What Mod to make my Prius increase the mpg?

you have to remove the seats and any other extraneous parts to reduce the weight. and the upside is, you can sell all the parts for additional cash in your pocket.

 

GO on Ebay - they sell lots of chips that get close to 80 - and most cost $10 or less :rockon:

Mud flaps can also help - but not to the tune of 30 MPG - just do a quick Priuschat search....

 

I think all you need is a computer. Post whatever you want.

 

Search the forums for the enginer plug-in conversion. Some folks have had good luck on a genIII, getting like 80 mpg over certain distances:

http://www.enginer.us/

 

There is a free mod you can do to get 80+ MPG. It is between the steering wheel and the accelerator pedal.

You can mod your driving behavior to achieve it.

 

By far the biggest improvement you can make is the driver.

Edit: Drat, USB beat me to it by a minute

 

You can try tinting your windows with ceramics so you wont have to turn up the AC. That'll improve your mileage by as much as 10mpg.

 

Do the chips work? I understood that they just trick the car into running rich.

Can mudflaps increase mileage? You sure? If so which ones - the US or European ones?

 

Front air dam
Rear boat tail
Front and rear wheel skirts...

OR NOT!... and be satisfied with the Priuses rated MPG

 

The really sad part is that somebody, somewhere has actually spent time doing that!

 

Only the motorized ones that flap like wings to propel the car.

 

I can see where this thread is heading!

 

By far the easiest mod is not one you do to the car... but in WHERE you drive it. Down hill and with the wind will get you 80 mpg or better.

 

Now for some more practical advice with high ROI:

1. Adjust driver's attitude (free)
2. Inflate tires to at least max sidewall pressure (free unless you need to buy a pump)
3. Block the grill in cold weather (pipe insulation is cheap)
4. Buy a ScanGauge so you can see what's happening.

5. Don't knock that stripped car with the body kit. I've heard it posts phenominal numbers in the rallys. I don't know how much is due to the driver. Have any of our Pro-Am hypermilers experienced this car in action?

 

See Aerocivic - Honda Civic modifications for maximum gas mileage - aerocivic.com

It's not just for fun. He gets fantastic mpg due to much lower drag at higher speeds.

 

go spend $10,000 on the plugin conversion

 

Can you increase the mileage of a Prius? Yes, but if it was economically viable, why would not Toyota make it stock?

Last I heard, the PHEV Prius will pay for it's extra mileage in 1/2 million miles.

If I wanted to get 80 MPG in a Prius I would drive 37 MPH.

"You tell me it's the institution
Well you know
You better free your mind instead" - Beatles

 

Oh boy. As you know, trying to justify the Prius on the basis of fuel economics is fraught with difficulty. There are lots of contentious arguments on how long it takes the Prius to pay for the delta cost over some comparable vehicle (itself a source of controversy) by fuel savings alone. The same difficulty holds for the PHEV Prius. Why should the PHEV Prius pay for itself any more than the regular Prius? The technology is cool and it seems environmentally friendly. if you can afford a nice toy, you should buy one. If you want to be economical (and minimize your environmental impact), pack four people in your car on your commute or drive a moped (or better a bicycle). Four people in a civic at 35 mpg will cost you less money to buy and will be the equivalent of 140 mpg in a single person car. I don't do these things, i.e. I drive a very fuel efficient vehicle by myself to/from work but I'm not minimizing my environmental impact. I could be called a hypocrite, but I'm having fun...

BTW I think Toyota is "making it stock" by building the PHEV Prius. The other PHEV conversions, i.e. the enginer system, are for early adopters. Toyota isn't ready to mass market this until they make sure the battery technology will last 10 years so they don't have a recall disaster on their hands. How much battery to add is also really tricky. The larger the battery, the more range in eV, but the car is heavier and the efficiency in hybrid mode will suffer. The battery is also expensive. The Volt has a very heavy battery and GM still won't tell us what the Fuel economy is in serial-hybrid mode. It is probably not good. The volt also costs a lot more than the Prius, even with the tax incentive.

 

I drive just over 30,000 miles a year with my current job, so I pay the hybrid penalty in 5 years (versus a Matrix). So I break even in 150,000 miles. Given that my last Toyota (a 1989 Corrola All-trac wagon) is still being driven in the family after 21 years and 330,000 miles, this does not seem all that difficult.