2006 prius ownership and upgrade, drivabeater style

Meet kenmore. My new appliance. 

I drive for work

 A lot. 

Generally 100 miles a day, minimum. Ive been using a 2012 mazda6, but decided due to automotive add and rising fuel and maintenance costs that i would drink the hybrid koolaid. 

Ive never owned, nor looked at one prior to a couple weeks ago. Thsnks to John Welsh, i quickly zeroed in on the second gen prius as the sweet spot for me. I looked at 6 available locally for increasingly greater prices, and found that i kinda like the little cars. Sports cars and rocket ships they aren't, though. 

I also found none worth asking price. But, my mind was made up that a Prius was the next step. 

So the decision was made to look near southern grm locations for cars i could get local eyes on. 

Kenmore popped up in deland Florida on a car lot. Pulling the data, Florida car, three owner, 102k, Toyota dealer serviced until 89k. All the records but 15k worth. Car lot sent me underside pictures, videos, etc. 

Then i had floating doc go check it out for me Saturday, and he gave it a glowing report. So i bought it. 

I fly down Friday night, and floating doc will pick me up at the Sanford airport, drop me at the deland hotel, and probably bs with me until way too late. Saturday morning, ill walk the two miles from the hotel to the lot, or catch an uber. Finish up the paperwork, and head north. Brunch with stampie, dinner with wvumtnbker, and home before church is the plan. 

Afterwards, the plans for the car? 

Detailing. 

Seat mods for comfort. 

Window tint. 

Big stereo. 

Possible bronze wheels set flush and slightly lowered to reduce wheel gap with bigger sway bars. 

Pound 100k on it.

Possibly tint the taillights red, and black out the body color strip on the hatch between the windows. 

Aero tweaks for the 60mph plus sections of my job, but thats a DEEP rabbit hole. 

Ive already ordered infinity reference components for the front doors, a factory service manual, and filters. And igs not even titled in my name yet!

That brings yall up to speed. 

Hopefully this wasn't a monumental mistake, but only time will tell. 

Appliance white too. Works. Curious to hear longer-term reports on it. 

How quickly does the soul-sucking commence? Will you be the same afterwards?

In reply to Greg Smith (Forum Supporter) :

White was kinda a thing for me. Ive owned two white cars with dark tint, and loved the combo. I eas initially looking for a color, but in the land of silvers and greys, white is a color. 

As far as soul sucking? I put 60k on a 99 camry. Pretty sure im drained from having a soul now. However, i find big stereo helps the appliance nature for me. Dont know ehy, but being able to have the kick drums jiggle my liver makes a car better. 

Nice! I'm really considering replacing my daily TDI with one of these. Looking forward to seeing how it treats you

I'm torn on what BBQ to take you to.  I promised the best in Jax and that's a nice country shack on the west side.  I love their BBQ tenderloins.  But then right outside Jax there's the place that last time I went I told them I forget how damn good they are until I go in there again.  Just not as simple of a place.  I'll decide by Saturday.

In reply to Stampie :

I have unshakable faith in your restaurant choices. That last place after the aluminum guy was so awesome ive been debating going to biy more aluminum just as an excuse. 

In reply to Dusterbd13-michael :

You mention wanting colors and white.  I always wanted a white Prius because it lends so well to...

Inspiration: 

Please detail your audio upgrade.  I might follow suit.  

There is supposed to be a pretty simple addition of a Corolla rear sway bar, though I've never done. 

Filters: a couple years back I order a half case of Genuine Toyota oil filters (5) for $25 via Amazon.  I figured $5 was a good price for the real deal.  A whole case arrived (10) or $2.50 each for the real deal. I only have one left.  Will it happen again?  

Uhhhh, if you don't remove all the Toyota badges and replace them with Kenmore, you're missing a golden opportunity. 

Gold or bronze RFP1's would probably look awesome but I'm sure there's cheaper options.  Rota Grid Offroads might work as well.  Size/fit would be a question with anything you might consider.

Curious what you end up doing for seats.  The couple of different Prius models I have been in all had kind of lame seats that probably look brand new after 200k miles but just felt off to sit in.

I like the white.  Seems like they're almost always seen in silver or that metallic green that should be cool but isn't.  Real red tail lights sounds like a nice tweak.  Cool project.

Robbie (Forum Supporter) said:

Uhhhh, if you don't remove all the Toyota badges and replace them with Kenmore, you're missing a golden opportunity. 

Ive started looking for Kenmore badges already. Suprisingly difficult to find! 

But id you know a guy.....

In reply to John Welsh :

Will do on the audio upgrade. Basic plan is a modern head unit that will run my personal phone and work phone through bluetooth simultaneously, good speakers, and a sub in the hatch. But, ill go over it all when i do it.

In reply to pres589 (djronnebaum) :

Seats: step one will be a foamectomy of the stock seats. See if some reshaping and other tweaks gets me where i want to be. If not, ill go for a whole seat swap. Generally, mazda seats fit me and my fubar back pretty well out of the box. 

