Only drive on highly maintained roads

I think that it means that the Prius is not an off-road vehicle. No car likes to drive on roads full of pot holes and major irregularities as it effects the tires, suspension, etc. The car also has a low ground clearance so driving on unpaved back rods can be tricky.

I do not consider any of the roads in the Washington area to be "highly maintained" but the Prius is fine doing what you ask any other "regular" car to do!

 

I've driven my Prius on minimum maintanence roads for the sake of getting to remote locations for photos. And just like any other vehicle intended for pavement, those rough & unpredictable dirt roads are a bad idea. I don't suggest it. That's what a truck is for.

 

I defninately take that to mean its not an "off road" vehicle. Up here in the mountains, if its not a primary or secondary road, its probably not even paved. Seriously, the street we live on is a "state maintained road" and its not paved. But the Pruis does fine on a gravel or dirt road. I dont take it four wheeling or anything like that, and I definately avoid the roads that have "ruts" due to the ground clearance. This winter, I probably won't even drive it in the snow, since my other vehicle is a four wheel drive.

So highly maintained is definately a relative term. In Japan or Washington D.C. it may be the four or six lane roads with smooth asphalt. Here, its paved, or any road with a new coat of gravel on it!! Just goes to show what an amazingly flexible car this is!

By the way, congratulations on you new Prius!!! I hope you enjoy it, and can get information from this site as we all have, to assist you in gaining the full benefit and pleasure from your new vehicle. (also click the link in John's signature above to go to his site and check that out for more valuable Pruis info)

 

This is why you should not read the manual. It is just a car, don't fuss: gas it, oil it and drive.

 

Being from West Virginia, I recognize that there is a wide variation on people's definition of a 'maintained' road, and the varying degrees thereof.

There are county roads there paved with "Crush and Run" (Unsorted raw crushed limestone gravel which included big chunks and rock dust which tends to bind it all together).

They are 'maintained' by the county. They even get plowed occasionally in winter.

But, they rapidly develop both ruts and 'harmonic washboarding'.

Once every couple of years the county will run a grader down them followed by a steam roller, but if you catch them a year after their touch-up, you'd be hard pressed to get any normal sedan down them without 'high centering', much less a Prius.

Bottom line:

Recognize that the car is low to the ground and drive accordingly.

Recognize that the car is not AWD and will not get you out of mud or sand and drive accordingly.

Common Sense is your friend. Worrying too much about the definition of 'highly maintained' is an exercise for lawyers

 

Gravel bad. The air conditioner condensor (heat exchanger to outside air) is relatively exposed behind the lower grille, and can be punctured by road debris. On gravel, go slow and stay well behind other traffic.

 

While I'd prefer driving only on well-maintained paved roads, what are you supposed to do when you're on a road trip and half-way along a 4-hour drive back towards home, they've torn up the road and it's all big rock banging against the bottom of the car? Turn around and try getting home in a week, in the hopes they've maybe finished repairing the road??? (This happened to me when returning from Canada in June. On the U.S. side of the border they had torn up the only road leading south from the border station. They had torn up the whole road and covered it with large rock --not gravel!-- and there was no way around it. A travel trailer towed by a pickup got stuck just ahead of me and had to be towed out by the heavy road-building equipment.)

I saw a thing on TV while at a hotel (I have no TV at home) in which these loonies tried to destroy an old Toyota. They crashed it, burned it, let the ocean tide come up over it, but they could not render it inoperable. -- I'd rather drive on good roads, but I'm not going to worry too much about my Prius.

 

<_< QUOTE: "This is why you should not read the manual." --*SIGH* Shows the unfortunate attitude of some folks - or perhaps they never learned to read.

... and depend on the good PriusChat folks who will answer your questions which are clearly answered in the Owner's Manual. There is a wealth of helpful information in the manual. RTFM.

 

Well, ya gotta do what ya gotta do. If the rocks are big enough they won't pass through the grille, unless they're moving really fast :_>

 

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(Charles Suitt @ Aug 17 2006, 08:46 AM) [snapback]304670[/snapback]</div>

My feeling exactly. The manual is very good, but the issue is the terminology or rather the rather chunky Japanese to English translation. Rather than have some technical writers at Toyota's California Headquarters write an English language version, they took the Japanese language version and did a near verbatim translation, and that is why some paragraphs just don't read very well.

