Prius Accessory Tray, Floor Mats, and Seat Covers

Time for more reviews. This concerns three items I have added to my 2012 Prius that seem to have made a difference to me.

An insert for the accessory tray, heavy duty floor mats, and seat covers.

Early in my ownership of this Prius, I purchased an insert for the lower front center console. I didn't like just having the open space for things to roll about in down there. So I ordered this:

It is pretty simple and provides two cup holders and a storage bin. Now, there is little space over the tray to place a beverage in the cup holder, but the cup pockets are fine for collecting small items or coins that you may want to contain and easily find at a later time. I have a cleaned out "Go Cup" from KFC that fits perfectly in one of the holders and I keep a small pocket knife, gum, OBD-II Bluetooth connector, moist towelettes, etc. in there. The other side can easily hold a cup-holder sized 12 volt "two-fer" and USB charger or a power inverter if you so desire.
The main portion is sized for holding items such as my hairbrush, a can of Ozium, and such. On the side of the tray, I have found the slight space good for accommodating membership and club cards at the ready so that I don't have to keep them all in my wallet.

Another purchase was a set of heavy duty floor mats.

We purchased a second Prius recently, a better runaround for my wife than the minivan when she didn't need to be hauling around all of the grand-kids. It did not have the floor mats when we purchased it so I ordered these and split them between the two cars. I gave her the factory front mats from mine, and the heavy duty mats for the back. Where I put the heavy duty mats in the front of my car and left the original in the back, as I don't usually carry people in the back and she does. The all weather mats are Toyota factory produced and retain the proper mounting holes for the driver's side mat to prevent slippage and have the Prius branding. The all weather mats are holding up very well and showing no signs of wear after 4 months of daily use. I am no longer worried about wearing out the carpet of the original mats or the floor carpet of the car.

Finally seat covers:

I am a person of generous size, an understatement to say the least, and I know I put a lot of wear on the upholstery in my vehicles. So I picked up these seat covers for the Prius as well.
They are easy to fit and it took me only about 5 minutes each with no tools. The main advantage to having a seat cover for me is that it is much easier to replace when it starts showing wear than the seat itself. When the cover wears through, I replace it, instead of adding the cover to a worn out seat. A preemptive strike you could say. Being black, I know that they will be hot when I get into the car, but they cool quickly enough for me in the summer. I no longer have to be concerned with a spill staining the seat or my wearing through the seat back on the left side as I get into the car two or more times a day. The seating surface is the "wetsuit" material whereas the sides and back are a much lighter weight spandex. The back of the cover is open and does not prevent using the pockets on the back of the seats.
The fit is a little sloppy, as they are generic covers, but it really doesn't look that bad once he adjustment straps are in. due to the molding on the bottom of the seats, you have to put one of the bottom straps below the slider rail, and the forward strap will be in front of the slider rail. I expect that they will not last more than a year with my daily use, but that would be acceptable for me.

LED Headlight Upgrades

Well, it finally happened. It is now nearly as cheap to replace your incandescent or halogen headlight lamps with DOT approved LED lights. I am referencing H11 bulbs specifically in this review.

At under $35 for a pair, the Marsauto LED Bulbs are comparable in price to SYLVANIA XtraVision Halogen Bulbs, but with several advantages: (Manufacturer's ratings)

• 40W compared to 55W per bulb, more efficient.
• 6,000 lumens vs. 1350 lumens, brighter.
• 6,000K vs. 3,200K color temperature, whiter light.
• 10,000 hour vs 150 hour service life, lower lifetime cost.

I will admit that the service life may be a little deceiving, as it is the LED life that is being quoted here. LEDs do loose some brilliance over time, but even if you only get 1/10th of the quoted service life, you are still ahead of the halogen bulbs.

These were literally a drop in replacement for the low beam bulbs in my 2012 Prius. After removing my watch and FitBit, even my large hands could fit in the space to make the replacement. No boot modifications were necessary, truly just plug and play. After installing them and plugging them in, you MUST test them. There is a 25% chance you got them both right on the first try. If either one or both fail to light up, just turn the plug around and reconnect them. The connection pigtail makes this very easy to do, no need to take the bulb out. On my first try, neither one came on. That's my luck.

It being summer, I get home just after dusk, so the difference in lighting is not as apparent at first glance. However I did notice the difference in the color of the lights and a much sharper light pattern compared to the old halogen lights.

 Above is the original headlights, note the definite hot spot in the center and the square of extra light above each.

Here are the LED lights, note the more even spread of light across the range. The extra square is not as prevalent here, but it still illuminates the road signage.

