Scangauge for my new Prius?

Not sure whether you're asking about physically mounting it (as in a more-or-less permanent installation) versus using it without mounting, or about using it in the Prius versus not using it. I'll assume the latter.

The Scangauge is very handy, IMHO. One of the Prius' minor weaknesses it its lack of factory instrumentation. SG more than makes up for it.

 

It offers the same advantage that it provides you with your old car.

 

There is nothing like tooling down a road at 35mph in a housing area and glancing at the SG and noting that you are doing it without the ICE!

Makes for a nice warm fuzzy feeling. It is also a very great tool for boosting your mpg on the workaday worlds roads also. I would hate to be without it!

 

... except with greater satisfaction. Assuming your "old car" wasn't an Insight!

PA P

 

Yes. There was a thread here some time back noting that the peak efficiency for the ICE was in the 1800-2200 RPM range with about 55% engine load. I believe hobbit posted the link to the data. Not that it's hugely inefficient moderately outside of that range, but that's the peak.

With the scangauge installed, I can check for that when accelerating. Or, if not, at least I know how much faster-than-efficiently I'm accelerating. If you have a decent ear for it, you'll soon figure out just what 2200 RPM sounds like. At which point, you'll no longer need the scangauge for this purpose. But it's a good training tool.

I've moved mine to my other car (a Mazda 5) and it's been a help for getting the best mileage I can out of that car. Without a scangauge, you just have to guess what you're doing. With it, you know.

 

Now you know this is the ideal time to sneak up on a blind person and hit that new louder Stebel Magnum dual horn you just had fitted.