LuvLuxury

Hey guys,

I usually frequent the Car Chat, LX470 forums but had some questions about these 450H hybrids.

Modifications?

What type of mod's can you do with that electric engine? Warranty still intact?

What type of performance increase can one suspect?

Would it be possible to get a solid 500 HP with good reliability?

Thanks guys,

LL

LexFather

U mean 450h? Well it just hit lots 3 weeks ago, no there are no mods u can do to keep the warrenty and the only hypothetical thing is to up the battery voltage, some Prius owners r doing it.

Nobody has modded a 450h here yet.

CK6Speed

iTrader: (1)

What about simple thing likes larger rims? In the RX400h forum I believe someone once mentioned their dealer said you can't run larger aftermarket rims on the car because of the electric motors. I'm not sure why, or if the dealer was just giving out the usual BS, but that does bring up the question. What would happen if you wanted to run 19 or 20" rims, or go staggard?

CrazyMPG

iTrader: (4)

i think you can put rims on the car and on the rx400h because it still drives the same as a gas engine car except mpg will probably suffer. I heard that toyota modded a prius by messing with the electric engine to give it crazy amount of torque which almost tore out the drive train...heh...so I am pretty sure you can mod the electrical engine but almost surely warranty will be voided...

spwolf

you cant do any mods to electrical system...

jwa

As pointed out by CrazyMPG, the problem with adding more torque is with the CVT - CVT's have historically not been able to handle high torque engines, and I believe that in the 450H the ICE is kept off line at low speeds to limit torque on the CVT. So, if that's true, then adding more HP to the ICE wouldn't help acceleration at low speeds, and adding more voltage/torque would probably damage the CVT.

There seems to be a precise balance and relationship between the ICE, Electric Motor, and CVT in the 450H, and, IMO, this is not the car you want to do engine mods on.

spwolf

CVT in Toyota hybrids is not really an CVT. Electric engines are indeed limited at low speeds, but more like because car would slide all the time with full power applied :-).

Rockville

some extra unused current capacity. If you were to increase the battery output the car would be faster due to the immediate increase in torque. Since the battery power wains eventually while accelerating this will last for about 10 seconds. By that time you are nearing the speed limiter. This would be mostly gas engine power so if you mod the 306 HP 3.5 liter and defeat the electronic limiter you could get more top end too. This car has been out only three weeks so no use voiding the warranty yet. Someone will do this however and it's just a matter of time. Just the stock GS450h walks away from the Euro V8's and gets about 7-8 MPG better with super low emissions. Very few people have driven the GS450h. We delivered our third one today. If you can live with a small trunk it is a blast to drive. No noise, just acceleration.

Rock