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Prius is #1
Jul. 10th, 2010 12:06 amI just bought a 2005 Prius, and I absolutely love it. It's everything I hoped it would be.
First, it's fun to drive. The acceleration getting onto the interstate is better than my old Neon. It's nothing like, say, a Civic Hybrid, which seems to strain. The Prius kicks right in. The wheel is responsive. I love the way the engine shuts off when I'm stopped; every car should do that. I still get a little confused sometimes when I think the engine is "dying" when I pause at an interchange, when really it's switching to battery, and this confusion on my part also amuses me.
Sitting in the car, I'm honestly a little too tall for it. My husband dislikes driving it because the front windshield cuts off part of his upper vision. It cuts off a little of my vision, but not a lot, and I'm getting used to it. The reduced size of the back windshield still bothers me. I have no problem seeing through the tinted lower half, but what I really want to see is on the upper edge. I suppose this problem also is because I'm tall. The side visibility is great. My rearview mirror doesn't have a night setting, which worried me at first, but I suspect that it may polarize the light. Headlights don't pierce my vision, either in the rearview or the sideview, though they aren't dim. My rearview mirror has settings on it where it can take the place of a garage door opener or other remote, which is pretty cool.
I love the open space between the dash and the middle console. I love the way the cupholders close. There's a lot of storage options, so finally I'll have a good place to put my map and CDs and cassette tapes. Did I mention I have a cassette player? A 6-disk CD changer? Premium JBL sound? I do. I also have Bluetooth, so if I ever get a phone with Bluetooth I can call through the car. The Prius has voice recognition; I can talk to it and it understands me. So far we've manage to change from radio to CD, to start navigation (did I forget to say it has GPS?), to pause navigation, and to find coffee houses (not actually what we wanted it to do)..
Basically, it's a giant new toy that I'm still learning about. I haven't read the owner's manual yet, but I will. I'll have to. Too much is new.
First, it's fun to drive. The acceleration getting onto the interstate is better than my old Neon. It's nothing like, say, a Civic Hybrid, which seems to strain. The Prius kicks right in. The wheel is responsive. I love the way the engine shuts off when I'm stopped; every car should do that. I still get a little confused sometimes when I think the engine is "dying" when I pause at an interchange, when really it's switching to battery, and this confusion on my part also amuses me.
Sitting in the car, I'm honestly a little too tall for it. My husband dislikes driving it because the front windshield cuts off part of his upper vision. It cuts off a little of my vision, but not a lot, and I'm getting used to it. The reduced size of the back windshield still bothers me. I have no problem seeing through the tinted lower half, but what I really want to see is on the upper edge. I suppose this problem also is because I'm tall. The side visibility is great. My rearview mirror doesn't have a night setting, which worried me at first, but I suspect that it may polarize the light. Headlights don't pierce my vision, either in the rearview or the sideview, though they aren't dim. My rearview mirror has settings on it where it can take the place of a garage door opener or other remote, which is pretty cool.
I love the open space between the dash and the middle console. I love the way the cupholders close. There's a lot of storage options, so finally I'll have a good place to put my map and CDs and cassette tapes. Did I mention I have a cassette player? A 6-disk CD changer? Premium JBL sound? I do. I also have Bluetooth, so if I ever get a phone with Bluetooth I can call through the car. The Prius has voice recognition; I can talk to it and it understands me. So far we've manage to change from radio to CD, to start navigation (did I forget to say it has GPS?), to pause navigation, and to find coffee houses (not actually what we wanted it to do)..
Basically, it's a giant new toy that I'm still learning about. I haven't read the owner's manual yet, but I will. I'll have to. Too much is new.
