Prius coming soon

Gen 2 had a very limp chassis, semis could make the car jump noticeably, with the brace, wind buffeting does not move you around as much.

 

Don't notice any of those phenomenons in our 2008.

 

Haha, good luck on your mods. It'll definitely get better mpg than a Civic. Even if you drive the snot out of it, the worse you can get is 35 mpg.

Do post a pic of the NSX when it joins your fleet.

One of the worst thing about owning my Prius was remembering much more fun my Civic was and it was a stock LX.


iPhone ?

 

Not true, I've gotten as low as 32 on mine in single digit temps at 75+ on the highway. Speed kills MPG, but I like speed. It's still at least 50% better than my SUV was.

I think you're going to throw a lot of money at it and it's still going to be slow and numb. Even though you've got the money, if fun is important, I'd say sell it and use the proceeds for a Mazda3 or Civic to play with instead. If MPG is your goal, keep the Prius and leave it alone or mod it for MPG instead.

The handling capability on my unmodified Touring is actually decent, the steering is so stinkin numb it makes it really hard to push it because you just can't tell what's going on.

If you do mod it and find a way to put some feel in the steering I'd love to know. My 600 mile holiday drive home in the snow was far more nerve racking than it needed to be due to the numb steering making wheel slip very hard to perceive.

 

C25A1guy, you can dress the car up all you want, throw as much money at it as you like, but it will still be a Prius. Why not fix it up enough that it is easy to sell, sell it, and get yourself something a little perkier, some kind of small coupe maybe? What with being a car guy, you don't have to suffer just to get a little economy.

 

I think most of us underestimate these cars. When you think of the cars that have been successfully raced in the past, a Pri isn't a long shot at all.

Here's a 2nd-gen short-track racer:
Toyota Prius Race Car - Car News - Car and Driver

Even without any performance mods, the Gen 2 is pretty tossable with a capable driver, such as the Google autopilot:

Here's a Gen 1 rally car:

Here's a Gen 2 doing a nice, parking lot autocross run:

 

Sorry, double-posted

 

The HID bulbs need to be replaced, use only the correct Philips bulbs (not a generic substitute.) There are many posts about the correct bulbs and what issues result when inferior bulbs are installed instead.

The problem is that the bulbs do not sustain arcing at the working voltage produced by the ballasts - this is why the light goes out. Then if you restart the ballast, the bulb will work for a while. However turning the lights off and then back on is hard on the ballasts.