Aloha

Just want to say Hi and introduce myself.

I can't really claim to be a "new" Prius owner as I've had my 08 Spectra Blue Mica for a little over five months now, just made it before the tax credit went away. About a year ago my daughter asked me to come with her to the Toyota dealer as she wanted to buy a new car. She ordered a 07 Magnetic Gray at that time and picked it up about three weeks later. I was not in the market at that time for a new car but was really impressed with the technology and "gee whiz" gadgets in her Prius.

Last September my 92 Mazda Miata gave up the ghost after 198K miles and my wife and I went to Toyota to check out the 08 Camry hybrid. It was nice and the technology was there but wasn't out there "in your face" and felt like a new and improved version of my wife's 94 Camry. We bought our Prius even though she said she did not like hatchbacks.

Somehow our Prius became her car and I got her "hand me down" Camry. She does let me drive it when we go out together and once or twice a week when she plans to go out somewhere where the Prius might get dinged by a SUV or Truck in the parking lot.

 

Thank you all for the warm welcome. I've spent hours going through the various posts here and have really learned a lot about the Prius.

N3FOL - Although we normally have the highest gas prices in the nation, the way prices have been spiking up back there on the mainland recently we are actually paying less than a lot of California drivers now. The average price is about $3.45 here. Our prices go up and down more gradually than on the mainland due to the time involved in ordering and shipping to Hawaii. Since I know that our prices are going to keep rising in the near future, I try to get gas in both our cars whenever it goes below a half tank. A couple of years back the state legislature in their infinite wisdom decided that they should regulate the prices here. The new prices were computed every Friday and went into effect on Monday. The lines at the gas pumps were unbelievable on Sundays or Monday mornings depending if the price was going up or down. Thank goodness they repealed that law due to public pressure after a couple of months.