A new Prius for Mrs. Ray Moore

Well it's official. After declaring she wouldn't want to be seen in it when I said I was buying a Prius, my precious bride has bought one of her own. She called around to 20+ dealers in Texas. I got lucky when I called the one dealership in my hometown and they had the color and package due to arrive in ten days. We gave a deposit over the phone and by the end of the day, it's change in status to sold moved it up the list to 5-6 days. We got it for MSRP and were able to cancel all the expensive extras like leather and extra mile and permavin etc. It's only 200 miles from home so alot closer than going to Denver for mine. It will be a silver '05 package 5. Same color as mine, so I guess I'll have to check the plate when I go to get in my car. With the savings on gas and maintainance, the net increase to her budget will be 155$ a month.

This morning she said she wasn't going to start spending her free time on Priuschat just because she was getting the car. Now I just need to figure a way for the 14 year old to consider one in the next 2 years.

 

She says gas prices are number one, followed by sks and the engine off at lights. She went on to say that it sure wasn't for it's looks. She sure wanted a convertible corvette.

 

We picked up the car today. Drove 234 miles to get it. I have a few observations, ranging from complaints to fun to weird.

I warned the dealer that if it was over full that I would make them drain it. I told them I wanted three quarts of oil and that I wanted 42/40 in the tires. Instead I got 1/4" over the full mark and 35/33 in the tires. They decided they would take lunch before taking care of it. That didn't go over well with the sales manager. Got it fixed and away we went.

We actually got the car for 200$ under sticker due to a coupon that my lovely wife found. She is a professional shopper. Is that a good thing? The price came to $23,7**. The funny thing is that they had a 2004 salsa with the same package and 17,000 miles with a cigarette burn on the seat. They closed the deal on that one while we were there for $24,900. They won't mark up new ones above sticker but used ones are fair game. What a riot. We only found this car ten days ago. Timing is everything I guess.

Driving home with two silver Prius got us lots of doubletakes and thumbs up. I loved watching her in the rearview.

On the way home, we did a mileage test. We filled both cars up to the tippy top. Both cars have 42/40 in the tires. I have Mobil1. She has Dino. I started the trip with 29,700 miles. She started the trip with 9 miles. I had 85 pounds more in my car than in her car.(mostly my additional weight or as she describes it my big nice person) We drove the 234 miles with the cruise control set at 68 mph to try to rule out driving style. There was a little tail wind and elevation dropped about 1000 feet over all. She followed me with a 2-4 second following distance. The outside temperature was 72 degrees and sunny. We both set our AC at Auto and 74 degrees. Here is the weird thing: I would have expected that at these speeds that I would get 52 MPG and that she would get about 48 MPG. When we pulled in to our driveway, we both had exactly 50.2 MPG. I should check my alignment and the pessure in both sets of tires and the same time. The good news is that she should be able to get some great mileage figures on her commute.

She wishes that she had gone for the package 6 now that the deal is done. The extra 55 dollars a month doesn't seem like so much now. bummer

They sure look good sitting in the driveway together.

 

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In the Prius, your speed is not tied to your RPM. No problem using CC during break-in. On downhills the engine can come to a full stop while on cruise control or rev up to climb the hill.

 

My wife just got her first 600 mile tank. 610 to be exact. Next challenge would be to beat the EPA estimate. I'm in heaven.