first day experience

first off... WOW! this car is even better than i expected and that is saying a lot. i got it last night in north attleboro, MA and proceeded to drive the 2 hours home to sunderland, MA. This is mostly highway driving and my beatiful salsa red blew away my expectations with a healthy avg of 44mpg! It was about 32 degrees out and my car only had 2 miles on it when i started! I am quite impressed. I was expecting more like 35 for a newbie prius driver and a newbie prius in the cold.

I've never had cruise control before so that was an especially exciting feature. I found that I got the best mileage when I tapped it down a few mph just before going uphill, and tapped it back up while going downhill. Anyone else do this? Or am I just making it up?

Anyone else feel like they're riding a disney monorail when they drive this car? It suddenly hit me today that's why it seemed so familiar, especially the noise when it slows to a stop.

Last night I showed it off to as many friends as possible. Most had allready heard all about it's more unique features from me so were only mildly amazed. But I had failed to warn one of my friends. When she got in the car and I turned it on she flipped out, pointing at the screen, "what the hell is that?!!!" Then she had me start and stop driving forward a few times in stealth, excitedly expressing her jealousy all the while.

Though we discovered today that the seats are too high compared to the cieling for a tall friend of mine.

My boss, who is loathe to even consider driving around in anything even remotely stylish and new (seriously, he hates new cars), spent 5 minutes in the car and then expressed his interest in purchasing one and asked how much it was. He changed his mind right away but he later couldn't stop talking about how impressed he was with stealth mode.

My housemate, who a few weeks ago was trying to convince me to buy the insight, has decided (after a 10 minute drive around the parking lot last night) that the Prius is "the coolest car on the planet." and hopes to purchase one someday. He is a diehard Honda fan.

And my father is begging me to trade with his 2003 subaru for a while. He is incredibly jealous. :mrgreen:

 

lol. i was also looking forward to things going back to normal. but this is no ordinary car and the driving experience won't feel normal for a little while i guess. i'm rereading the manual again right now to try to speed that up a little.