Picked up our Driftwood Pearl pkg. 8 last Friday!

We picked up our 2006 Driftwood Pearl Pkg8 from TJ Prayner at Grossinger Toyota in Chicago last Friday. We live in Colorado but couldn't get straight answers, a reasonable deal (was like pulling teeth, just for MSRP), or a guaranteed date from anyone in our area, so we made a road trip out of it. I'll have to post another thread about the great service. TJ was great, picked us up in a timely fashion, didn't give us the runaround on anything, had a shiny driftwood prius waiting for us, and even let us test drive a Highlander Hybrid while we were waiting for the finance guys to gather our paperwork (not expecting that much power I chirped the tires pulling out of the parking lot... that Highlander is pretty impressive...).

We spent a day sightseeing in Chicago and then headed out the next day toward home, still on our "*** Full tank of gas ***" itemized on the window sticker. Being a genius, and thinking that I had at least 20 miles left on the last blinking pip, I figured I'd stop and get gas when we hit 500mi on the odometer. The dash lit up like a christmas tree at 502mi. Luckily we were just about a mile away from the next exit which had a gas station. Given judicious use of the momentum we had at 80mph on the highway and subsequent judicious use of the battery power, we made it to the dealer with one bar of purple left on the display. I think it was just about 2mi from where we ran out of gas to the pump. I wish I'd gotten a photo of the dash (can't seem to find one on here), it makes you feel like the car is about to burst into flames.







The rest of the trip was uneventfully smooth, we managed about 47mpg on average (guessing a bit as we haven't filled up a third time) for the 1000+ mile trip. The first part of the trip was at an average speed of 80mph, but I dropped to 75mph and later to 65mph through the Denver traffic. I was surprised at the mileage as I've heard much lower averages before the engine is fully broken in. We even managed 49.9mpg on the last leg of our trip.



We're quite happy with the car so far, it's been as impressive as we'd hoped! Thanks again to everyone for the great input and wealth of information on this board, it was invaluable for research and pointers in our search and knowing what to look for when we picked up the car.

-Peter

 

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(jclay1965 @ Sep 11 2006, 10:18 PM) [snapback]318142[/snapback]</div>

I agree, it is certainly addicting. I didn't expect to get such great gas mileage so early on! I wonder what it will be like in another few thousand miles I've already gotten quite used to the smart key and smart start. Haven't been in another car since we picked up the Prius, but I imagine it will be disorienting.


<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(brasche @ Sep 11 2006, 10:27 PM) [snapback]318146[/snapback]</div>

Picking the car up and heading right into a road trip was definitely the right decision. I was very happy dealing with TJ, and it was nice to spend a good fifteen hours in the car directly after buying it. Driving on the highway was probably good for the first thousand miles of breakin, anyway. I'd do it again in a heartbeat.

Glad you had fun driving through the Smokies! We drove through Iowa and Nebraska... and it was overcast and rainy the whole time... but still a nice drive!


<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(nicos @ Sep 12 2006, 10:01 AM) [snapback]318362[/snapback]</div>

Another pkg. 8 driftwood! We hadn't seen the factory leather before we picked ours up, but I was very pleased with it. Seemed worth it to go with the factory leather instead of the add-on as the steering wheel, all armrests, and the fold down armrest in the back were all covered in smooth factory style.

What's your feel so far on the transition from the '03 to the '06? I've never driven a classic before, I'll have to find someone in the CO Springs area that wouldn't mind letting me check out their car What's your average MPG so far and how many miles do you have on it? Curious how well the '06s do before they're fully broken in.


<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(Rancid13 @ Sep 12 2006, 04:06 PM) [snapback]318594[/snapback]</div>

Thanks for the complement, I try to be a photographer, but I seem to rarely impress myself. I do want to take a slew of interior photos with the leather and post them somewhere -- I had no luck in finding any when we were researching the factory leather decision. Glad we made the decision, though! It's awesome! I have a 10mm wide angle lens, so I should be able to get some neat interior shots.

I agree, fill the tank as soon as it's down to one pip. I wanted to make 500 miles though!!! I thought it'd be safe to assume that we had another 30-40 miles as I could assume that in most other cars I've owned, including the old 4Runner... I figured in the Prius it'd bee more like 80 miles. Oh well. Lesson learned. I just wish I'd taken a photo of the very, very, very angry dash. Looked like some scene in an action movie, just before a pilot has to bail out of his fighter jet.

-Peter