Afterthought

Technically this blog is over but every once in a while I might drop in with an afterthought or two.
I've had my convertible back for a few days already and still getting used to the low seated noisy driving. I think I got a little too attached to the Prius.
Well I decided to do some research about getting a hybrid and I realized something, battery life. Being a fan of Hondas and Toyotas, and being the previous owner of an Acura that was just as old as me, I know that their engines last long, at least 200,000 miles. My Acura was 220,000+ when I sold it. Since Hybrids being available to the middle class is fairly new, we don't know yet how long these batteries are going to last. Another thing, because this is fairly new, so I doubt there is very much competition out there when it comes to repairing or replacing the battery so that right now is probably very expensive.
According to Toyota's website and other sites, the Toyota Prius has already reached 50 MPG while Honda is still in the mid 40s. A plus for me with Honda is that the Civic hybrid is a sedan, as I said before, I'm not a fan of hatchbacks.
Although I'm definitely considering getting the new Toyota Prius that has solar panels, one thing bugs me, I severely doubt this car will be available in the next few years when I'm ready for a new one. The idea is great, but how many people are going to benefit for it? If you live in Southern California like me, where all we have left is sunshine, it'll work. Or in other sunny locations like Florida and Texas, those can be very beneficial, but what about the rest of the country?

Conclusion

So I turned in the Prius yesterday and got my convertible back. As great as the Prius was, I missed driving with the top down and the wind in my hair. So now here's the big question, will I get a Prius? Well a hybrid yes, Prius, I still need to think about it.
During this week long test drive I averaged about 40 MPG both city and highway but I had the AC on to ice cold most of the time, plus it's the hottest time of the year, so I'll assume my yearly MPG would be around 42. My current car has an MPG of about 21. With the current gas rate, I'm looking to save about $750 on gas everyyear.
If I were to get a new car with a V4 right now I'll be paying about $15,000. According to the Toyota website and ads, the Prius ranges from $20,000 to $27,000. Since the car was unbelievablity quiet, I'll take off another $2,000 for the price. That means I will have to drive the car for 4 to 17 years before the savings in gas become apparent. But according to the latest line of Prius's, the MPG has improved to 51/48 plus there's solar panels, not to mention that I live in Southern California, (Sunshine is all we have left) the wait is probably only 4 to 10 years.
Here is the main thing that I didn't like about the Prius, it was a hatchback, and according to the website, they're all hatchbacks. I'm not exactly a big fan of hatchbacks. If Toyota would make a new line of hybrids that weren't hatchbacks this wouldn't be in the equation.
As I mentioned, my parents also seemed to be fans of the Prius, but here's another factor, we're Honda people. My first car was a 1986 Acura Legend and my parent's current car is a 2002 Honda Accord. In the past we have owned 2 Toyotas and a Buick, the Honda is currently our favorite, although Toyota isn't that far behind. Especially with my Acura, we know that Hondas last long. I went to check out Honda's hybrids. There's the Honda Civic and the Honda Insight, we've had our eyes on the Insight, which has a starting price of $20,000.
So what is my conclusion. For me, at the very least I see myself driving my Nissan convertible for at least another 5 years. I want to drive it throughout medical school. For my parents, the Honda has at least another 50,000 or five years left. Hopefully in the next five years the competition for hybrids will be so great that the prices won't be that much greater and the MPG will be much better. The whole solar panel idea is really intriguing so hopefully at least Honda will have incorporated the idea by then.

Day 8

Well the repairs to my car aren't done so I don't have to turn in the Prius until tomorrow.
Today wasn't really that much different from yesterday but I have noticed this. Like any other car, if you are stuck in traffic with a lot of stop and go driving, you will have a horrible MPG, just the Prius doesn't have one taht horrible.
Well I have to turn in the car tomorrow. I'll be writing my conclusion soon.

Day 7

I'll probably have to turn in the car tomorrow after work. I'm getting a little too attached to it.
This is pretty cool. I left for work at 7 am this morning and it's about a 14 miles commute, all city driving. I decided to check my average MPG once I got to work, it was 60.6, VERY IMPRESSIVE!!!! But you also have to factor in the fact that next to no one is on the road that early in the morning.
My drive home is another story. I left for work at 4:15 pm and got home at around 5 pm. That is the start of the rush hour. Although the streets aren't exactly a parking lot, you find yourself with your foot on the brake a lot. When I got home it said that my average MPG for the last 28 miles was, 43.5. That's an average 26.4 MPG for my drive home, pretty low. But in the morning the AC isn't needed, in the afternoon it is, without AC I'm guessing the MPG is going to be about 30. Over a 30 MPG difference from driving to work and driving from work.
Well gotta say goodbye to the car tomorrow. I'm going to miss it. In a few days I'll have my conclusion and full opinion about the Prius and hybrids.

Day 6

Nothing really exciting happened today. Typical day driving to work and back. I still managed roughly a 42.2 MPG.
I am going to have to turn in my car at the very latest, Wednesday afternoon. Now I have this attachment to the car. I'll talk about everything I'm going to miss, when I'm actually missing it. Well I need to be at work early tomorrow morning so off to bed.

