There are several dashboard computers on the market, some for the extreme car enthusiast, some for the rest of us. The new kid on the block is the PLX Kiwi. It’s a dashboard computer that plugs into most cars through their diagnostic port (OBDII).

Unlike others on the market, KIWI’s goal is a somewhat game-like experience where you try to obtain the highest “Kiwi Score”.  You get a higher score when your driving style is optimized for fuel economy.

Let me list what I think are the top three advantages and top three disadvantages of the Kiwi:

Top three advantages of the Kiwi dashboard computer:

• Saving gas is almost a game that may help keep your interest over the long –haul.
• The interface seems extremely simple and even tells you how much money you saved.
• Appears to 26 individual pieces of sensor information from your car’s ODBII port.

Top three disadvantages of the Kiwi dashboard computer:

• Almost too much like a game, with a somewhat overly distractive interface.
• Fairly expensive (MSRP of $299). It would take a considerable amount of gas savings to pay for it given a gas price of $1.53 (what I’m currently paying for a gallon of gas).
• The “Fun Mode” makes me think they needed to fill some unused space on that big, bright display.

I’ll look into a few more of these dashboard computers…I’d eventually like to pick up something like this for my commuting.

Maybe the best thing about the KIWI is that it try’s to train you for better driving habits…Something we could all use a little of.

For some time, I’ve recorded the measurements discussed in the previous post (which I will be presenting in a future post), but I thought it might be good thing if I tried to gather some vehicle data as well.

For a long time, I’ve been looking into the ScanGuage by Linear-Logic, but it currently offers no data-logging. Although I have read they are working on a new version with this feature. In the mean time, I’m thinking of purchasing a Davis Instruments CarChip Pro. It doesn’t log all parameters possible, but it does give you the ability to choose which 4 parameters to log.

ScanGuage II

CarChip Pro

Currently, I’m hooked into Progressive’s MyRate program and although you can achieve up to a 25% discount on your insurance, I drive far too much to get anything but the minimum 5% discount for my car by just being in the plan. I tend to agree with Arron Landry about the data being worth far more than my 5% discount. I guess I’d be far less skeptical of this program if I had access to all the raw data I believe they are capturing about my driving habits.

MyRate "Device"

I might even run a combination of these devices using a y-splitter for my obd II port from OBD2Cables.

OBD II Y-Cable

As I said, I will be using a 2008 Cobalt XFE.

With some conservative hypermiling, I can get about 43-44 mpg on my commute (about 46 miles one way). My max MPG for this trip is 48.9 (according to the car’s calculation). My normal commute has an inbound time around 5 AM (to avoid most traffic).

As stated earlier I try to be a very courteous driver by following some basic tenants:

1) Treat others the way you would like to be treated.
2) Courteous driving encourages other drivers to be courteous.
3) Aggressive driving influences others to drive aggressively.

I have a few planned experiments, but will only comment on each one when it is underway and seems to have a reasonable chance of being a valid experiment.