My mom likes to tell the story of how in my toddler days my favorite phrases were New Car and Old Car. When I’d ride in the back seat of the car I’d shout out New Car or Old Car to every car that would go by. In two weeks, I’ll get to say buh-bye to our Old Car and hello to a New Car. We decided to take the plunge and order the ultimate commuter car, the Toyota Prius.
Apparently Priuses are in such demand that you can’t find one on a lot anywhere. I tried a local dealership, two in the Cities and one in Sioux Falls before settling on ordering one from another local dealer. They were willing to take the Hyundai Sonata that we’ve had for 5 years off our hands, so that was a bonus (that car has been squeaking and squealing almost as loud as Amelia for the past six months). So our magnetic gray Prius will be arriving in approximately 2 weeks – hopefully in enough time for our trip to Branson.
The Prius is a pretty different car – it doesn’t have a normal transmission. You don’t feel any difference when you shift between gears. There’s also no standard manual transmission shift – to put it into park, you hit a button labeled P. I’m sure that’s going to result in a crash one of these days. It also has a computer screen that’s used to manage your heat, audio and other controls and it shows a backup camera when you throw it in reverse. It will take me at least a year before I stop looking backwards when I put it in reverse.
Hopefully we can enjoy the 50 miles per gallon and I know we’ll enjoy the $788 tax credit. I can’t fit into the car very well, so that should be interesting. Good thing I’m not growing anymore.
Eric's space 