I got to drive a Prius today!

I should preface this by saying that I was completely willing to buy a Prius sight unseen, never having driven one or even been inside one, because none of my local dealerships ever have one in stock. I obviously am not an unbiased observer.

That said, I thought it was fantastic. It was a base model, Salsa red, with about 7000 miles on it. she was gorgeous. I admit I didn't understand why she wouldn't open up to me when I grabbed the handle, but I shook it off. The girl who watched me (couldn't have been but 18, cute as all heck) showed me where to stick the fob in the dash. I was impressed with this little feat of technology, and will likely be INCREDIBLY impressed when the fob can stay zipped in the inner pocket of my purse. She also reset the trip odometer so I'd know how I did.

I drove away, and promptly pulled into a parking lot, as I would have been terribly unsafe playing with the buttons while driving. Turns out the base model doesn't have *too* much to play with, I got it 'all figured out' pretty quickly. I proceeded to drive straight down 17-92 all the way to Orlando. I got to the nail shop 30 minutes early, with a trip meter of 39 miles and an average of 59.9mpg - flat land, temps between 40 and 50 degrees, speed limits between 40 and 55. I decided Dana would get coffee as a christmas gift, and drove back up to starbucks, bought, and back to the nail shop, which brought me down to 58 something for the average. Each and every time it bumped to 99.9 I found myself grinning. My nail tech is always late, so I took the opportunity to make all the seats fold down, play with the audio screen, (message feather is cool! I need to keep up with technology better!) hunt for secret compartments, and generally drool all over 'my new car.'

I didn't get the call from the dealer until I was pulling out after my appointment, and then I got to go visit my mom and the bothers =) she was impressed, though also sad for my valiant little camry. she opened the back end of her wagon (suzuki something) and we realized I had as much space as her, not even counting the ultra cool fold down ability of the Prius. Score another point!

We had a lot of shopping to do, and very little time, so I used the opportunity heading out on 95 to test out the milage at 'higher' speeds - even at 75 I got about 45ish miles per gallon - not the 60ish of the 40mph zones, but still DARNED impressive. i'mglad i'm a conservative driver - by the end of the day (including my 'speeding' time) I had 150 miles with 53.5 showing for my average - I'm gonna call it a nice start for a beginner. I'm certain that taking 95 slower would have allowed me to break through the EPA - I plan to not hurry tomorrow, to see if I can bring it up at all with 150 miles onthe clock. I seemed to pick up the feathering technique like a duck takes to water - I LOVE how far I can take it if theres noone behind me. I coasted for what seemed like forever a few times! Thanks TONS for all the help - it's pretty awesome that just recollections of your descriptions were able to give me milage like I got. more than DOUBLE what I'm getting now - woohoo!

The negatives: I absolutely abhor the view out the back. I hate the view out my husbands Celica too, though, so I think it could be a hatchback thing. The backup camera should do a lot to give me some confidance, as will time. I plan to disable the reverse beep, people can't hear it from the outside and I feel like a doufus (sp?) having it beep inside. The glare off the MFD is terrible with the sun at certain angles, and I'll need to get the hoodie, along with some sort of (preferably not leather) cover for the center console and armrests - they looked kind of scruffy. The seats weren't near as bad as I expected, but several hours of driving didn't exactly leave me feeling wonderful - I may end up with the expensive seat covers with lumbar support after all.

Thats me being picky - I LOVED the car, and the day firmly cemented my decision to buy one. Thank goodness, too, considering!

 

I guess I had it in my head that if you didn't have smart key, you'd still get an actual key. Knowing that it was a base model ended up good, because I know I was happy with package 1, so I'll be happier with anything else =)

If I had my way, I'd get a magnetic grey package #4. My husband is fretting about my driving around just waiting for the transmission to die, so I think he's going to push for my getting another color sooner - I'll be happy with silver, driftwood, or seaside, and i'd be ok with black, but I don't want red, white, or the new green. I really can't bring myself to go up any higher on the options, and I insist on the smart key and side curtain airbags, so it's got to be either a 3 or a 4.

I haven't thought about this too much already, have I? =)