New Prius Owner!

I bought my Prius Thursday night! :rockon: I am proud of her for a few reasons:

1) She's a 2008 Touring Edition in that light green/pistachio color (exactly the color I wanted), in package 3 (with bluetooth calling! A feature I thought was outside my budget!)
2) I got a great deal because she was the dealership's "loaner car" and only had 3300 miles on her.
3) This was my first time buying a car I was picking out for myself (as opposed to my first car, which was parentally selected, and my second car, which was gifted to me by my grandma when she stopped driving).
4) The dealership I used was beyond awesome! I told them I wanted a Prius, I told them what down payment I had and how much I could afford in monthly payments, and they did everything they could between dropping the price of the car to raising how much they were giving me for my car to get it almost exactly to my budget...it came in right on the high end, but they were very flexible about negotiating. I think I got lucky because I walked in right before they were gearing up for the 2010's, and they HAD to move the older Priuses off the lot.

I test drove a Honda Insight before I drove the Prius, and the difference was night and day. For me, the Insight was too cramped, felt too finicky on stopping and going, and just didn't "click". From the second I sat in the driver's seat of the Prius for the test drive I knew I wanted it. Style alone had me sold!

I am glad I found this forum, searching around here has answered several questions...especially the MPG explanation! I was doing so well after driving to and from work Friday and running errands Saturday, and it seemed like a few quick trips this morning were bringing me down. I feel better understanding that, and I am glad to have bought a car with a community behind it that has so much knowledge and passion!

 

Well it was the closest descriptor I could come up with...and Silver Pine Mica is not an intuitive name! Even the sales guy didn't know the exact name (he had me test drive a red Prius and told me the other option was one in "the color of the meter on the display". My girlfriend said it was a pistachio color, so I went with that!)

I already feel more well informed thanks to these forums! Good stuff!