Our Prius Modifications

We are really pleased with our new hybrid. It’s very comfortable, well appointed, and the fuel economy is amazing. But even a car this good can be improved upon.

Ideas

Some things which we miss were there from the factory:

Some of these can be addressed, some not. So far, here are some changes I’ve made.

  1. Remove “beauty ring” from alloy wheels. 4/23/05 - These plastic trim pieces weigh about 9.3oz each and protect the alloy wheels from damage from curbs. But they add weight and clutter to the appearance.

  2. Remove 9th speaker (center channel). 4/23/05 - Maybe Toyota plans to make the Prius radio Dolby 5.1 capable. But the speaker sounds like a cheap AM radio--thin and tinny. It muddies the stereo imaging. It was easy to remove. This made the sounds dramatically better, nearly as good as our old MINI. The bass doesn’t have quite the punch, but the clarity and imaging are not right up there. Another 8.9oz saved.

  3. Remove Airbag warning stickers. 4/24/05 - Like all cars, those big yellow stickers on the visors are a distraction. A little Goop Off and a lot of fingernail scraping and they are gone. The interior appearance is a little cleaner now. Did I save more weight?

  4. Door Lock Program Options 4/24/05 - I set the Smart Key to open all doors driver’s door handle is touched.

  5. Reverse Beep Program Options 4/24/05 - I disabled the reverse warning beep. While I nice safety feature, it is too loud and distracting.

  6. XM RadioM 6/02/2005 - XM Radio is on the air! Wow, I love it. More than anything, being able to listen to music I enjoy without constant commercials is worth the monthly payment. But the sound quality beats FM, the variety is terrific, and it was super to be able to drive 1200 miles without going out of range… highly recommended. See my comments on installation of the CoastalETech kit on the PriusChat newsgroup.

  7. Automatic Power Door Locks 6/02/2005 - CoastalETech kit was installed along with the XM. Nice! I get to forget about locking the doors after kids again. They auto-lock upon reaching15mph the first time after the car is started. (It doesn’t do anything after that, though.)

  8. Upgraded Wheels and Tires 8/15/2005 - Tire Rack to the rescue! I installed a set of Gram Lights 57S 16 inch rims with Continental ContiSportContact 2 tires in a 205/50ZR16 size. That is a lot of tire for this car… and WOW! What a difference in feel and cornering! I can’t wait for the first rain storm to see how much more secure the car is. So far no signs of major loss in mpg. The road noise is a little higher, with some loud hissing on certain rough surfaces. Ride is a European firm with a hint of jarring on the worst potholes. Overall, I really enjoy driving much more with these wheels and tires.

  9. Tire Pressure Monitor - Delivered 8/15 with the tires. I ended p just leaving it in the armrest storage bim. Nice of Toyota to put storage there. Since there’s an audible alert, I only need to check it now end then. It is a great addition. I hear the '06 models have it built-in. All cars should Next, we need tires that automatically pump themselves!

  10. Navigation “I Agree” fix - January 8, 2006. The CoastalETech Navigation fix finally arrived from back-order. As expected, it automates the initial legal warning screen by automatically “pressing” the button. It also automates stepping through all the back-door overrides to the grayed-out buttons on the destination entry screens. I had been doing so manually for some time now. This is an improvement, but it is a bit kludgy to see all the secret screens popping up and going away on their own.

Other Ideas

With the center channel speaker removed, there is room in the dash for something else? Maybe this would be a good place for a place for a subwoofer? This would make the sound system complete and not sacrifice any cargo space. But from what I gather, the input for that speaker is on the wrong side of a high-pass filter, so it is missing the bass signal. A wire would have to be run fresh to power it…

Revised Feburary 12, 2006