While I was waiting for my car to be serviced at Sangera Subaru on Friday, I walked down to Toyota to see if they had a new Prius, and there one was. I eagerly approached the first salesman I could see (Before he even had a chance to approach me! Ha, that'll show 'em!) and asked to test drive it. And it's a really nice car.
The seats are really comfortable, and are made of a kind of weird faux-suede. There's a lot of room in the cabin, with a lot of nooks and crannies to put things. The split hatchback window was a little weird when I first looked in the rear view mirror, but once I was driving I didn't even notice it.
Some of the conventions about where things are in a car are so changed in the Prius that I was disoriented even after all the countless pictures I'd looked at. The digital speedometer was way up by where the huge windshield meets the dash, and yet it's large numbers were very easy to read. The other digital displays near the speedometer were just as easy to read. The shifter is very strange, and is basically just a little lever that you push to select either R, D, N, or "B" (not sure what that was), and after you select one the lever pops back to center. The steering wheel of the car was covered with controls that I didn't really play with very much, other than adjusting the cabin temperature and feeling the immediate change in the AC levels.
When I pulled onto the freeway, I found myself going 70 without feeling any real rev of the engine. It just did its CVT thing and suddenly I was going 70, no trouble. It turned very nicely too, and the drive was very smooth on that normally very bumpy section of 99.
Once I was driving, the navigation system turned on, and it started telling me how to get back to the Toyota dealer. I was not at all expecting the thing to speak the directions to me, but speak it did. I'm not sure I would use the voice navigation feature, but watching the map with the little icon representing my car moving around was really really neat. It felt more like a real life video game than anything else I've ever experienced.
And of course the center console computer had a lot of options that I barely scratched the surface of, but the neatest one I found was that you can enter in logs of when you have all of your servicing done (tires rotated, oil changed, etc), and then the car will apparently tell you when some maintenance is scheduled to be done.
Basically, if I were only using my car for commuting, or driving home to visit Bakersfield, I would have been crazy not to get this car. But every time I pay my car bill (the Prius I would have gotten would have been $5000 more than my Subaru), and every time I go snowboarding, I'll remind myself I made the right choice for now. If I'm just patient, I'm sure we'll see Prius-like technologies showing up in many other cars in the not-too-distant future, so hopefully I'll get to enjoy such luxuries (because that's really what they are) in my next car. Which I really shouldn't be thinking about yet, because jesus, I only got my car a month ago.
Hm, I think I need to remember to make a conscious effort to bypass the whole 18-month computer cycle that's pretty much hard-wired into my head when I'm thinking about cars.
Le sigh.
I believe the “B” “gear” is the option that will recharge the break w/ engine breaking so you can use it when going down a hill…
The B gear is for engine braking; this is similar to down-shifting on a manual transmission and allows you to use the brakes less when (usually) going down long/steep hills.
Aw c’mon,
Listen to your conscience…It’s saying…” I know you’re not a tree hugger, but near 0 emissions, 52 or so avg. city and freeway mileage, all the gadgetry and roominess, plus just think freedom from Middle Eastern countries!…Oh, and that global warming thing - ( I live in Seattle and last year had weather like San Diego, whilst in Orlando, FL it rained all year in 2002-3! ) Hmmmm…and I see you mentioned Jesus…Don’t blame Him for buying an inferior Japanese Subaru!!!
Peace.
board peeing
TUESDAY FAT