PLX Kiwi OBDII Scanner and Fuel Saving Device

by PLX Devices

Product Features

• Monitors your driving habits across four parameters to help you save fuel and money
• "Drive Green" mode shows users how to maximize fuel economy
• Checks for Diagnostic Trouble Codes (DTCs), clears the codes, and can turn off the "Check Engine" light
• Displays instant and average MPG values, dollar amount of gas used and saved, and can scan 26 different engine parameters in real time
• Compatible with all 1996 & newer vehicles including: gas, diesel, ethanol, CNG, E85 & hybrid

Product Details

• Shipping Weight: 14.4 ounces
• Shipping: This item is also available for shipping to select countries outside the U.S.
• ASIN: B001F05WIE
• Item model number: 9
• Average Customer Review: 3.6 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (8 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #105,866 in Automotive (See Top 100 in Automotive)
• Discontinued by manufacturer: Yes

Product Description

From the Manufacturer

The PLX Kiwi is a new fuel-saving device that helps users maximize their fuel economy and reduce their impact on the environment. The Kiwi monitors driving habits over four parameters: smoothness, drag, acceleration and deceleration. It calculates efficiency over these parameters and provides users with feedback that will help them increase fuel efficiency and save money. The Kiwi can also display instant and average MPG, identify and delete Engine Trouble Codes, display custom images that change as your driving improves, provide trip summary information, and greatly improve your driving skills with 20 different lessons.

The PLX Kiwi is easy to view and control.

Save Money and Help the Environment
Vehicles use a tremendous amount of energy just to move us around. An average 4-door sedan equipped with a 200-horsepower motor can create up to 150,000 Watts of power. It "only" requires about 50 horsepower to accelerate from a full stop, but this is equivalent to turning on 622 60-watt light bulbs at once. An average driver in the same 4-door sedan produces 19.4 pounds of CO2 for each gallon of gasoline burned--or about 8 tons (16,000 pounds) of CO2 per year.

Research has shown that sensible driving can vastly improve fuel economy. Users equipped with the PLX Kiwi report an average of 20% improvement in fuel economy. This translates to hundreds of dollars in savings every year. The Kiwi can also help users reduce their carbon footprint by 2 tons per year, which is equivalent to planting 80 trees.

How It Works
Aggressive driving such as rapid acceleration, exceeding the speed limit, and heavy braking wastes gas. The Kiwi's sophisticated mathematic algorithms are designed to calculate your vehicle's fuel efficiency and assist you with saving gas and reducing CO2 output. Using the Kiwi is much like playing a game, and the daily goal is to obtain the highest Kiwi Score possible. This optimizes your driving style to get the highest MPG possible, no matter what vehicle you drive.

OBD-II connector for fast installation.

Easy to Install and Use
The Kiwi is a simple to use plug-and-play device that works on all 1996 or newer vehicles. It connects to the on-board diagnostic port (OBD-II) that is typically located near the steering column. From this port, the Kiwi can obtain detailed sensor data which is used to determine your vehicle's optimum driving efficiency. The included bracket makes it easy to mount the Kiwi to your dash or on your windshield; and the large buttons make navigating the colorful menu system a snap.

Drive Green mode helps users save money and fuel.

Maximize Fuel Efficiency with "Drive Green" Mode
The Drive Green mode is a series of lessons designed to optimize your driving behavior in a manner which maximizes the fuel efficiency for your vehicle. The PLX Kiwi uses sophisticated mathematical algorithms to analyze your engine's performance and your driving behavior. The Drive Green lessons are designed to maximize your smoothness, drag, acceleration, and deceleration parameters. In doing so, you will notice a significant improvement in your fuel economy.

Explore In-Depth Fuel Economy Information
The PLX Kiwi displays fuel economy information in far more detail than most vehicles can. The advanced meter shows current and trip MPG values, distance traveled, and gallons of gas used. The Kiwi also displays the dollar amount of gas that has been saved and the dollar amount of gas that has been used throughout the life of the unit. The trip summary feature shows you dollars of gas used, saved, and the total saved while owning the Kiwi for every trip. It also shows your average kiwi score and MPG, as well as distance traveled and gallons of gas used per trip.

View Engine Trouble Codes and Real-time Engine Data
The PLX Kiwi is also a diagnostic scanning tool. It can identify the cause of an illuminated Check Engine light, giving you the information you need before you visit an auto technician. If you determine that a trip to the mechanic is unnecessary, the Kiwi can clear the Check Engine Light. The PLX Kiwi is also capable of reporting the following engine sensor information in real time:

• Throttle Position
• Intake Pressure (MAP)
• OBD Type
• Fuel Level
• RPM
• Air Flow (MAF)
• Barometric Pressure
• MPH
• Catalytic Converter Temperature
• Engine Load
• ECU Voltage
• Engine Timing
• Absolute Engine Load
• Air Intake Temperature
• Ambient Air Temperature
• Water Temperature
• Fuel Pressure
• Fuel Pressure Relative
• Oxygen Sensor Voltage1 (Bank 1)
• Oxygen Sensor Voltage2 (Bank 1)
• Oxygen Sensor Voltage1 (Bank 2)
• Oxygen Sensor Voltage2 (Bank 2)
• Short Term Fuel Trim (Bank 1)
• Long Term Fuel Trim (Bank 1)
• Short Term Fuel Trim (Bank 2)
• Long Term Fuel Trim (Bank 2)

Product Description

The PLX Kiwi is new fuel saving device that helps users maximze their fuel economy and reduce their impact on the environment. The Kiwi monitors your driving habits over four parameters: Smoothness, Drag, Acceleration & Deceleration. The Kiwi calculates your efficiency over these parameters and gives you an instant "Kiwi Score" between 1-100, the goal is to keep your score as high as possible in order to increase efficiency. Kiwi makes driving green fun! You can also view your instant and average MPG, identify trouble codes should your check engine light become illuminated, upload custom images that will change as your driving improves, get a summary at the end of a trip telling you gallons used, dollars spent & dollars saved and greatly improve your driving skills with Kiwi's 20 lessons! Kiwi is equipped with so many features that will help drivers become aware of bad driving habits and change them. With Kiwi, users can save up to 33% on fuel consumption and this can add up to a savings of hundreds of dollars per year! The Kiwi can also help users reduce their carbon footprint by 2 tons per year, that is equivalent to planting 80 trees. Save money and reduce your impact on the environment with Kiwi!

