Putting "real" tires on my Prius

I've spoken to a few Prii owners here in Atlanta, my wife's brother being one, and most seem perfectly happy with 40+mpg during their daily commutes. My sisters husband has a gen2 Civic hybrid and he was absolutely giddy at getting almost 48 on an all highway trip from here to Pensacola Fl. I think we who try to get more are probably a niche. Most just drive them like any other economical "bullet" commuter vehicle.

 

Interesting thread. I have been doing lots of research on lrr tires. Part of what makes them lrr is the thinner linings used to make them. There in lies the trade off for a couple of mpg's. Longevity and ruggedness vs lighter weight and fragility. Seems safety warrants a bit less mpg's also.

 

Good to read all the reports here. My 2014 came with the OEM Yoko's and within 2 weeks of buying the car I had a puncture (non-repairable. Grrr.) Happened on my regular commute... never had a flat in 3 sets of tires over 12 years / 90,000 mis. on my Corolla. So although the tire guys insisted it was a random occurrence, I suspected either a) that one tire was defective b) LRR's are less robust than regular tires or c) the OEM Yoko's aren't up to snuff. My hunch is that it's the OEM Yoko's, since it seems like most of the complaints on PC about early punctures are with those tires. (Also, there are a zillion Prii in San Diego, so if all the LRR's were that fragile in the face of local road debris, I'd expect to constantly see Prii on the sides of the road changing flat tires.) That said, it makes sense to me that LRR's might overall still be less robust than regular tires.

 

PS - Glad to meet another Prius driver whose commute is "uphill both ways."

 

^ Any tire can catch a nail or screw. We've had a couple of puncture with our 2010, one with the OEM Michelin Pilot 215/45R17, the other with Michelin X-Ice 195/65R15. It happens.

(I've plug repaired both instances, no further problems with those tires. In the first case the dealership deemed it unrepairable, to close too the edge of tread. Considering it was a tiny finishing nail, I decided to give plug repair a try, something new for me.)