What is in your opinion the best bang for your buck mod on a Prius C? The first one that comes to mind is changing the head unit to something like a 7" Pioneer with Rear view camera. What is it for you?
The Injen SP intake, especially now it can be had new for under $200... I don’t care what anyone says about how difficult it is to dyno a Prius etc., the intake gets you up to speed that little bit faster and gives you a little bit extra when you need it to go from say 50 to 70. I don’t care if it adds 2 hp or 20 hp or adds none but smooths out the power curve - it works. And it looks and sounds good. The black with blue filter is a natural match for the Prius with its black and blue accents.
I don't doubt that one bit. I've got a combo of the Blitz pipe, and 3D printed velocity stack replacing the air box inlet. Toyota restricted the intake by so much to keep the engine quiet. If you are okay with a little bit more noise, you can actually drive up a decent size hill with out loosing speed and possibly with out your foot the the floor! All that said, I wasn't happy with just one mod. Everything I've done was done to work well together and make the car work better for me personally.
How does it affect mpg??? I recently put some 17" rims on my car and I think it's a little slower and my mpg has gone down a lot. Did the mods u made affect mpg also??? I wouldn't mind mine being a little quicker.
In a word, possibly. lol. I bought my C because I commute 200 miles round trip daily through traffic. With the stock suspension I was usually stuck dodging 18 wheelers in the right lanes. After the suspension upgrades I was no longer scared to cruise between 65 and 80mph in the left lanes. While the mods can negatively effect MPG, the bigger effect was from my change in driving because of them. For the intake the same holds true. If you put on an intake looking for more power, you are probably going to use it. When you use that extra air its accompanied with fuel, which will of course cause a decrease in MPG. There have been a few times since my upgrades that I have been stuck in slow heavy traffic conditions similar to how I drove the car pre mods, and the displayed mileage comes pretty close to what it was each time. If my intention was to always drive like that though I wouldn't have spent the money on the changes I made.
Best bang for the buck has to go to the LEDs in the dome light. The interior lighting just wasn't enough. The problem was completely solved with $6 worth of aftermarket LEDs and some aluminum foil glued into the reflector cups to improve output. Next best was a Sony head unit which includes full support for the steering wheel controls, native dashboard USB port, and native rear vision camera. It presents everything via carplay or android auto, depending on the phone you plug in. That cost a lot more, but it's a pretty good bang, too. Though as the season cools I think my wife will probably claim that the seat heater I added should get top honor in this list.
