Here at Torque News, our contributors include many longtime fans and owners of Toyota hybrids, particularly the legendary Prius. What’s not to love? Efficiency, value, safety, and reliability are all wrapped up into one vehicle. But what if you already own a Prius and your hobbies are expanding into camping and hiking? Should you ditch a car that you love for a dreaded SUV?! One owner decided not to get the SUV, and instead has amped up the Prius V’s off-pavement capabilities in a big way.
Here is what Toyota Prius owner O.G. posted originally, along with the great images O.D. was kind enough to permit us to use in our publication:
1.5” lift kit from Prius off road, 18” rims with Falken Wildpeak All Terrain tires size 225/50r18, 175k miles transmission fluid changed - looking and riding good! Ready for camping and hiking season! Feeling excited. (Camping and hiking emojis)
As we can see from the post, O.G. has enjoyed a very long period of time with this Prius V. 175,000 miles is amazing for most vehicles, but many Prius cars run for well past 300,000 miles, so this one may still be in its mid-life years. We can also see that O.G. has invested in this Prius V. A set of wheels and Falken WildPeak tires can cost $2,000 or more, and the fluid changes can easily top $300. One must have trust in a vehicle to invest so much in it late in its life.
Falken WildPeak All-Terrain Tire Overview
Falken makes a series of WildPeak all-terrain tires. There are serious off-road versions for mud (M/T), serious off-roading (R/T), all-terrain use (A/T3W and A/T4W), and the WildPeak A/T Trail tires that is well-suited to crossovers and SUVs that are used occasionally off-pavement. The tire that O.G. selected for this Prius build is the A/T Trail. This is a fantastic tire that Torque News tested on a compact all-wheel drive CUV and found to be extremely capable. Best of all, it is a tire that does very well on-pavement, and in our long-term testing, the Falken WildPeak A/T Trail tires did not diminish fuel efficiency. It was also not as loud as some all-terrain tires can prove to be.
Falken A/T Trail
The Falken A/T Trail tires are ideally suited to vehicles like a Toyota RAV4 Hybrid, and indeed, Toyota fits the Woodland trim with this tire. It would also work very well on a Mazda CX-5 Meridian trim; Mazda also selected this tire as an OEM fitment. Perhaps the best vehicle for a Falken A/T Trail tire would be a Subaru Outback, Subaru Forester, or Subaru Crosstrek.
The Falken WildPeak A/T Trail tire features the three-peak mountain snowflake symbol, denoting that it is severe-snow duty rated. Most owners would find they no longer need dedicated winter tires. That was our experience as well. The rugged sidewall helps prevent damage during off-pavement use, and the tread is a balance between aggressive off-road features and durable, quiet on-road features.
O.G’s Falken WildPeak A/T Trail Experience So Far
O.G. previously had Bridgestone Turanza tires on the Prius. These are very good all-season tires, and very quiet. We asked O.G. if the new Falken WildPeak tires were performing well by comparison, and O.G. told Torque News,
I feel more comfortable handling and rolling through gravel roads, and there is no noise at all on the asphalt roads!
Other Toyota Prius V Modifications
In addition to the Falken WildPeak tires, O.G. has used an airbag lift system to give the Prius about 1.5 inches of added ground clearance. Therefore, the ground clearance of the Prius is now roughly 7 inches. That’s not bad at all, and is very close to the clearance some compact crossovers offer. It’s around the same as a Hyundai Kona, for example. O.G. also swapped out the brake pads for some ceramic ones. We can also see a very neatly-installed tow hitch, perfect for a bike carrier or small utility trailer.
Would You Like to Learn More About This Prius Build and Falken WildPeak Tires?
If you would like to know more about O.G.’s Prius V build or how well the Falken tires are working, please post a comment under this story. We’d love to do a follow-up with O.G. later to hear about the car and also the adventures it enables. Your comments may spur O.G. to send us more information.
Images courtesy of Facebook Toyota Prius Owner's Club member O.G.
John Goreham is a credentialed New England Motor Press Association member and expert vehicle tester. John completed an engineering program with a focus on electric vehicles, followed by two decades of work in high-tech, biopharma, and the automotive supply chain before becoming a news contributor. He is a member of the Society of Automotive Engineers (SAE int). In addition to his eleven years of work at Torque News, John has published thousands of articles and reviews at American news outlets. He is known for offering unfiltered opinions on vehicle topics. You can connect with John on Linkedin and follow his work on his personal X channel or on our X channel. Please note that stories carrying John's by-line are never AI-generated, but he does employ grammar and punctuation software when proofreading and he also uses image generation tools.
