What Mod to make my Prius increase the mpg?

Yes, I agree, it is easier to calculate if you are a high mileage driver (or drive them until they die) and you have a specific comparison vehicle in mind. However, that is quite the exception. The average annual mileage is 13K:

Average Annual Miles per Driver by Age Group

and the payoff starts to get really murky where major repairs are going to start to contribute. Also most people don't hold their cars for 10+ years so residual values also contribute to the calculation. Finally, no-one can seem to agree on which car, in general, to compare to the Prius in order to calculate the hybrid penalty.

I'm with you though. Our family keeps our cars for a very long time so I imagine I'll win in the end. I put 300K on my Subaru before I bought the Prius. I still have the Subaru... However, that's not the reason I bought the car. I'm mostly just having fun.

 

do not know about 80mpg, but as for mild gains, here's a stab at an actual answer:
-Lighter than stock wheels (as in lower rotational mass than stock) with lighter LRR tires.
-increased tire psi
-as mentioned, driving technique
-grill blocks for cold days
-a engine block heater
-enginer battery kit

 

What is the pay off period set against?

Also, I guess it depends where in the world you are and the price you pay for fuel. In five years at 35k miles a year I will have paid off my Prius with savings. Virtually paid for it in savings alone!

£18,500 cost (oct 09)
-£1,075 five years road tax saved which a 'normal' car pays £215.00 a year.
-£3,000 a year fuel saving over five years
--------
£16,075 savings over five years (175,000 miles) Assume cost of fuel doesn't increase.

To me it's a no brainer. A new car for £2,000. Why more long distance drivers over here in Europe (in the countries where petrol is cheaper than diesel) don't have a Prius beats me.

 

13,000 may be the average for all cars but I suspect Prius owners are self selected to have a higher average.

That is, I suspect that the group that can justify buying a Prius because they already drive so much, did buy a Prius. (with Taxi owners leading that charge) Those who never drove anywhere ideally bought Hummers as lawn ornaments. (A Smart ForTwo would be a great car to own on the odd chance you might someday need a car)

If, as I suspect, a large number of high mileage drivers own a Prius, our average may be closer to double that, 26,000 of the national average.

(It would help Bob Wilson's case that the Prius is exceptionally safe, if they are driven more per year, but I am not sure how to get hard facts, a poll on PC would not represent Prius owners in general)

I just passed 40,000, so my average is still 10,000 every 4 months.

 

Be careful that you don't make the assumption that all Prius owners are similar to you - I have about 2,000 miles in a bit over 4 months so far... Not all of us made a decision based entirely on economics - though you may be right that some did. It seems to be a common mistake - Democrats (including myself, mind you) like to assume that Republicans couldn't possibly own a Prius...

Everybody's favorite report to hate claimed that average early-model Prius owners drove them about 6-7000 miles per year (used to justify why the average Prius would only last 100,000 miles, versus a Hummer lasting 300,000, and thus why the Prius cost more to drive). Luckily, this appears to be an input to their report, not an output, so it might be slightly more reliable. But that's not saying much, I suppose.

 

How about dimple your Prius for additional 11% gain in mileage

 

Mental inertia and poor information. A large share of the population only pays attention to sources of information that agree with their preconceived notions.

 

Check, but only when rolling end over end which will actually kill your mileage

 

delete

 

only drive downhill

 

Hey - the Bell X-1 was not that pretty either!

Basjoos can beat a Prius mileage easily (even one driven by Wayne Gerdes) in the 40 to 60 mph two-lane rural highway driving he does. Think about 96 mpIMPERIALGallon for a second. It cost him less than $1000 to do. Its saved the life of a dear, let alone countless butterflies. And when he was rear-ended, there was no damage to the structure of the car - he just rebuilt the aero-tail. He has also regeared the car to run the engine at lower RPM. And the car now has a 140 mph top speed.

The uplifted rear tail, along with the underbody mods is a unique superior solution that professional labs have yet to take advantage of. The result is the rejoining of top, bottom and side air with minimum turbulence!

This car is the Cd .17 class, even with the ugly build quality! Only something like the X-Prize winner (Edison II) and the Apterra are better Aero-wise (of present on-the-road cars).

 

Some Prius owners remind me of those people who get addicted to plastic surgery. They get a nice C cup that will get them everywhere they want to go in life, but they are always trying to figure out how to pump some more saline into the thing.

Off of the lot, This car has the highest mileage of any production vehicle in america while making very few concessions to what people expect in a car of this price range. What is another 1 or 2 mpg either way? Turn your headlights on, put some agressive tires on it, and run the AC whenever you like, its still going to beat every car on the road for efficency. JUST SMILE AND DRIVE IT!

 

as i glanced through

mud flaps do not help... they cost about 1 or 2 mpg. i noticed a drop when i installed mine back in 04. people were warned against them because of this. however, the car does look reallllllly nice with them on.

what you need is air dams in front of the wheels. lexus uses this technique on their rx hybrids. the prius has a small version of it too.

it's basically a fin of sorts that breaks the air before your tire tries to slam it into the pavement, allowing the air to smoothly pass around the sides of the tires.

then there are disk you can put on your tires. this makes me wish the brakes were mounted in the same fashion as the original hummers where it's on the chassis and not in the wheel. if it was like that, you could put disk on both sides with just enough gaps on the inside to allow suspension movement. i wonder if it would whistle... haha... or if the air would simply catch on the inside.... shrug...

 

The shark fin I installed has actually helped quite a bit. I've been getting 54 mpg on fill ups even after driving hard.

 

Do you mean the antenna?
How much improvement are you talking about (if you are serious)?

 

Now, this is thinking outside the box!

How about small dimpling rather than those ugly holes.

This may catch on in the future. 11% is huge. Easy DIY mod for BB gun owners. Hail should do nicely too.

BTW, did anyone tried driving with folded side mirrors?

 

Yes, the antenna. Well, considering I used to get 52 mpg and now I get 54 in colder weather, it's plausible to say the shark fin might just be a little more aerodynamic. Anyways, I never intended to get better mileage with the shark fin. I bought it strictly for the looks.

You also get a super large ice tray during the winter in some places. Great for bringing ice to your friend's parties.

Wait, what? Isn't that dangerous?

 

At a $3,000 price premium for the hybrid, and saving $1,000/yr in gas vs my
CR-V (or the average midsize vehicle), everything after 3 years is gravy, no? Where are you guys getting your estimates re: payback period?

 

run it through a hail storm...free dimpling

 

You can add airtabs around the whole car.
What are they?: Airtab