When Toyota refers to a "highly maintained road" they just mean that the car is meant to be driven on pavement. And if you have to drive on gravel roads or oil-rock roads to use caution and care. I also think it is a short way of saying, try to avoid potholes and other road hazards if possible. That is good advice for any vehicle.

 

Its hard to find "well" maintained roads. There used to be some in California, compared to other places I've been. Not so true anymore. I have an Outback for dirt and gravel, so never took the Pri off-road. My main problem here is the freeway truck tire treads. I've been smacked twice so far, ($1300 of insurance fixed), and had the lower front plastic cover damaged which I repaired myself. Its no worse than any other "sports car" as far as ground clearance goes. But its not really a sports car, just as vulnerable as one!

Our Outback manual says that its not intended for off-road either, but it does fine everywhere we've been. Its a legal deal. Your mileage and experience may vary.

 

I have no choice but to drive the Washington Beltway every day.
Last friday alone, I got 8 chips in the windshield, and 3 big scratches out of the paint.

I got rock hits to the drivers door in 2 places that cut all the way to the metal.
The beltway is a war zone. The aggressive drivers, the trucks spraying rocks...

My Prius was spotless before the beltway got it.

Years ago I remember saying I would be unemployed and homeless before I would take a job that required commuting on the beltway - and here I am. What a disgrace this place is.

For those of you who never visited DC, rejoice in your happiness!

 

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(Tideland Prius @ Aug 18 2006, 01:31 AM) [snapback]305173[/snapback]</div>

I watched the show on BBC Canada on my StarChoice dish at the hobby farm. Really amazing what that "retired" HiLux diesel farm truck went through. They could try and get it running with only simple tools, no replacement parts or specialised service.

My favorite part of the segment was when they roped it to the breakwater at high tide, but the ropes broke as the tide crashed over the truck. The HiLux was half-buried in the surf, but they yanked it out. Their mechanic took out all 4 diesel fuel injectors, cranked the motor until seawater stopped spraying from the cylinders, put in fresh diesel, and it fired right up.

How about when they chained it to the top of that high-rise that was imploded? The impact with the ground broke the frame, and the truck by then had a serious "demolition derby" look to it, but they were able to - slowly - move it under its own power into the studio to wrap up the segment.

I rather doubt a Prius could take that

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(Rangerdavid @ Aug 17 2006, 07:27 AM) [snapback]304587[/snapback]</div>

Well, maybe a freshly-graded gravel road. The last 4.5 km to my hobby farm is over poorly maintained washboardy gravel road. I really don't understand the Prius suspension: allows body lean in corners but is rockhard in terms of actual compliance. Any speed over 30 km/h feels like the car is shaking to pieces.

By conrast my dads 2003 Buick LeSabre can easily take the road at the posted 50 km/h limit. My 1984 F-150 with adjustable Rancho shocks - set on "soft" - and new variable rate front coil springs, will just float over the washboard. So does my co-workers 2006 Range Rover HSE

That's perhaps my biggest gripe to date, the ride quality

As far as winter traction, I would avoid using any car to charge through snow drifts. The standard "traction control" on the Prius is way too sensitive - it protects the drivetrain, nothing more. If one wheel is on pavement and one wheel on glare ice, forget about it.

I've always used high quality sticky winter tires for winter, and IMHO the Prius needs them more than most cars. I wouldn't even try to tackle icy inclines with "all season" tires. You can search my user name and "winter traction" or "winter tires" to get some humorous insight into how I managed to get stuck on a mall parking ramp that a rusted out shitbox had no trouble with. That was on "all season" tires.

Like any car, a little common sense will go a long way too

 

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(Tideland Prius @ Aug 19 2006, 01:08 AM) [snapback]305777[/snapback]</div>

They aired one episode of Top Gear where the hosts were on location in the U.S. Among the vehicles they drove: A Cadilac DeVille DTS and a Ford F-150. The hosts had PLENTY to say about American drivers and their vehicles, so much so I doubt any American ever saw it