Why would you Mod a Prius?

(This is a gross simplification)
There were 4 waves of Prius ownership:
First there were the technology early adopters, they wanted to understand how all the new technology worked.



Next came the greens, they liked add-ons:


The techies and the greens believed in personal involvement in driving frugally
The next group was micro-economists, they bought a Prius for personal fuel economy with no involvement and if any mods, they buy aftermarket wheels and lowering kits to ruin the fuel economy.

Lately we are seeing stylists, they see the Prius just as a box they can modify and care not for the tech or the ecology or the economy. They had no idea it was special.


Each group is mystified by all the other groups, as CLEARLY the car is made for them.
(I bought a Prius as my wife said to: 2010 Prius School Project! | PriusChat )

 

When I'm not in California, I'm living a 1/2 hour south of you in Olympia. I know less than a handful of others in the area who want to mod and I agree that nobody thinks much about mods for Prius.

But if there are so many doing mods to Honda & WRX, why not Prius? I'm predicting that as the price for used Gen2 and Gen3 Prius keep dropping we're going to see the growth of a Prius mod community. But for the moment, not many are interested...

I mean most people don't even take off the license plate frame that promotes the car dealer they bought from, let alone take off the awful wheel covers, extra badges sticker's etc.

If we had a group of Prius owners that met regularly we could probably gain lots of experience doing mods...

I know Seattle-Tacoma area had some kind of Toyota-fest last Summer and I think it's an annual event, it was promoted on PriusChat but I'm not finding it when I search for it? Need help finding it:

ANYONE HAVE A LIST OF TOYOTA CAR CLUBS AND PRIUS CAR CLUBS????

 

Awesome post... I love the look of that front hood with no Toyota logo, too bad they put that goofy red and blue as side effects...

 

I am not trying to judge, just explain the odd looks from others.

Sometimes we get outsiders who assume all Prius owners are greens. They are usually amazed at how few owners are, and scurry back to their Diesel Truck forums.

 

I visit Washington twice a year, and always try to get a meet, so far I have met two priuschatters, Rae Vynn, and Cwerdna, who has moved to California.

 

Because when you show up to an autocross and hear snickers until you beat 70% of the field it's priceless.

SPH-D710 ? 2

 

Love it! Where did you get it?

 

I think there are 3 general categories of mods: Performance, functionality and looks. We have different colored cars, so changing the looks in any other way is a given. Improved headlights, sound, navigation, etc., are all functions that can always be improved.

So, I guess it's the performance mod that people might have a question about, and I also guess that the question is why would you do a mod that loses MPG in a Prius. One must make a logical leap that Prius owners buy a Prius ONLY for MPG, which, of course, is not true. However, I was surprised to discover that the Prius has some power in it. Thus, I'm looking to put on the anti-sway bars to improve performance. When I purchased my Prius, I never thought I'd be doing that. So, I don't blame the non-owner for wondering why to mod a Prius's performance. I probably would be thinking the same.

Mike

 

I won't perform a modification that is solely for appearance, at the expense of performance or efficiency, on any car.

I've upgraded the center chassis brace because I found the chassis to be remarkably (annoyingly) compliant, despite the fact that it's a hard top. It's not as bad as a Supra with the targa roof removed, but it's about as bad as a T-Top MR2 with the tops in, and the stock factory strut tower braces. The Ultrabrace from eBay made a nice improvement, but I will probably end up also adding a front strut tower brace, as long as I can do so without interfering with access to the fuse box, etc. in the engine bay.

I added the Prius+ rear sway bar because the car has an annoying amount of body roll in stock configuration, and understeer is pretty overwhelming. I'll probably get the Prius+ lowering springs at some point, since the members who have them have reported no effect on MPG, and near stock ride quality.

 

I've modded cause i have never kept any car stock.

 

All the mods I've done is for added performance and/or styling. I feel a little drop in MPG is worth it.