is just another setting on the shifter. That is, the car can't be in both Park and Drive. So if I attempt to put it into D and then to release Park, I am actually putting it back into Park. But that doesn't really make sense, because it would just go back into Drive when I put it there.

Anyway, I understand his point, but it doesn't really explain what happened.

After reading this list, I understand a bit about how to feather the accellerator, but can't really maintain that balanced state reliably.

All in all, I know that I will probably be scolded for putting to many topics in one post and for not searching all possible relevant topics before talking about anything. I just have soooo many issues!

What a car.

 

Re: not going into drive

When this happens to me, I think it's because I didn't have my foot on the brake when pushed the power button.

 

Well,

I've been browsing Priuschat and searching the internet, but I still can't seem to figure out what the details or specs of the "tuned" suspension are. Is anyone else having better luck?

~Andrew

 

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(sparkymarvin @ Nov 1 2006, 04:26 PM) [snapback]342165[/snapback]</div>

I'm looking at all the paperwork, in the owner's manual, and coming up with nada. Where would I look? Looked up suspension in index and all I found were details about the tires. Nothing about tuned suspension.

 

Hi jendbbay,

Information on the suspension such as spring rates probably wouldn't be in the owners’ manual. Someone out there must know though. Perhaps the guys at the parts counter at a dealership would be able to answer the questions narf has.

But on behalf of all of us who are wondering, thanks for checking jendbbay.



~Andrew

 

Just obtained a 2007 Touring Prius this week. With two years experience with a 2005 Prius, the 2007 Touring model is quieter, has a "firmer" suspension and appears to hug the road better. Less intrusive road noise, including through doors.

 

Sigma Automotive is going to offer the parts that make up a Touring edition. On their website, they state:

COMING: 2006 G/S Touring "Tuned Suspension" + stabilizer bars, etc.
http://www.sigmaautomotive.com/jdm/prius/prius0405.php

So we know it's the shocks, dampeners, stabilizer bars... who knows what the etc. is. I guess we just have to wait until Sigma works out the parts for sale. Our friends in Japan and Europe had the Touring edition for awhile, in case you were wondering.

 

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(jendbbay @ Nov 1 2006, 12:52 PM) [snapback]342142[/snapback]</div>

Mileage can be attributed to alot of factors: Car/Passenger weight, Drive Style, Topography (Uphill, Downhill), Gas quality, Tires, Temperature, etc. I'm getting 43.4 and i've already broken in the engine (meaning this is the best i'll be getting). Atleast you still have that to look forward to.

 

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(Pious @ Nov 3 2006, 10:13 AM) [snapback]343322[/snapback]</div>

I wonder if those of us with the Sportivo can get just the stabilizer bars, etc...

 

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(jendbbay @ Nov 1 2006, 12:52 PM) [snapback]342142[/snapback]</div>

What were you expecting? My lifetime average is ~45.7 mpg. I do keep a spreadsheet of my calculations vs. MFD readings. If I go by the average of my MFD reading, it's ~46.5. I've already talked about my commute and conditions a bunch at http://priuschat.com/index.php?showtopic=2...mp;#entry267128.

If you were expecting EPA mileage ratings, see http://www.fueleconomy.gov/feg/how_tested.shtml and http://www.fueleconomy.gov/feg/fe_test_schedules.shtml for the procedure.

My first "tank" (and worst) was only 38 mpg (and yes, I'd already read up a lot on here about pulse driving and other techniques). There are numerous possible explanations that people have discussed here ad nauseum regarding that.

Keep in mind Consumer Reports got 35 city/50 highway and 44 mpg overall in their tests which is the best of ANY family sedan and best of any small car w/an automatic. See http://autos.msn.com/advice/CRArt.aspx?contentid=4023460.

I suspect that most/all gas stations in Cali use some ethanol, up to 10% (E10) which would hurt our mileage.

 

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(Pious @ Nov 3 2006, 01:13 PM) [snapback]343322[/snapback]</div>

I'd humbly suggest that the 'etc.' is actually provided by Toyota's marketing efforts.

 

Quick reply: Just had mine a week and I got a displayed 50.0 mpg at the end of my first tank in my '07 touring - I think it is a lot to do with driving style - try and conserve momentum as much as possible

 

hi

If US get the same changes on the suspension as we in europe got on ours from 2006versions,,, well then You will like it indeed
the car will behave much better in most ways.... as the one of the norwegian reviews of the new 2006 facelift version wrote:
" we allmost suspect toyota for reading the earlier review of the 2004Prius, and fixed allmost all of the things we didnt like about the roadhandling".....


Andreas