I joined the Prius club

First post, and first-time hybrid owner.

I've driven purely SUV's for the past 10 years; my last one, a 4Runner, decided to stop working which necessitated a new vehicle purchase. I told myself I was going to get something hybrid whenever I got rid of the 4Runner, but circumstances meant I had to get a new car sooner than I thought. After much deliberation (and reading of this forum for many hours straight) I decided to get a shiny new black '07 Prius, and right now I couldn't be happier with the thing. It was quite easy to obtain; where I am in Texas is metropolitan enough to have the cars available, but not the demand for them that they're flying off the lot.

A few things have already surprised me. One, despite my absolutely reckless driving habits (I used to work for a fire department, so aggressive driving is natural for me), I find with the Prius that I'm taking it a bit slower and more careful, and much of that has to do with the MPG readout staring me in the face; it sure is an eye-opener about driving habits correlating with mileage. Which leads me to point two, which is driving this thing is like a video game! It's a challenge to drive a certain way to see how high I can keep the MPG; I'm refining my technique to get the best "high score". Driving is fun again! And point three, despite having driven only SUVs (and ambulances) for the past 10 years, I don't really feel that low to the ground in the Prius; it feels like you sit up quite high in the thing, as you do in an SUV.

Anyway, felt like sharing my newfound joy with folks who know all about it. This place is a great resource, and I'll be scouring it for tips and tricks.

 

Thanks guys. Will certainly be doing a couple of the simple upgrades like inflating the tires to get higher MPG. For now as well I'm concentrating on locating one of those Belkin Charge-and-Play adapters; there are WAAAAAY too many FM-transmitter adapters for iPods.