The Quintessential Inaugural Post

Alas, the day has come…my 2007 Black Prius sits in my garage. Four months ago, I ordered a 2006 #7, but it seems that the option packages have since shifted with more standard features (side airbags and stability control?) and they now dub the beefed-up stock stereo/DVD nav/Bluetooth version a #5. I may have wet myself three times today and I’m still in slight euphoric haze…quite sexy this car is. The dealership’s (Molle in KC, MO) aftermarket leather upgrade is wonderful and well worth it. It is shear will power to remove myself from it to lay out my first post on PC. The black and tan looks good and goes down like the beer combo it resembles.

I’d like to thank all of the active and informative PC posters that have satisfied my low-grade obsessive-compulsive-disorder to research the sauce out of this amazing car. There are so many of you that have taken a great deal of time to share important and relevant details so one can make the most of this car. I value your input and appreciate the voice in which it is communicated. The threads on this website are great…even the off-Prius political debates or other non sequiturs…you guys typically keep a decent flow.

Now for a little background…on June 29th, 2006 I watched An Inconvenient Truth with my wife. On June 30th, 2006 I put a deposit down on a new Prius. I had been considering one for some time, but that movie motivated me to take action. I won’t preach to the choir, but I will be sleeping better tonight knowing that I nearly cut my carbon footprint in half. Since ordering it I have read PC nearly every night, which might have influenced the numerous dreams that I've had about the car. One night I dreamt that all the Prii that came in on my allocation shipment were red #1's, so I had to settle in order to get my Prius fix.

While more and more Prii appear in the KC metro, several folks around here still are ignorant to the technology…typical with what folks talk about here on PC… “you gotta plug one of those things in? 110 or 220?†Oh well…it’s a good start to the conversation on conserving the planet. My wife and I just had our second child, and I also get “Are you sure you want to get rid of your SUV while your family is growing?†My response: “Yes…maybe I won’t be inclined to buy/carry around so much crap.†Plus, I’ve gotten some great inspiration from roof rack cargo gear on PC. As one post suggested, I’d rather get 10% to 20% less MPG in the Prius with the rack on top than get half (or less) the MPG in a SUV and have higher emissions.

I’ll look forward to getting more acquainted with my new ‘Yota…it’s my third in seven years (’99 Tundra…then ’03 Highlander that I traded-in today). I’m a big fan of the ‘Yota…my Highlander was 3.5 years old with 56K miles and was still as quiet and smooth as the day I bought it. I talked my older sister into a Prius that she got about two months back (in Sacramento), as well as my mom and stepdad (their Prius arrives in mid-Nov) in Colorado Springs. Just like any good cult, you gotta start with family and then rage it with your own pyramid scheme.