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

38 of 41 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Kiwi is more than a simple gas saving device!, December 3, 2008

By 

Gadgetlover (Silicon Valley, CA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: PLX Kiwi OBDII Scanner and Fuel Saving Device (Automotive)

I have owned a Kiwi when it first came out into the market in June, and I say I am very happy with it. I think Kiwi designer has put in a lot of thoughts into the product. Kiwi is more than a simple gas saving device. Its concept is to bring conscious and responsibility to the driver to be aware of his/her driving habit and to change it to drive more greenly.

I found many useful features builded in with the product. The neatest thing is it reports the cost of each trip for the driver to be conscious not to spend $5 worth of gas just to go buy a a pack of gum. It's also pretty intellegent that it automatically detects different OBDII standards in the cars and automatically adjust itself to work flawlessly with it, a truely plug-n-play. Once installed, it goes to sleep and wake up automatically every time you drive the car. It also give ability to keep track of previous several trips to show improvement or lack of improvement in MPG and your driving behavior.

I found that high MPG is not everything! For example you can take 3 different routes from home to work. Though you can take a freeway with report highest MPG but you have to drive longer, you may not necessary save gas more than the city route with slightly lower MPG. With Kiwi, I can drive 3 different routes and compare what it actually costs me in each route, so the route that saves most gas can be selected over the route that saves most time, and vice versa.

I've already used Kiwi to reset my engine check light twice. I have an old Honda Prelude and a few months ago the engine check light came on. Kiwi reported a troble code P0113. I Googled it and found P0113 is air intake temperature problem. Checking the wire around AIT, I found a broken wire that goes to the AIT sensor. I reconnected the wire and reset the code with Kiwi, the problem went away.

Last week another code showed up when my engine check light came on again! Kiwi reported trouble code P0141 which is a problem at 2nd O2 sensor (after catalytic converter). I checked the wires, cleaned the plugs (with the hope that I do not need to replace the expensive O2 sensor) and used Kiwi to reset the code, the problem went away. The 2 incidents would have costed me several hundered dollars if I went to a garage and have someone diagnosed and reset the code for me. My Kiwi pays for itself after the first incident, and I feel my money was well spended on the Kiwi.

22 of 24 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars KIWI - hype or useful tool??, November 10, 2008

By 

Mopar Maiden "Kimberly" (Portland, OR USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: PLX Kiwi OBDII Scanner and Fuel Saving Device (Automotive)

A friend had mentioned he had a KIWI and I thought it would be interesting to try it out on a recent road trip. It's marketed as 'fun' so I wondered if it would be helpful in any way. Much to my surprise I found that I adjusted my driving style quite often to keep my 'score' up which meant I was increasing my MPG. It's extremely easy to install, use, read, etc and is 100% portable from vehicle to vehicle. For those who do a lot of driving it would certainly pay for itself in a relatively short amount of time!

17 of 18 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A Great Tool for Daily Commuting, December 19, 2008

By 

ScratchGolfer8439 "ScratchGolfer8439" (Los Altos Hills, CA United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: PLX Kiwi OBDII Scanner and Fuel Saving Device (Automotive)

I've had my Kiwi for several months now and I'm very pleased with it. It's been a fun, neat and valuable tool for me to experiment with my gas mileage during my boring commutes to and from work. My daily commute ranges between 20-30 minutes and I've been using my Kiwi to determine which route saves me the most time and gas. With the Kiwi I've discovered that my driving behavior plays a tremendous part in my fuel efficiency. I've also been able to discover which routes save the most gas.

I've experimented with my driving behavior quite a bit and I've noticed that my Lexus can range as much as 35% on the same route. On some days I'll drive aggressively by accelerating rapidly and braking aggressively. My Kiwi Score would drop to about 78 with an MPG of about 20 and a cost per trip of ~$1.4. On other days, I'll baby the car, keep my momentum in turns, plan ahead and stop gradually and I'll get a 92 Kiwi Score with 28 MPG and a cost per trip of ~$1. When I arrive at my destination, the Kiwi will show me a trip summary with all that information, which is a nice feature. I've also noticed that there's a definite correlation between my driving behavior score and my actual MPG.

Before I had the Kiwi, every morning I'm always caught with a dilemma. Should I take the longer freeway route or should I take the shorter city route to work? With the Kiwi I've discovered that my city route to work is 9.0 miles where my freeway route is 12.2 miles. I've also been able to discover that my longer freeway route actually saves more gas and time than my shorter city route if there's no freeway traffic. I check the traffic with my iphone every morning now and if there's no traffic, I'll take the freeway, and if there is, I'll take the city.

The engine check feature has also been useful. A buddy of mine drives a BMW M roadster and forgot to screw his gas cap on tightly. Apparently BMW has a pressure sensor which checks for this and throws an error code on the dash. I look my Kiwi out and reset his light for him saving him at least $100 from having to go to the dealer.

All in all, I'm happy with the Kiwi. It does what it's advertised to do and requires no maintenance. The unit is easy to install, turns on automatically and turn off automatically.