Lancaster6's 2004 Prius (Yeah, you read that right)

[Lancaster6]

That's right. I bought what is arguably the most hated car on the internet.

I like to call it White Lighting, but it goes by other names such as "the daily," "the beater," or just "the piece of shit."

It's hilariously slow. It's hilarious to look at. It makes a hilarious noise as the 76 horsepower inline 4 roars to life in an desperate attempt to move itself up to highway speeds. It's the most boring and forgettable car that I have ever driven. But I actually kind of like it. It devours the endless potholes I encounter, pulls 44 mpg, and keeps 100 miles of commuting torture off of my BH everyday I take it to work.

The Prius started its life as a fleet vehicle for the State of New Jersey. At some point, most likely in the 150k-200k mile range, it was sold at auction to a guy who used it for commuting to NYC. Then, at 250,532 miles, it was thrown up on Craigslist and sold to me for $2,000.

Absolutely nothing will be done to this car ever, except for maintenance and popping that dent out. White Lightning probably doesn't even deserve this thread but I figured I'd post it up to show you what my Outback/wannabe Lancaster6 has to share the driveway with.





Mod List:
-Aerodynamic dent
-Cracked air dam for optimum fuel efficiency
-80 gallons of soda spilled in back seat
-Landfill's worth of trash scattered throughout car
-'"Cool Prius!" -Nobody' decal

[Dead91silvia]

Brahahahahahahha!!!!!!!!!!!!! You are so getting endless crap from us on this thing!

[Lancaster6]

Hahahahahahaha I wouldn't expect anything less!

[Muse]

... You know it's the same 5x100 bolt pattern... Just saying...

[Lancaster6]

Lmao, I found that out the other day and was wondering how my WRX wheels would look on it. They'd certainly be bigger than the puny 15s that are on it now...maybe they'd give it a slightly donked look?

[Muse]

I saw one just yesterday that had 17" wheels on it. Actually looked... Well, not good per se, but... less offensive? not bad? something along those lines.
... But they're not bad, really...
Is your name Tommy, by any chance? Because that's evidently a name synonymous with "acceptable (maybe) Prius."
As in the Tommy Kaira Prius

Or Tommy Chong's (as in Cheech and Chong,) slammed Prius:


Or, there's... er... this...

*shudders*

But, evidently, someone's been working on a twin-turbo LSX-powered Prius, but it's not been updated in a while.
And at 24 Hours of LeMons, they had a Harley V-Twin powered Prius. No word on how well that did in the race,

[Go Mifune]

Or you could do something like this-
http://www.plasmaboyracing.com/whitezombie.php

If my wagon could do 12's. I could live with the sound, or lack of. I've seen a Prius with RPF1s. Looks good and shouldn't increase weight.

[foohfooh]

nice commuter car. I wouldnt mind hitting every red light on the way to work if i drove one of these!

and there are some rediculously cool looking prius's in japan.

[rkrenicki]

I would rock a $2k prius.. My only question would be, how are the batteries holding up with that many miles on it?

[Lancaster6]

It's surprisingly quick(ish) in the 0-25 mph range. Gotta love the instant torque from the electric side of things.

Speaking of the lack of sound, something that I have never experienced before is sneaking up on pedestrians while in a car. The Prius is in full EV mode in parking lots, so its silent. People just walk out in front of it without even knowing I was there.

nice commuter car. I wouldnt mind hitting every red light on the way to work if i drove one of these!

and there are some rediculously cool looking prius's in japan.

I saw some pretty nicely modified Prii on PriusChat while doing some research on these cars. Just goes to show you can make any car look better with some more low!

Since buying this car I've been trying to take less interstates and more backroads to and from work. The other day I was pulling stupid high MPGs cruising through some backroads at about 40mph. I think it was something like 65-70mpg.

I would rock a $2k prius.. My only question would be, how are the batteries holding up with that many miles on it?

So far, knock on wood, so good! My daily commute is about 80 miles highway, 20 miles higher-speed city driving, with a fairly consistent 10 red lights. Combined I see about 44mpg. If I lightened up on the throttle a little on the highway it would probably be higher, but there's only so much tolerance Jersey drivers have for people doing the speed limit.

I learned that a major sign for the hybrid battery failing is the on board display showing the battery rapidly charging and draining while driving about. I've put about 1,000 miles on it so far and it charges nice and slow, drains slowly and steadily when driving around town, and fuel economy has been consistently good. I'm shooting for hitting 300,000 miles!

[Dead91silvia]

I bet that it had the battery's replaced at one time. I really think with few mods, it could be a decent looking car, but you also need to remember any mod will possibly mess with MGP's. Biger wheels would change it. Hell, it changed it on my Tyoota truck when I went 1in bigger on width. :P

[nepbug]

Ugh, pop the dent, buff the headlights and get a sticker that says "My Other Car is Less Embarrassing"

[Wiscon_Mark]

My dad's Prius is over 200,000 miles with original batteries. A friend of his has gone through 2 of them and put 300k on each without having the replace them, so you're probably good to go.

My only complaint about that gen is the awful awful bucket seats. Hopefully you can replace them with some Avalon seats or something. Oh, and the throttle numbness is annoying when you're cruising without cruise control - hard to keep a constant speed. Otherwise it's a solid car and my dad is very happy with his.

[Lancaster6]

There's very little in the way of maintenance history, but that's mainly due to NJ using in-house maintenance to service their fleet vehicles. I doubt they would tackle a HV battery replacement on their own, so I'm 99% sure it's still trucking on its original battery.

My biggest gripe about this car is how it handles whenever there's even a slight gust of wind. A sherpa could rip ass somewhere high up in the Himalayas and my Prius will be blown almost off of the road. I looked into it and apparently all Prii of this generation suffer from this crap handling. Many suggest over-inflating the tires, which helped, but only a little bit. And the throttle is so weird- I'm still getting used to it. In my BH I just put my foot down, keep it steady, and I can move down the highway at 70 mph for hundred of miles without changing speed. I've found myself constantly adjusting speed in the Prius, and occasionally getting a little motion sickness lol.

Other than swapping the radio out for another working Prius headunit and fixing its overall appearance, I haven't done anything to it and don't plan on it. But then I saw this and thought hell, maybe I'll dump some money into it....hah.

[Lancaster6]

Lmao I totally forgot how much of a piece of shit this car looked like when I first got it. Over 13,000 miles later and it's still going strong, though! It even sacrificed itself to be a testing ground for some HVLP painting skillz. The back bumper got a respray and I was pleasantly surprised with how it turned out.

Dare I say that it actually looks half-way decent...just in time for it to be put up for sale. Some big life oriented changes are coming, and the BH is eagerly awaiting to be a part of them.

Some hopefully final pics of White Lightning

[Lancaster6]

Eyyy the Prius is sold! It's on its way to its new home as a first car for a girl in the next town over. It was nice to see it ride off, silently, into the sunset.

[thenines']

Thank gawd! No on this forum should be drive a rolling dumpster-that's what we call them at work-

[Lancaster6]

Lmfao, this thing was a rolling dumpster when I got it. I seriously don't know how the PO could live with how filthy it was. A long afternoon with a rented industrial carpet shampooer cleaned that shitbox right up!