As far as wheels, I'm not sure yet. The stock 15s painted bronze,  Prius touring 16s are neat, i have a set of k1s from my neon that will fit, etc. Its got brand new ironman tires on it, and unless they are incredibly horrible i have a while to decide what im doing. 

I dunno about you guys, but I really like the Prius v wheels that are like this.

https://www.ebay.com/itm/2012-2018-TOYOTA-PRIUS-V-Wheel-16x6-1-2-Alloy-10-Spoke-OEM-2014-/203459406942?mkcid=16&mkevt=1&_trksid=p2349624.m46890.l49286&mkrid=711-127632-2357-0

I see them on cabs all the time and I always think what a good looking wheel that is on the application.

I am very keen on the idea that these Priussssss (priu-i? PRII?) whatever the plural of Prius are making the rounds in the "enthusiast" market. 

I'm following along. I could imagine a lowered Prius in my future, and I'm sure what you have planned will give me some nice visual inspiration. Also that thing looks MINT underneath wowow. 

Seat:  It would seem that Gen3 seats might fit into a Gen2, but I don't know.  I did some searching for it but what mostly comes up is PriusChat.com and since Prius are owned by many "common folk" the prevailing answer is some to the affect of, "that sounds hard, buy a different car."   But, this is GRM and you're Michael...

If Gen3's would fit, the high lux Gen3 is the Lexus CT200h.  Turns out the CT200h has electric leather with heat and rear lumbar.  Being in the Toyota/Lexus family it's then more likely that the airbag stuff could be compatible.  So, I played with car-part a little.  These seats can be $250 each in North Carolina.  But, in DELAND, FL I found them here, http://www.mkauto.com/, for just $94.35 each.  

There is some slight imperfection, rippling to the drivers side:

The JY is only open Mon-Fri but if you wanted them, I bet they would deliver to either a Car Lot or a Vet Office.  

$111 each for those 17" wheels but they only have 3.  I'd also caution going to 17's.  Sounds like a lot of ride quality sacrifice not needed for a guy with a bad back.  It also blows the whole low operating cost thing given that 17's will be much more expensive, likely wear out quicker and generally hurt mpg.   

The Gen2 stock 15"ers are 14lbs each.  

As far as Prius wheels go, yours has the best looking OEM ones IMO. 

In reply to Robbie (Forum Supporter) :

I agree. Unfortunately, they are a different bolt pattern from other Priuses 

Gunchsta: im surprised by how much enthusiast chatter ive found on the second gen! Not common, but not uncommon either. And the underside pictures are what sold me on this car. 

John: as far as seats go, im going to try dancing with the devil i know first. I should have a good idea by south Carolina of what exactly needs tweaking in the factory seat for me. Failure there will drive further decisions. also, no plans for 17s. 16 inch wheels max, most likely the original with a coat of color. 

Mashchinbu: these wheels don't suck, at least in the time ive spent with the cars. Seems 1 inch spacer makes them look better by filling out the wheelwell better too. Same with a 205/60/15 Westlake tire

Just made the window tint appointment for Tuesday.  

I finf the tint drastically reduces my headaches. Its mandatory for me. 

20% all the way around except windshield. Doin 65% there to have less impact on night vision than my previous Choices of %45

Dusterbd13-michael said:

In reply to pres589 (djronnebaum) :

As far as wheels, I'm not sure yet. The stock 15s painted bronze,  Prius touring 16s are neat, i have a set of k1s from my neon that will fit, etc. Its got brand new ironman tires on it, and unless they are incredibly horrible i have a while to decide what im doing. 

I was kind of hoping some 80s/90s billet wheel option would turn up   I think ARE had 4x100 options back then, but I don't know if they sold anything with FWD backspacing in 5x100 back then.

As far as wheels, I'm not sure yet. The stock 15s painted bronze,  Prius touring 16s are neat, i have a set of k1s from my neon that will fit, etc. Its got brand new ironman tires on it, and unless they are incredibly horrible i have a while to decide what im doing. 

Do they use special  "low resistance" tires for better MPG ?

eastsideTim said:

Dusterbd13-michael said:

In reply to pres589 (djronnebaum) :

As far as wheels, I'm not sure yet. The stock 15s painted bronze,  Prius touring 16s are neat, i have a set of k1s from my neon that will fit, etc. Its got brand new ironman tires on it, and unless they are incredibly horrible i have a while to decide what im doing. 

I was kind of hoping some 80s/90s billet wheel option would turn up   I think ARE had 4x100 options back then, but I don't know if they sold anything with FWD backspacing in 5x100 back then.

I may be a step ahead of you  ...

californiamilleghia said:

As far as wheels, I'm not sure yet. The stock 15s painted bronze,  Prius touring 16s are neat, i have a set of k1s from my neon that will fit, etc. Its got brand new ironman tires on it, and unless they are incredibly horrible i have a while to decide what im doing. 

Do they use special  "low resistance" tires for better MPG ?

Originally they did. Goodyear assurance eco or something like that.  This one has IRONMAN tires. They are new, round, black, and hold air. All i know about them  .. 

Glad you found one!

The billet wheels would look "good" with these graphics...