New Adventures of Old Charlie

Introduction first....I am Charlie, age 62, the proud new owner of a 2012 Prius 4 with solar in Barcelona Red. I made the mistake of stopping by our local Toyota dealer just to look at the new Camry's ( I had a one owner 2007 Camry with 45000 miles ...looked like new) . Salesman said have you ever checked out the Prius, I said no, I thought it was a much smaller car than the Camry. Well, much to my surprise the Prius sat a lot better, much easier to get in and out of ( my back is shot) and my wife and I were in love at first sight with the Prius. We made the deal, funny our new Prius is the same color as
our old Camry, so at first glance a lot of my friends don't even know I have a new car. I am totally sold on the Prius, I am not a computer wizard, but after reading the manuals for a couple of days, lurking on here and picking up tons of valuable info, I have managed to get everything to work as advertised.
It gets HOT here in Arkansas in the summer, so I think the solar fan cooling will be a real help, as well as the window tinting the car came with. We love all the nav stuff, and the hud is just kind of the icing on the cake.
The noise factor with the sunroof open seems to me to be a lot less than the noise I had with my Camry. I have had the car for a couple of weeks now and we seem to like it more every day. I have had a few new cars in my time ( lots of company cars), but I think I like this one more than any one of the others. I am no tree hugger, as my other vehicle is a 3/4 ton Chevy truck with a gas sucking 6.0 liter engine and I have a 150HP boat engine also, but I don't drive them every day , either. I probably couldn't justify my trading the Camry on paper, but I figure gas is only going to go
up, the cost of new cars is only going to go up, I am not getting any younger, and you have to jump in somewhere ( a bit like buying a new computer, wanting to get the latest, greatest, only to have it change the day after you buy it)
I truly appreciate this board and all who post here. I have read a ton of posts and everyone seems very polite, my hat is off to you all. Now to just wipe that " Got a new Prius" grin off of my face.

Charlie

 

For anyone considering buying a Prius Hybrid, as this is my first hybrid, I was a bit amazed by all of the strange noises the car makes at times, and the quietness at other times. Like when you pull up to a stop sign and think the engine has died, or when you pull up to go into the garage and all you can hear is the hum of the electric motor driving the car. I am a big Toyota fan, even if I do come from the old muscle car generation, and I think Toyota has
outdone all the competition when they developed the Prius. In considering all the other hybrids , I took into consideration how long the Prius had been being manufactured , all the long term reviews of the car, the long warranty on all of the hybrid related parts, and just the feel of the car itself.
I have been showing the car to all my friends, I think they are a bit bewildered by all the technology, probably a bit like me when I first encountered it on the lot. I live in BIG CAR central, along with lots of pickups , four wheel drive vehicles, etc., I am just glad to be able to fill up for maybe half of what it was costing me before.
Charlie