When Husbandito and I drove across the country last year, we rented a car so that we wouldn’t rack up miles on our own vehicles. I reserved a ‘mid-sized’ vehicle but the rental company gave us a double upgrade to a ‘premium’ because they were too weak to resist my charm and snappy wit didn’t have any other cars available.
We ended up driving 8,000+ miles in a behemoth favored by AARP set: a Mercury Grand Marquis. The car was a beast–with chrome trim and UTAH plates–I know you’re jealous! It got about 9 miles to the gallon, but was plush inside. After I got the hang of maneuvering the ship–it was akin to piloting oh, say, The Love Boat after driving my tiny chariot (Honda Fit)–we did fine. Here’s a picture of the beast at the conclusion of last year’s trip:
In light of gas prices, for this year’s road trip we reserved a Toyota Prius, a hybrid that gets 50 miles to the gallon. As our departure draws closer, I’ve been plagued with misgivings about the comfort level of the Prius because I’ve never driven one. Luckily, one of my students owns one and took me for a spin yesterday.
The interior of the car is so nifty–a square key “plugs into” the ignition, and you depress a button to start the car. I didn’t even know the car was running because it was so quiet* and when the student shifted into reverse, a video screen illuminated with live feed of what was behind us. The cabin was comfy without being snug, and storage was ample. We purred around the neighborhood and I found myself wishing I needed to buy a new car–because after reading the reviews and test driving it, I was smitten!
I’ve thoughtfully included a picture of the interior with labels for your enjoyment. Have you ever ridden in a Prius or better yet, would you buy one?
* apparently the Prius is so quiet that it’s at the center of some lawsuits because people have been struck by them when they failed to hear their approach.
I REALLY like the Honda Fit.
Never driven in one, but our neighbors have one and I can attest to their almost-eerie silence. Seem like great cars though and you cannot beat their gas mileage.
Am I the only one disturbed that the mileage-telling-thing says “55″ but the horizon and the reflection in the sideview mirror are not blurred at all.
Oh, and economical cars are great! less for the silly pedestrians who too busy to stop, look, listen.
(I admit here, and nowhere else, I kinda would like to try an electric car)
I wouldn’t buy one only because you only get 50 miles to the gallon sometimes. My friend has a Prius (I think??) and if I remember correctly, it only gets 50 miles to the gallon under the right conditions (speed, amount of stopping/starting, etc).
HOWEVER, I think the coolest thing since sliced bread is a Vespa. 90 MILES TO THE GALLON. Beat that, Prius! Yeah, I know, it’s a scooter, so you can’t take it in the rain blah blah blah. That’s why you keep your CAR and use the Vespa for the around town and short commuting stuff that your CAR doesn’t get good gas mileage on, and use the car when it’s raining.
It’s hard being as smart as I am.
You could try “hypermiling.” The neat thing is that you can do as much or as little as you want (or dare).
Incidentally, why the Honda Fit? Why not the Honda Conniption, or the Honda Spasm?
Jeesh. I’m really bad at hreffing. Let’s try again:
h y p e r m i l i n g
pi: i love my Fit…but the Prius is preeetttyyy cool.
dishy: i second the gas mileage notion!
bouncer: the 55 is actually the miles PER gallon, not the speed. cool right?
Just thought you’d like to know that you made the big-time on WordPress — saw this post under “Travel!”
Go CWG!
@jimsmuse: OH MY GAWD!! i was going to write a snappy post today about how to get myself on that page!!! how ironic is that?!?!
i’m world famous! prepare for my domination of the blog-world!!!
You got your chocolate in my peanut butter!
Yeah well, you got your Prius in my ass!!!
Stupid quiet car. 
And give me damned chocolate back! Grrr…
Better than getting rear-ended by a Probe.