The Premier's Limo: 2004 Toyota Prius "winter beater" ecomodding thread

[MetroMPG]

planetaire: it may help to remove the the spoiler, but if you follow the link, you'll see the other Prius owner left his spoiler in place and claimed to get very good gains, even with just a basic tail design.

http://ecomodder.com/forum/showthrea...mpg-24999.html



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Update: the car failed inspection. Boo.

A bushing in the front, right control arm was shot and required the arm to be replaced. And to get one of the mounting bolts out, the engine had to be lifted. Several other bolts were siezed, and hard to break free with heat/penetrating oil. Dumb design, Toyota! I had the shop do this one, and $340 later, it's legal.

And the mechanic says it'll need brakes by the time I go to sell it.

So with the impending brake and possibly exhaust work (both which I can do), I'm probably not going to make any money on this car when I sell in a year or 2, but I'll break even if I'm lucky.

After going through the car's maintenance/repair history, I saw the other control arm was replaced a few years ago. (Normal job on the left side -- doesn't require lifting the engine!). I updated the What to look for when buying a used Prius thread with a few more tips.

Now the Limo will be parked in the garage, awaiting resumption of service in the fall. I'll start it up weekly or bi-weekly to keep the batteries happy.

[MetroMPG]

Originally Posted by Gasoline Fumes

I hope to see a lot of ABA testing on this! My parents have a 2008 Prius and I hope to learn from your testing! Can I request a splitter vs. airdam test? I might do it myself, but I'll be glad if you beat me to it!

I definitely plan an airdam test. Also would like to do a full belly pan.

[Daox]

For fun you should really just poke your head around the car. There are a lot of aero tweaks found all over the place, especially the front end that are pretty neat.

[MetroMPG]

Actually, I was just under there yesterday, doing an alignment (from the control arm replacement). And I did see a couple of neat aero bumps & features on the undertray ahead of the engine that caught my attention.

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I just updated post #1 with my list of planned/completed mods.

[MetroMPG]

I took the car out on the same route I have used for coaching ecodriving, which gives me a chance to compare it to a whole bunch of different cars I've driven.

The route is 100% sub/urban that takes about 15 minutes (~8 km / 5 mi.) and has a bunch of traffic lights & stop signs and a maximum speed limit of 50 km/h / 30 mph.

Conditions were admittely pretty ideal: warm, light traffic and the lights seemed to be in my favour.

Prius result:

3.4 L/100 km (indicated) = 69 mpg (US) = 83 mpg (Imp)

Admittely this is not at all scientific, but here's some context -- results from other cars on the same route, generally in cool to hot weather (none in winter)...

• 75 mpg US - my 1998 Firefly/Metro 1.0, 5-spd (lots of EOC)
• 70 mpg US - 2013 Lexus 200h hybrid (lots of EOC)
• 69 mpg US - 2004 Toyota Prius hybrid (lots of EOC)
• 56 mpg US - 2014 Mitsubishi Mirage 1.2L 5-spd (basic ecodriving)
• 51 mpg US - 2015 Nissan Micra 1.6L 5-spd (EOC)
• 47 mpg US - 2015 Nissan Micra 1.6L 5-spd (basic ecodriving)
• 44 mpg US - 2007 Camry Hybrid (basic ecodriving)
• 41 mpg US - 2009 Honda Fit 5-speed (basic ecodriving
• 40 mpg US - 2007 Honda Civic EX 5-speed (basic ecodriving)
• 39 mpg US - 2009 Honda Civic LX 5-speed (basic ecodriving
• 37 mpg US - 2004 Toyota Echo automatic (basic ecodriving)
• 36 mpg US - 1997 BMW 328i 5-speed (EOC)
• 33 mpg US - 2007 Toyota Corolla 1.8 auto (basic ecodriving)
• 24 mpg US - 2002 Subaru Outback automatic (basic ecodriving)

The Prius is a great fuel saver around town when it's warmed up.


I'm looking forward to getting some highway numbers in the fall.

[Xist]

Your second worst tank was with a Corolla?

[planetaire]

Originally Posted by MetroMPG

I definitely plan an airdam test. Also would like to do a full belly pan.

Full ?

What about the gas tank ?
In our prius there are heat screen betwenn the exhaust pipe and the tank.
The pipe is close the tank but outside cold air is mixed and goes on the tank.
I done less then 100% belly pan, and my tail pipe stay cold because using a lot of electric mode.

Without the screens:

[MetroMPG]

I'll definitely keep that in mind when I look at the undertray.

I will also be starting a dedicated thread about this:



I have an idea about the cause/path of this rust, and hope to offer some good preventive info to owners of newer cars (or cars that live in less salty winter environments) that haven't begun to rust... yet.

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UPDATE: I've started a dedicated thread about Prius rust, here:

http://ecomodder.com/forum/showthrea...els-32527.html

.

[Xist]

Does the Prius community know that you stab your cars?!

[MetroMPG]

I live in exile.

It's a quieter neighbourhood, anyway.