It is with much regret, and some soreness, that I must retire this build thread and this vehicle. One week ago on the way to work, a careless driver decided not to look both ways before crossing the road and accelerated out right in front of me (my right of way). I t-boned her at 35-40 mph. The Prius performed very admirably and kept me safe. I walked away with only a bruised knee, wrist, and some whiplash. Nothing was broken, except the car. That day and the next I was off work with some muscle relaxers, after that I was back to work. The airbag did go off and the front end was smashed up quite a bit. The image below I was able to take with my cell phone a few minutes after the crash.
This is my first major accident. I must say for a 'glorified clown car' (I've heard the Prius referred to as that), the dang thing saved my life. I can't imagine anyone thinking they need to drive a tank of a vehicle to be 'safe'. I could very easily start a rant here, but I won't.
Also, for those wondering about the PHEV kit and how it held up, it is fine. It didn't budge a fraction of an inch. In fact, Ben Nelson wrote a good article on his blog about how you never hear about the accidents that everything goes fine with, you only hear about the sensational things that happen when something goes wrong. Its a good read and I'd recommend taking a minute or two to take a look:
CRASH! DIY Vehicle Safety
The car is being totaled by the insurance company, and I find myself looking for something new (to me) to drive. I considered going with a different vehicle. My wife really loved the Matrix we had before the Prius. We averaged a decent 35 mpg with it over its live. But, the Prius averaged 51 mpg over the life we owned it. Based upon my last years driving of 13,000 miles, the Prius saves me $450 a year in gas with gas costing $3.80. The Matrix is only a couple thousand less than a used Prius so it just didn't make financial sense. Plus, I really like tinkering with the Prius, and in general just love the car. I can seriously say its the 'coolest' car I've ever owned, maybe in a nerdy sense, but it still holds that title in my mind. So, I found one this past weekend and put a down payment on it. It is another 2004 Prius. I hope to pick it up today.
This of course means starting over with all the mods I had done to it. Thankfully, I was able to tow the car home and remove most of the aftermarket things I had installed. So, now its just a matter of reinstalling them. I'll be starting a new thread for the new car once I am in posession of it.