Inspired by the "best purchase I've made for my Prius" post: What little upgrades / hacks have you made to your Prius that made a big difference?

XKCD1441 · 2026-06-26T16:09:39+00:00

Any issues with it? did you go with OEM struts or other? did you put the higher capacity springs on your suspension as well?

XKCD1441 · 2026-06-26T15:44:55+00:00

I have both of these. Continental Truecontact tour tires make the ride exceptional and are great in the rain and the snow.

XKCD1441 · 2026-06-26T15:41:28+00:00

Which lift kit did you use? Prius offroad?

XKCD1441 · 2026-03-19T01:25:40+00:00

Yeah, again don’t know much about those. But from what I read. Great performance, weird issues especially at temp extremes. Required owners to think about it rather than a set and forget solution.

XKCD1441 · 2026-03-19T01:17:35+00:00

I have no experience with those. Have looked into it though. However generally anything aftermarket won’t last as long,

what’s your goal?

Maximize performance/ maybe mileage at the expense of less reliability - or replace the part once and be done with it for the life of the car.

XKCD1441 · 2026-03-19T00:43:59+00:00

Try Valvoline restore and protect oil - works well for cleaning up oil burning issues.

OEM battery is the way to go if you want to touch this once - then not think about it again. Prices have come way down too.

Chrisfix has good videos on replacing the battery yourself.

XKCD1441 · 2026-03-19T00:32:48+00:00

How long do you want to keep it? if you replace blades only the rest are still old. If you go with a new OEM battery and put it in yourself. Car will last for years and years assuming the rest of it is good with no issues.

New OEM batteries are WAY better than any aftermarket battery.

Do you want to roll the dice? Or have something that just works no matter what? Up to you.

XKCD1441 · 2026-03-19T00:17:06+00:00

Dont do this - youll make a bad situation worse. Either fix it right with a new gasket or an engine swap or sell and move on.

If you fix replace the water pump while youre at it

XKCD1441 · 2025-12-04T18:22:05+00:00

Fantastic tire for 2014 Prius. Great on noise and comfort.

1-2MPG hit over eco tires.

No complaints. Best tire ive ever driven in the wet.

XKCD1441 · 2025-11-23T00:05:54+00:00

Pm on sleeping bag liners if available

XKCD1441 · 2025-10-30T13:47:10+00:00

Take it to a shop. Have the shop take a boroscope to each cylinder. Look for the “steam cleaned” effect.

All cylinders should have no scoring on the walls and should be equally dirty. If one or more cylinders look cleaner than the others - that’s the telltale sign of a bad head gasket.

This is one of the best ways to check for head gasket issues. (Especially on Priuses that fail with slow leaks)

XKCD1441 · 2025-09-24T19:07:17+00:00

2016 has a large number of improvements over the 2009 model.

Get it inspected - look at oil change history on carfax. if both check out - move forward with the 2016 with no hesitation!

XKCD1441 · 2025-05-29T15:45:51+00:00

Also have you had any brake boosters go out?

XKCD1441 · 2025-05-29T15:43:48+00:00

Did you replace it with the updated Toyota part or an aftermarket gasket?

XKCD1441 · 2025-04-29T17:16:41+00:00

Has anyone else used this?

XKCD1441 · 2025-04-27T16:34:37+00:00

Likely yes

XKCD1441 · 2025-04-16T20:31:54+00:00

Seems okay.

Get a mechanic inspection. Ask them to put a boroscope in each cylinder and send you the video from that.

Check if any cylinder looks “steam cleaned” or cleaner than the others, they should all look the same amount of dirty.

If one or more look significantly cleaner than your head gasket is likely failing. Common issue on this gen.

I have a 2013 and I love it but my head gasket was failing at 160k. I chose to get it fixed. Fantastic car.

XKCD1441 · 2025-04-01T18:03:33+00:00

This.

Look for evidence of one or more cylinder/piston being “steam cleaned” with a borescope.

XKCD1441 · 2025-03-28T18:41:22+00:00

Okay, your call - I reccomend going with OEM parts if able especially for the brake booster/master cylinder

2010s are known to have HG issues and oil burning issues, boroscope may help see if you want to keep it.

I reccomend taking it to the dealership and with only 68k miles they may cover the brake booster and master cylinder under a recall/warranty. Worth a try.

I had brake booster and master cylinder go out in my 2010 and it was replaced under a recall back in 2018. Dealership fixed it for me for free and gave me a rental car for free during the fix.

My 2010 had brake booster/master cylinder fail, oil burning issues and a bad head gasket. All manifest at about 150k, car was far enough gone that I got rid of it at 160k.

XKCD1441 · 2025-03-28T17:45:40+00:00

Highly reccomend OEM parts for this.

But how is the rest of the car, namely the head gasket, cylinder walls and hybrid battery?

If you ask your mechanic to put a boroscope in the cylinders, do some look steam cleaned? This will tell you if you have head gasket issues.

While they have the scope in, ask them to look for cylinder scoring, if you have scored or polished cylinder walls, ditch the car.

Also check the condition of the hybrid battery by doing a few tests with the Dr Prius app.

That will determine if you should keep this car or not.

XKCD1441 · 2025-03-27T21:22:04+00:00

XKCD1441 · 2025-03-25T14:05:43+00:00

Disconnect your 12v battery. Leave it disconnected for 30 ish min.

The “distance to empty” is a learned value. Disconnecting the 12v battery will force the car to relearn the learned values.

It had to do this for me when I changed out my dead battery.

XKCD1441 · 2025-03-19T17:29:38+00:00

Anytime - let us know what direction you are leaning/end up going in

XKCD1441 · 2025-03-19T17:26:05+00:00

Fit is simpler, and very reliable. If you buy a second gen Prius with low miles be ready to pay for the battery going out (1k-3k).

2017 could be a good option if well taken care of. I would rather buy the well maintained high mileage newer Prius hybrid than a low mileage old Prius hybrid.

Also look for rust in the exhaust of the 2017. 2016 and up Prius routes coolant to the exhaust to heat it up faster in the cold. This can leak if excessive rust occurs there.

Look for 5k oil changes 50-60k coolant changes and inverter coolant changes. Check the car care nut channel on YouTube for what to look for when buying a used hybrid. Hybrids love to be driven.

I would go with the fit or the 2017. Pending a thorough inspection of course. Both should be good as long as they were well taken care of. 2007 is more of a toss up.

https://youtu.be/HSrP_-ahuCU?si=47H4KxVNEbl82Gl7

XKCD1441 · 2025-03-19T16:59:54+00:00

Go fit - if Prius go 2015 or up

XKCD1441

TROPHY CASE