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On Friday night I took delivery of a 2007 Toyota Prius car. It is an expensive but very nice piece of machinery. It is very, very quiet compared to my old 1995 Subaru Impreza. It has every unnecessary yet cool electronic gadget imaginable. There are twenty-two pages in the manual explaining how the door locks work, for example. In the old days, you put the key in the slot and turned. Didn't need a lot of instructions. Now, all I need to do is walk up to the car with the electronic thing in my pocket, touch the door handle, and it unlocks. Then I can just get in and press the power button to start the hybrid system up, "key" still in my pocket. Very cool. Overall it is a much fancier car than I'm used to. Little compartments everywhere. Interior lights everywhere. Computerized air conditioning. CD changer. In the compartment between the front seats is a power jack and an audio input jack, perfect for the iPod.
It is, of course, a delight to have the engine stop when stopped at an intersection, or to roll around on battery power alone. I'm getting used to the brakes, which are sensitive and have an unusual feel due to the regenerative braking. The transitions between engine on and off are very smooth. The car produces all sorts of quiet noises at odd times as various pumps and motors turn on and off at the whim of one computer or another.
It is truly a great car for the geekier sorts. Some people spend lots of money on subwoofers so powerful that parts of the car are shaken loose by the sound. Some of us buy a car with a Dewar in the cooling system to store hot coolant after shutdown to warm up the engine faster if it's restarted later in the day, to warm the engine up faster in order to reduce emissions.
Oh yes, in 54 miles of mixed city and highway driving today, 49.0 miles/US gallon (4.8 l/100km or 58.8 miles/Imp. gallon).
( photo of new car in newly repaved parking space )
It is, of course, a delight to have the engine stop when stopped at an intersection, or to roll around on battery power alone. I'm getting used to the brakes, which are sensitive and have an unusual feel due to the regenerative braking. The transitions between engine on and off are very smooth. The car produces all sorts of quiet noises at odd times as various pumps and motors turn on and off at the whim of one computer or another.
It is truly a great car for the geekier sorts. Some people spend lots of money on subwoofers so powerful that parts of the car are shaken loose by the sound. Some of us buy a car with a Dewar in the cooling system to store hot coolant after shutdown to warm up the engine faster if it's restarted later in the day, to warm the engine up faster in order to reduce emissions.
Oh yes, in 54 miles of mixed city and highway driving today, 49.0 miles/US gallon (4.8 l/100km or 58.8 miles/Imp. gallon).
( photo of new car in newly repaved parking space )
