2008 Prius audio upgrade

Well, I've officially owned the car a week now, and I like it more and more! It's a 2008 with 129k miles that cost me $4200 after taxes and tag. It's in great shape inside and out, so I look forward to keeping it a long time. My first run through the tank, it wasn't completely empty, but I did the math and got 47mpg avg! The computer only showed 43 avg. I guess that also means the battery is fine.

As part of the "new car purchase fees" ( hehe) I am also upgrading the sound system. This will be interesting as it seems I have a Frankenstein. The car has a rebuilt title, and apparently the Toyota dealer that did the work put in a standard entertainment package but it came with higher I think? The car has steering wheel controls for Bluetooth and navigation, but the car has neither. It doesn't have the JBL package, no amp under the passenger seat or even a harness that I can find, but the rear doors have the tweeter grills at the top(but I don't hear any sound from them). lol

So, hoping I don't hit a brick road, this is what I have put together and is on the way.

Sony MEX-XB120BT - $152 open box + with all the harnesses and steering wheel control add on for another $50.
2x JBL GX600C components - New from Amazon for $59 a set. (might as well use those tweeter holes!)
Rockville SS8P under seat subwoofer - new for 90$ with wiring kit from Amazon (very interested to hear this)
So everything including some extra wiring and a distribution block to split the wires to run to the radio and sub comes to around $450.

I have a couple questions. That sony is a high powered HU and puts out 45 watts rms a channel at 4ohm. Those speakers are 2.3ohm. A previous generation sony like it (only 40 watts at 4ohm) was tested by sonix electronics to do 72 watts rms at 2 ohm with 14.4v on a dyno. Now I know I'll get fewer volts, but I wasn't sure if the factory wiring would be enough or if I needed to run new wires? My guess was this could possibly pull 60-65 watts at 2.3 ohm? Factory wiring might add to that impedance and knock it back to 4ohm.

I went back and forth over the subwoofer. I didn't want to waste any storage space, and it seems you ahve to spend more to push enough power to a sub to sound good if you tried to hide it in the cargo bay under the rear hatch floor. There are a ton of options for compact subs. Rockville makes several options that all get really good ratings and are cheap (Saving audio house brand apparently). I looked at the sound ordnance 8" powered sub, and the kicker hideaway. I eventually went with the Rockville for the price, and because it seems to hit way above it's class(and looks nice!). I think the kicker is the best performing based on my reading, but even used was a lot more money. I plan to put it under the driver seat. I guess we'll see!

If you all are interested I can report back with how that sub sounds, as well as the rest. I've not had the opportunity to do a build like this in a decade. I tried with my last car, but it was an Avalon and was a pain to deal with that radio (ac went through it, so you had to keep it wired up in the turnk!) so I just kept it all stock(non jbl).

 

I didn't know any other way than the battery.

 

Maybe I should hook it up the HV battery? if 14.4 volts gives 45 watts....205 volts would be like 600 watts a channel!!

 

The kit crutchfield includes should keep all that. I hope it does. The backup camera too.

 

Its been rebuit since 55k miles according to the toyota service reccord. A dealer rebuilt under a geico insurance claim. I figured it was good if its still going strong. I also had an inspection done by toyota. The only thing it needed was a belt.

 

I really wanted a CarPlay/android receiver. However, it was going to cost way more money than I wanted, and i wanted the whole package. if i wait ill likely never justify rhe money. It's still in the "cost of purchase" phase. lol.

I decided that audio quality is the priority since most of where I'm going I already know where to go. Lol I also already had a back up camera which was a priority. I'll just get a windshield mount or something similar for the cell phone to be in. I even considered picking up a really cheap tablet, 7 or 8 inches, and just using my phone hotspot since it's a unlimited.

 

I felt the same, but considering the condition and the fact that it has been going fine since it was rebuilt at 55k miles in 2011 (now at 129k) I felt pretty confident in it. Also, I only paid $3800.

I am not interested in pushing the car like that. A friend who owns a prius told me the dots for gas don't really measure up because this has a "bladder" style tank. It isn't consistant. My plan was to just fill it up when it has one or two dots left regardless, just like a normal car. Doing the math is the only accurate way. The computer said I avg'd ~43, but the miles divided by the gallons I put back in (after a fill up of course) was at 47. That's a big difference, but both are good.

I actually did that for every Prius I was considering. That's how I found out the details of this rebuild. It was done by Toyota. To that point, that's also how I found out a claimed "new hv battery by Toyota was recently installed" was not true. There was no record, and the Toyota dealer they claimed it was done at had no record.

 

The "receipt in hand" said it was the same dealership the owners had it serviced at. It was an elderly couple, so I doubt he did the repair himself. Either way, it just seemed to risky. the car was in near perfect shape, but it had 203k miles and they wanted $4700. It was being sold by a towing company on their behalf. I just let it pass.

 

This is my battery top. Is this a factory one or placement?