Prius Accessories for Dummies?

There are mud flaps that are secured by adhesion strips. I don't know if there are generics that would fit the car or if someone makes a set specifically for the car. I haven't had a set on a car in ages and haven't missed them.

I would go with custom mats over generic in the passenger compartment for the fit. They should have enough of a lip to contain the anticipated amount of mess whether it is snow, slush, water, mud, or sand. Husky Liner, Husky Weather Beater or Weathertech aren't going to be cheap. Maybe there are generic or other branded plastic mats that are a reasonable fit.

On my deck I have the OEM carpet mat. That's protected with the Gen2's carpet mat and two surplus plastic desk blotters. Back in the day, I traced my Gen2's deck mat onto a large cardboard box and I'm still using it to cover the seat backs when they are down.

Cut to fit cardboard box and surplus office mats can't be beat on price. Cheap outdoor carpet that covers the deck and the seat backs when down is a good option.

A cargo tray is just a box. My first choice would be office surplus. Keep your eyes open for nice sized boxes when stuff is delivered. Cartons for paper or archive boxes are good. Better if they have handles in the sides. You may want to check with your mailroom or whoever supplies paper for the copiers and printers. Scout out the area around the trash compactor or loading dock.

Supermarkets can also be a good source for free boxes. A trip to the self service area of your local Post Office can also be fruitful. I am not suggesting that one should take and use their free flat rate boxes for storage. Sometimes one can find a spoiled one abandoned in the lobby.

If you don't have something over the top of the rear bumper cover lay down a rubber strip. Eventually you'll drag cargo over it.

 

Drilling the holes for the mudflaps is really easy since you just put them in place and drill through existing holes in the mudflap. In reality it would be useful to know how to remove the rear tires in case of an emergency down the road and all you have is an AT&T phone in a dead spot. So get someone to help and learn how.

 

SERIOUS MODIFICATIONS:

Go to "Juiced Hybrid" and look at their many upgrades for the Prius v. I have every underbody brace, strut tower brace, lowering springs, front sway bar, cold air intake, shark fin antenna, etc, from them. Excellent service and top quality goods, mostly from Japan.

Now I have a v that is a cut above the Five model in most ways, especially in handling.

 

I installed OEM 'flaps on my '14 v three. Got them from an eBay vendor. It's actually fairly easy.

The front 'flaps are trouble-free, by simply turning the steering wheel to access the particular side you're working on...it's an easy installation.

The rear wheels have to come off to properly drill (only ONE drill point, if I recall correctly).

I used a standard floor jack (if you have access to one), which saves alot of time. The lift point is in the owner's manual...so simply lift one rear wheel and remove it it.

The drilling and placement of the rear mudflap takes only a couple of minutes. Screw the 'flap on...re-install the wheel...and you're done. It's as easy as changing a flat tire. Then, do the other side.

Afterward, enjoy a cold IPA and admire your work.....

The instructions provided with the OEM 'flaps are easy to understand.

 

E: Did the drilling go into metal? Did you do any rustproofing? Use screws that are compatible (some metal when touching other metals under salt conditions cause corrosion)?

 

Included with the OEM mudflaps are fairly detailed installation instructions.

The only hole drilled is actually into the wheel-well plastic surround...and it's simply drilling through a pre-punched hole that's on the mudflap and pushing a plastic fastener into the hole. The remaining fasteners are clips that press onto the area where the wheel well plastic meets the metal...so no metal drilling.

(***This is just for installing the standard OEM short mudflaps, NOT the longer, Euro-style ones. I'm not familiar with the Euro-style instructions.)

 

Agreed, you can do mud flaps yourself. I liked the Huskyliners Weatherbeaters. Look for 20% off at AutoAnything for a possible competitive price. I'm afraid though that they made an undesirable modification to allow use of the floor mat retaining clips....

There was one seller on eBay with very competitive prices on Toyota accessories, that you could ask for the installation instructions from. If not they are on Techstream.

MT2L03 ?