The Scangauge II (and Scangauge before it) has long been a necessary part of practicing EcoDriving effectively. It’s a neat device because it gives you instant feedback, which not only allows you to improve your driving, but also helps you implement various hypermiling tips most effectively. However, Scangauge won’t have a total market share for much longer, as PLX Devices has released a new, and intriguing device called the Kiwi.
Like the Scangauge, the PLX Kiwi takes data from your car’s OBDII diagnostics port. This means that the device is plug and play, making it accessible to most drivers, but will only work on 1996+ vehicles. All older cars (like mine) are out of luck. The Kiwi uses the data is collects to not only show you what fuel economy you’re getting, but also to instruct you on how to get a few more MPGs. This is the part that’s really interesting, and the reason the device costs a steep $299.
PLX’s cute video can say more about how it works than I can, so check it out:
httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BgNPwB-auu4
The website claims that the average driver can save quite a bit of fuel. In my experience, this is definitely true, though I don’t know if the Kiwi is really necessary to do it. Most people can realize these improvements without any instrumentation, though those of you looking for more profound savings will probably need instrumentation.
I can’t say yet whether it works or whether I would recommend it, but if you’re motivated I think the purchase price could be recouped in gas savings, especially with gas looking to stay up above $4/gallon. You can bet PLX will be receiving an email from ecomodder as we look to test this thing out with both experienced EcoDrivers and complete newbs.
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Only time will tell if the product actually saves money, and gets updates often.
Hmm not for $299 ~ $ 314.00 with shipping for a “pre-sale” (read they are not shipping yet) I’d wait till they ship a bunch of these and I read real time reviews from users that are not employeed by the company. Very iPod touch looking, maybe we can get Steve Jobs to build an OBDII cable for pods……
I’ll wait till the bug are worked out, and maybe a cheaper price.
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