As the 2023 Prius has been in production since last December, tuners have barely scratched the surface—we can expect tons of new aftermarket parts to show up across the world. And while this slammed 2023 Toyota Prius will split opinions, the sharper aesthetics of the fifth-generation model mean the lowering suspension brings a more dramatic effect.
I’ve seen multiple stanced 2023 Prii, with most of them having shown up in Japan this month. However, the one sitting on our screens is the most extreme I’ve come across to date.
For starters, there’s no air suspension here to allow the driver to increase the ride height at the tap of a screen/touch of a button, as this is a static setup. So how do those wheels even survive?
The slammed 2023 Prius comes from Japanese tuner 326 Power
Owned by Masahiro Ozaki (aka masa.77.77.77), the slammed 2023 Toyota Prius is a demo car for 326 Power, a Japanese tuner that’s also present in the US—Mihnea showed you their ludicrous, Testarossa-inspired Toyota 86 widebody kit a while back.
For starters, the most important components for lowering the car in this static form involve the 326 Power Chakuriki dampers. In a nutshell, these are height-adjustable coilovers that promise to retain serious travel even when the car is lowered to the ground, in the interest of keeping the ride and handling in check.
As for the 326 Power Ghost wheels, these are here in wide-arch or overfender form, which means they’re wider than the factory wheel arches. And, with the car fully lowered via those coilovers, the lips of these overfender wheels barely clear the arches.
The Pros and Cons of negative camber
Then we have the hefty negative camber. For race cars and drift cars, negative camber is useful as it improves cornering grip, reduces body roll, and adds to the steering feel. However, this isn’t the case here and we must also consider the cons of this much negative camber, such as the impact it has on straight-line stability, the uneven tire wear, and the reduced acceleration/braking performance.
However, function follows form in the stance community, and with aesthetics prevailing, we can always regard the slammed 2023 Prius as a form of expression rather than focusing on the pragmatic aspects mentioned above. For the record, the first image in the gallery below shows the stock Prius for a quick before-and-after game.
The Midnight Black Metallic shade of this 2023 Prius hides some of the styling cues of the fifth-generation model, but with the four-dour coupe-like silhouette of the new Prius, the color choice may just make the most out of this project.
Now, if you’d like to see the 2023 Prius with different mods, such as a widebody, the SEMA 2023 show (October 31-November 3) should cater to your needs and we’re already on the lookout for such builds.
