MLucas's i MiEV

Here are the pictures from the day I test drove my i MiEV and bought it. My son is testing out the backseat to see if it will work for him and his booster seat.

I bought the base model, in Canada the base comes well equipped with the Cold Weather Package, CHaDEMO charge port, Fog Lights (used as DTR lights - mandatory here) and other stuff.

As you can see by the stickers all over it, it was the demo model and the last one they had. The dealership had sold out their stock and were waiting for more to come in.

Did you keep the stickers? They look fun!

Jenn

I like the one the hood the most, "Plug into good clean fun". Not sure if I wanted to advertise for London Mitsubishi. They were good to me, but I'm not in love with them enough. I took the license plate frames off right away, too because they were blocking the view of my Green License Plates. I have to admit I enjoy the snob appeal of driving around with Green Vehicle on my license plates.

MLucas, congratulations on your purchase!
The photo of your son showing how the headrests obstruct our rear vision by 50% is dramatic. :evil: Separate topic.
Enjoy your new iMiEV!

Updating my original post. I've been working on the stylings of my I-MiEV lately and want to keep a record of my cars changes as I modify it.

New vinyl body graphics kit, changed hubcaps, painted steelies grey and added Mitsubishi logo to center of hubcaps.


New Visor (Amped), changed hood badge from chrome to red/chrome border (old style).


Old style Mitsubishi logo - red with chrome border, 100% Electric Chrome emblem, Going Farther by Slowing Down warning and Illuminated Safety Reflectors on rear.


Upholstered door panels.

Wow, very sporty look,. l like the wheel covers. Nice job

love the vinyls and the hubcaps. want to powder coat my alloys black. where did you pick up the hubs?

RamblinBrad said:

love the vinyls and the hubcaps. want to powder coat my alloys black. where did you pick up the hubs?

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Thanks.

ebay from this place: http://stores.ebay.com/uniqueautomotiveaccessories looks like they are still selling them and in different styles with the same colors.

You could also plastidip your alloys. http://www.dipyourcar.com I'm going to be plastidipping my hood, roof and mirrors next. Stay tuned for that one. There is a picture here where someone's done that to their alloys, can't seem to find it right now.

sandange said:

Wow, very sporty look,. l like the wheel covers. Nice job

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Thanks! I'm having fun with my car. This is the best car I've ever owned.

I've painted the roof red using Plasti-Dip. I would not recommend using the spray cans as I did if this is something you may be interested in doing. I've used six cans of this stuff and I could probably use another three to get it perfect. For that kind of money I could have bought 3M 1080 vinyl for a lot cheaper and gotten a much smoother finish. Which is what I plan to do for the hood, front bumper and A pillars - I'm thinking of going with the carbon fiber look. The problem is the spray is really thick and dries very fast, the can needs to be about 2" from the surface and use a very slow pass with out pausing at the end. It takes a lot of practice to get it right and is nothing like spraying normal spray paint - if you use those techniques you'll get texture. They only way I see to do it right is buy Plasti-dip in the gallon sizes and use a sprayer that can lay a lot on at a time in wide pattern. I used a product from Rustoleum called Pro-Grip that I found at home depot for undercoating my car and I had no problems using that at all - too bad they don't make all the colors that plastidip does. Oh well, live and learn. I'll keep this on until maybe next year and then replace with 3M 1080 vinyl in red. I do like the top in red, very unique look.

LED Headlight Strips.

I added LED Headlight Strips to the Headlights. These tiny LEDs are very bright and very easy to add to the sides of the lights. The plastic in the lights directs some of the light around the edges and out to the sides of the headlights. I'm very happy with this effect and the way it turned out. I did have a problem finding a constant source of switched power. I wanted the lights on all the time when the car was running and turn off when its not. Most of the wiring up front for the turn signals and headlights won't work for this. I did find behind the battery a wire bundle that leads upwards towards the windshield that had both a red and black wire easilly visible and exposed. I tested with my multimeter and confirmed they were switched, the only thing I didn't know is what they were for and not sure if it tapping into them would cause a fault. I proceeded with tapping into them and found no problem with any of the systems on the car. I learned this lesson when I tried hooking up my illuminated reflectors on the rear bumper and caused a fault in the ABS system.

