First Passengers

After lucking out and picking up an unallocated Driftwood #9 from Boch Toyota in Boston three weeks after starting my Prius search yesterday I took my first non family passengers.

The Story

My wife had offered a ride to a couple at a wedding to the reception. As it walked to the car the husband observed that I had "one of those electric cars". The wife expressed concern as to whether I had "fully charged" it since it was raining and the reception was in the backwoods of New Hampshire. As we got in the car the wife asked where the key was and I explained that it didn't need one. The husband stated that his friend's BMW 740i had exactly the same thing. He also commented that he noticed I had a Nav system but he felt those were a waste of money. After five minutes of driving he said if we wanted to put our seats back they had plenty of room in the back. I told him my seat already was back. Another 15 minutes went by with the passengers commenting on various things including the lack of engine noise, the smooth ride, the quality of the interior finish all the while the Nav system was giving turn by turn directions along back twisty country roads in the rain at night. The husband commented that it only made sense to have a Nav system in a car and he planned to get one in his next vehicle. Arriving at the reception no other cars were in the parking lot. A couple of Lexuses and a BMW pulled in right behind us. We went into the reception but it was another 10 minutes before any other participants arrived (non GPS cars had followed the reception directions that apparently were much longer).
At the reception itself my wife noticed I wasn't drinking. SInce she normally has to have me carried out to the car and put in the back seat she expressed surprise. I told her how I had read the thread in this newsgroup that some spouses didn't fully appreciate the need to maintain a high overall average MPG and, since she seemed to fit that profile, I didn't intend to let her drive all the way home. :lol: