Wheel size vs AWD effect on MPG

My local dealer just sent me an email telling me that they just got a 2020 Prius on the lot with 40k miles for only $29,995! And I should buy that instead of waiting months for a new 2023 Prius which I put the deposit on.

If you can find a $20k gen 4 with low miles, that would be a heck of a deal

 

Metal is heavier than rubber and air, so a wheel that is larger diameter is heavier. As the wheel is often spinning, it 'weighs' more than a stationary part of the car.

Forged wheels are often lighter than cast wheels, which are lighter than steel wheels. Price escalates rapidly with lightness.

 

Here's a video from a few days ago where someone was driving a FWD XLE on an ~500 mile road trip. He got around 47 MPG compared to the 52 MPG EPA. He says he was driving quite slowly and quite conservatively.

 

TBH, when I find exact dimensions of said rims, I will try to find a smaller, lighter, financially bearable, alternative (something like OZ Allegritta HLT or Borbet DB8GT).
Anyone knows all those dimensions you add to filters when you pick new rims? :-D
It shows quite a lot of numbers like:
8,5x18 5x114,3 ET40 72,5

 

So far as I know, the Prius v station wagon is 5 x 114, but all 'true' Prius are 5 x 100.

 

5th gen Prius options in Canada are all 19" wheels and AWD.

 

Yeah it seems that even in the US, at least on the east coast, all the dealers north of Philadelphia or NYC get allocated a ridiculous amount of AWD models and the FWD are really hard to find. I live in a suburban area north of NYC and I really don't see why the AWD is necessary. +$1400 is not cheap at all, and the mpg penalty settling under 50 EPA is a slap in the face. Feels like a massive upsell to have so many customers buy AWD because they are the only ones available so the topic doesn't even come up.

 

Yeah I don't think there's another Prius in our future.

I'm looking for something without an 800 page owner's manual, easy/cheap to maintain, with ergonomic dash controls. Good luck with that...

 

used ugo?

 

Also, something to consider for the OP's question, if these tests are being done in cold weather, winter fuel efficiency for most people is significantly worse than summer. In my 2010 I can typically achieve over 50 MPG in the summer but more like 45 MPG in winter. The lower the temperature, the worse it is. This seems to be true across the board for vehicles and especially hybrids

 

The video was in California. Weather should got for economy, but the gasoline blend is different than the rest of the country, which is in addition to considering season blends and ethanol. Winter blend is about 3% lower in energy content than summer, and E10 is another 3% drop.

 

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