I love all the customization! Really gives your i its own personality. Would it be wrong of me to take a wild guess at your marital status? You're either single or your wife is just as creatively inspired as yourself! I would love to customize my i more than I have, but I have to temper my enthusiasm in order to meet minimum SAF requirements (Spousal Acceptance Factor). I've already been warned that if I do anything more than what I already have, she will refuse to ride in the car with me. Truthfully, I'd rather be seen with my hot wife IN the car than with hot graphics ON the car! But that's just me. I only wish I had had the funds to support such inspiration when I was young and carefree.

Is it weird that the i has become my mid-life crisis coping mechanism? Don't most guys go for sports cars and/or fast boats when they hit this point in their lives? Yet, here I am sportin' the Mitsu i-MiEV and dreaming of pimping her out!

RobbW said:

I love all the customization! Really gives your i its own personality. Would it be wrong of me to take a wild guess at your marital status? You're either single or your wife is just as creatively inspired as yourself! I would love to customize my i more than I have, but I have to temper my enthusiasm in order to meet minimum SAF requirements (Spousal Acceptance Factor). I've already been warned that if I do anything more than what I already have, she will refuse to ride in the car with me. Truthfully, I'd rather be seen with my hot wife IN the car than with hot graphics ON the car! But that's just me. I only wish I had had the funds to support such inspiration when I was young and carefree.

Is it weird that the i has become my mid-life crisis coping mechanism? Don't most guys go for sports cars and/or fast boats when they hit this point in their lives? Yet, here I am sportin' the Mitsu i-MiEV and dreaming of pimping her out!

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She'll get over it, I'd go for it. I'm actually married (17 years - 7 of them honest) with a seven year old son. Should have seen the look of my son when he came home from the beach and saw the new graphics, he loved them. My spouse and I have an agreement on these things, I get to have my one thing - leave me alone. This is my one thing, used to be a motorcycle but after we adopted our boy last year I decided to sell it. I had many other reasons for selling, one of which was that I couldn't shake that I was recreating with gasoline. I'm having way more fun with my i-MiEV and I can safely take my boy with me.

That is awesome! Good for you! I've been married 16 years this month and have two daughters, 7yo and 1yo. My 7yo loves the few subtle customs I have done so far and wants me to do more. But I have already agreed to knock it off. My wife is kind of miffed that for a car that is supposed to be saving us money (on fuel), it sure is costing us a lot for me to "play" with it. Oh well, I guess that just means more money I can save for our next vacation. Now THAT is something she can really get behind!

I can see your having a blast doing the customizing.
I like what you've done.
I still have my motorcycle (my money toilet), (just can't part with it yet)
So I cant justify to my wife spending more on the Miev .

Interior Modifications. Got tired of the lunch box interor on my i-MiEV and was super jealous of those European and Asian i-MiEV interiors. So, I decided to do something about it. Adding to the upholstered door panels, I've now changed the color on the center control stack and added wood trim to the dashboard. I found the only glue that worked to attached the wood and metal bits was epoxy. Contact cement and automotive badge tapes did not stick at all, it's like the dashboard is made out of teflon or something. Thanks to siai47 for sending me the jellybean i logo from the back of his wrecked i-MiEV. The memory of that car will live on in my car.

A few EV pithy sayings and carbon fiber vinyl are my latest adds to my i-MiEV. I installed the 1080 3M Carbon Fiber vinyl a month ago but just got around to taking pictures of it. The Plasti-Dip idea didn't work out so well and I removed it from the hood. The roof is still covered in red Plasti-Dip but that will be upgraded next summer to the 1080 3M vinyl in red. Need the funds right now to prepare the car for the cold season. The vinyl is more for function than looks, its my way of protecting the front end from scratches and dings that lead to corrosion. It looks really good in full sunlight.