SUV Owner Converted: Happy New '08 Classic Silver Pkg #6 Owner

I am formerly the owner of an '08 Nissan Armada LE, which I absolutely loved almost everything about -- the one exception being the 12/17 mpg rating. When I bought it the national gas average was closer to $3.00 and I didn't believe oil would rise quickly enough to cause problems. After about 7 months I opened my eyes to realize where things were going and got to thinking that if I didn't part with my Armada soon I might not get the chance, so I took it to a local carmax and felt fortunate enough to walk away with enough to buy a pkg #6 Prius.

I spent many days calling all of the local Toyota dealerships, after 15 or so dealerships I became very discouraged about having to be #100 or farther down on the waiting list, many even told me they were not accepting orders for a Prius due to the heavy demand.

After expanding my search I found a somewhat nearby dealership in the next state over, I asked what the wait time would be for a pkg #6 and he told me it was my lucky day, 15 minutes ago he had gotten off the phone with another dealership that owed them a Prius allocation and although they had a large wait for Pkg #2s and Pkg #4s there was nobody waiting for a #6, so I jumped and put the deposit down. The day I picked it up the dealer told me he had to fight off customers all day, but the car had only 1 mile on the ODO so not even a test drive was allowed ( I had actually wondered about that on my way to pick it up).

I've had it for a week and I love the car. It took about a day to get used to being so close to the ground compared to the monster SUV I was accustomed to and now I keep trying to find excuses to go to town just so I can drive it.

I am obsessive by nature and having found the numerous articles about hypermiling (P&G, stealth warping, etc) I am determined to re-learn how to drive to maximize the car's efficiency. I am close to hovering between 55mpg and 75mpg through my local roads and highways.

All in all I really love the car for much more than the fuel efficiency, like others on the board it is just fun to drive.



Andy

 

Thanks everyone. I've been reading the forums over the past week and I really like the sense of community here.

So far with the P&G I am doing pretty well, alot better results than when I try to warp stealth on the highway, though I read that the car will perform better after its breakin period. Overall much better than my previous vehicle so no complaints.

-Andy