Goodbye SmartCar, Hello Prius!

Hello all!

I purchased my 2014 Prius exactly a week ago. We traded in my 2008 Smart ForTwo Passion which I just HATED. For so many reasons, which I won't bore you with here, but! It is now my one week anniversary with my Prius and I just love it. I've already read several helpful articles on the forums, and look forward to participating in some discussion!

I'm originally from Colorado, where I know we already have a pretty good size Prius family, but I live in the swamps of Louisiana now, and I have to say, I think I'm pretty alone here (besides a coworker, I have seen only one other Prius in town, but maybe I just need to keep my eyes peeled...)

Out with the old:


In with the new!

 

Thanks for all the welcoming replies!

@Tideland Prius @cwerdna - mine was CONSTANTLY a problem last year, always dying on me - embarrassing to have to ask your boss for a jump multiple times in a week! We never could figure out what was wrong with it, and kept getting different answers from different people. It was getting to be way more trouble than it was worth, especially with the new sound that it started making a week before we got the Prius. That was just the last straw.

And as far as why I really didn't like the Smart Car - I didn't like the fact that it wasn't reliable, especially when it left me stranded when my boyfriend was offshore (which left me alone with no help when I needed it) but also because I didn't realize I would be such a spectacle! I knew that it was a "different" car when I got it, and I knew that there weren't really many around where I live. I can tell you that there are at least seven others in our area, but everyone acted like it was the first one they had seen, even after three years! I grew to dread driving, because every time I pull up to a stop light, people would pull up even with me and stare. Or would drive by slowly and stare - point, laugh, etc. At first it was funny to me because the car was new and fun (at the time) but after that EVERY day? Too much for me. People walked up to me at gas stations and started asking questions. Or saying really intelligent stuff like, "Hey, that's a small car!" - and I am just not social enough for that. I'm really not. After one guy stuck his head inside my car through an open window as I was getting ready to pull away, I started avoiding eye contact at gas stations and adopting a "Don't talk to me" look to try to avoid people talking to me. I would complain about the car all. the. time. and I am sure everyone was tired of it, haha. I did drive it using the slap shift option, because the way that it shifted from first to second was HORRIBLE and it took forever to shift from third to fourth, and just ugh. I didn't like the way it drove. And of course it was horrible to drive in any sort of wind. However, I WILL say that I loved parking that thing. I could park anywhere, pull into any space, no matter how tight the turn or how much the donkey (can I say that here?) went over the line next to me. A+ to maneuverability. But for everything else, 0/10 - would not buy again.

So! That big paragraph is a summation of why I was more than ready to get rid of the Smart Car.

I love feeling NORMAL when I drive! I am not angry! I am relaxed. I drive more carefully and efficiently. It is so nice and roomy inside and it's nice having all the new technological stuff too - just wish I could make that new car smell last forever.