Day 5

So after work I decided to take a drive to Los Angeles to visit some family. Los Angeles is twice as far as Palm Springs, so I get to put my true driving to the test.
The highway going to Los Angeles is usually one of two things, extremely congested or speeding through. Since today is Sunday and it was the afternoon so traffic wasn't so bad. Everyone was driving at 80, 90 MPH so I had to follow. This is where I see the Prius becoming not so fuel efficent as it says. When you are driving at the speed limit, 60 or 70 mph, it still tends to stay within the EPA MPG of 45. When you start going over the speed limit at 80 or 90 MPH is when the car decides to use more of the gas engine then the electric battery.
In the car there's this screen, that shows you what is getting powered and and the car is relying on what for power. On the bottom it also shows you what's your MPG consumption. Anywhere from 0 when you parked to 99.9 when you are solely running on the electric battery. I noticed a button on the screen that took me to a page telling me how much electricity was used and generated. At the bottom it showed my average MPG for today's driving. It said 42.2 MPG for the last 163 miles. That's pretty much my whole trip to LA, both city and highway driving. EPA estimates say that the Prius should be 48 city and 43 highway. My hunch is that 80 and 90 MPG that hurt it. But still, 42.2 MPG still isn't bad.
Well I got 3 days left to experience this car, let's see what other experiences I get. Since I found taht little MPG feature, for the remaining 3 days I will be keeping an eye on it to see my average.

Day 4

After 3 days of driving, starting out with a quarter tank of gas, I finally needed a fill.
Another day off so I went to Palm Springs for a little bit of fun. One big upside to this test drive is that I get to experience “realistic” highway driving. Today I finally got a real experience of the Toyota Prius.
Let’s do the math. According to my form with the car rental agency and the odometer, I’ve driven about 130 miles in the last 3 days, all city driving. This morning I needed about 3 gallons of gas to get the tank back to where it started. So that’s about 43 MPG. According to the EPA estimate the 2009 Toyota Prius has 48 city and 45 highway. Since it’s a burning oven outside here in So Cal, I have the air conditioner on as low as it can go. So the 43-MPG is quite reasonable.
Usually before I go to Palm Springs I have to make sure my tank is full, it holds about 15 gallons with an MPG of 20. By the time I get back home I’m lucky if I still have a half tank left. I left for Palm Springs with about 4 gallons of gas in my tank. I get back and I’ve only used about 3 gallons. That means I drove to Palm Springs with an MPG of just under 50, I conserved the AC this time.
So far a hybrid doesn’t seem like a bad choice for my next car. I have about 3 days left. Since I work tomorrow morning but I don’t have to work after that until Monday night, I’m thinking about one more long distance trip. I have family in LA; maybe I’ll pay them a visit.

Day 3

Today and tomorrow are my days off so I get to use the car for casual purposes. One extremely cool thing about this car is that it is SO QUIET!!!! Which is a major plus for me.
I usually work pretty late and I'm not home until about midnight. By 6 or 7am in the morning I'm usually woken up by the sound of someone starting their car. Well this morning my dad wanted to get a little test of the car so I took him for a spin around the block. My brother didn't even know we were gone until 5 minutes later when the phone was ringing off the hook.
Later today my mom decided she wanted to go for a spin so we went shopping. She too was surprised how quiet the car is, not only outside but inside as well. While you are driving you don't hear the engine. Another major plus, my mom felt that this car is so still. When you stop at a red light, instead of having that feeling that "shaky" feeling that the car is still on, it actually feels like the car is parked.
So far 3 days into my week long test drive and I'm starting to really like it. I might not have made my conclusion about how much I like the Toyota Prius or hybrids but my parents surely have. Currently they have a 2002 Honda Accord and a 1998 Nissan Quest. Once the Honda gives way sometime within the next 5 or 10 years, the next car is definately going to be a hybrid. As for the Nissan, if there is a decent hybrid can out, there they will gladly trade it in under the Cash for Clunkers program.

Day 2

Well today started off on a very wrong foot. I'm backing out of my driveway and just as I clear my driveway the car just stops. Thinking I might have hit a button by mistake I stop the car and at least try to get back on the driveway but I'm still stuck. So there I am parked right in the middle of the road.
So I'm trying and trying to get my car started with no avail. I walk myself through step by step. I pull out the manual and follow those directions. So I have no choice but to call the car rental company. Since they are only located a mile away they hurry over.
As I'm waiting for them I decide to give it one more shot and the car just starts, just as help arrives.
So what was wrong? Neither me nor the person from the car rental agency can figure it out. Our best guess is that I probably held the Reverse too long which made the car think I was in Neutral.
Well I'll just keep an eye out to see if this problem persists.
Other than the early car trouble when I got off work tonight someone had apparently Silly Stringed the car, luckily that washes off just water, and while I'm driving home at midnight someone ran a red light and almost hit me. Luckily I stopped and the other car swerved.
On the bright side I found out that this car is a 2009.

Day 1

Well I got the car today, just in the knick of time to get to work.
I will say driving a Toyota Prius is going to take some getting used to. For starters there's no "key." There is a keyhole but that's only there for aesthetic purposes. There's this automatic thing to lock and unlock your door. It's automatic transmission but shifting it is just plain weird. The emergency break is also attached to that thing. Parking is a competely different matter. You have to press the "Park" button. Starting the car is something else. You plug your key in then you have to press the Power button. On top of all this, despite the car being a sedan, i feel like I'm sitting in a van or SUV. I just got this high up feeling that I got as a child sitting in the front seat of the family van.
This car is going to take some getting used to.