As strange as it may sound, one of the reasons I have made the changeover is for better nighttime fuel economy. Granted, at 20% efficiency, the standard efficiency for internal combustion engines, the difference will be 1 gallon in 235 hours (30 watts difference) or 0.4% improvement, but it will make a cumulative difference. 

Hmm, doing the actual math on this it really doesn't make much difference, it comes to just under 1/4 MPG for me, but I will live with my rationalization anyway.

There are many drop in replacements on the market at this point in time. With prices from $15 a pair to well over $150 a pair there are a lot of choices. Read the reviews and make your decision from there. Some have built in fans that may be necessary in an enclosed housing or rubber boot but can cause radio interference. I did not feel it was necessary for my application, where the back of the bulb had plenty of air flow available. The word "CREE" is a key for finding the better LEDs. You will also want to be certain that they are DOT rated, as that ensures that the light pattern will be correct for your car.

I will likely not replace my high beam bulbs until one of them goes out, as I don't use high beams very often. I will be replacing my parking lights with LEDs when I make my next order, as I noticed that one is burned out. I found a highly rated set of 10 of the "T-10" bulbs for a very reasonable price. I like using these in dome lighting, door courtesy lights, and for my license plate light as they seem to last forever and are much brighter than incandescent versions. 

There are two disadvantages of using LED drop in bulbs though. 

• First, they do not dim well, they are either on or off, there is no medium ground. For this reason I have used a red LED for the driver's side map light instead of the traditional white.
• Secondly, on some cars, an LED lamp doesn't draw enough current to trip the "I'm working" sensor in the car, this is primarily on European cars and is due to the "CANBUS" system. So the car will show a warning that the light is out when it is working fine. Similarly, your turn signal blinker relay will flash fast unless you have a retrofit relay to prevent this.

Keeping these points in mind, you can easily retrofit a car's interior lighting with more efficient bulbs that you will likely never have to change again.

Items mentioned in this review:

Advantages of a Long Commute and Construction Work

Yes, I do find a long commute has it's advantages. I live 54 miles from my main place of work. It also has it's disadvantages, so I will address those first.

• It takes time to get to and from work. The drive itself is about an hour, traffic permitting. This is how long it usually takes me to get home after work. To get to work, I allow myself about 1.5 to 2 hours. 
• My employer only gives me a 1 minute window for being "On Time" and there is no real leeway on this. 
• I also have to park and walk from the lot to my office. I allow myself a couple of minutes for this. 
• I do not like sitting in the hot seat "Cold" and want to observe the flow for a couple of minutes. 
• There is always the chance of construction and delays therefrom. For example, this last weekend they completely shut down I-5 in Seattle for badly needed roadwork.
• Every week I need to get fuel for the car. And wash it if the lines at Costco are permitting.
• Stuff happens. I have had to change a tire more than once and have not had it make me late, yet.
• It puts a LOT of miles on my cars. 500 miles a week just for the commute, not including detours and other shopping.
• Fuel wise it isn't that bad, only about 10-11 gallons a week, $35. One important reason why I drive a hybrid. A person living much closer can go through more fuel if they are driving a conventional vehicle.
• It is all freeway, and regardless of what they tell you, I still get better fuel economy on the freeway than in town with my Prius, about 60 MPG freeway and 48 MPG city. The tank average is about 55 MPG of late.
• I have little sleep when I take an overtime shift. It's workable, but not something I want to do on a daily basis.
• I want to eat in my car. I really am working on this.

For the advantages, I see them as:

• I see nobody that has anything to do with my job when I am not working except on very rare occasions. I can actually get away from work.
• I also have a disconnect between work and home life. An hour is plenty of time to chill out from a bad day. I can listen to my music or an audio book on the drive.
• I pay less in fuel for a month than the difference in living space costs. My mortgage is less than half of what I would be paying for anything in Seattle. $150 a month in fuel costs is peanuts compared to an extra grand a month for a smaller space.
• When traffic is in my favor, I can stop at Costco and restock the coffee bar for work. Or actually clean out my car of the inevitable accumulating junk. Or just sit in the car and listen to my music or audio book.
• It keeps me from overworking myself on overtime. Yes, I like the money, but having time with the family is important.

I should point out that my shifts are not your normal "Nine to Five" shifts. I work Thursday through Monday from around noon to 8 p.m. There is little traffic during my commute and I actually like having weekdays off. You can get stuff done. Movies are cheaper on Tuesdays. The stores are less crowded.

So, you can see that, with a little planning and Google maps, a long commute can actually help your overall well being and you can live a more relaxed lifestyle. 

I keep telling myself this.

And, it's only for 14 more years...