Automobile ramblings

Hi, I'm Marie, and I'm a car snob.

On Wednesday our Camry went in to be repaired (approximately $3500, I think) and we were given a rental car. I figured we'd end up with a GM or Ford product, and I'm not crazy about those. I like Toyotas, especially Camrys. I rented a Buick last summer that was a nice enough car, even luxurious, but it was a Buick. I just don't like Buicks. UPDATE: It was a Dodge. A nice Dodge, but I really hate Dodges. It all goes back to my ex-husband.

I'd planned to rent a car when I went to Orlando for A's birthday in January, but all they had left (I'm so sure) was a PT Cruiser, and I hate those things. For some reason they're just plain offensive to me. It's like a personal afront or something. I don't understand it, but it's there. So I refused the car and called J to come and get me at the airport. I simply would not pay to drive that thing.

Anyway, back to our current rental. It's a dark gray Toyota Prius Hybrid, and I'm totally smitten. It's not really pretty, but the seats are very comfortable and it feels like a big car in a small car's body. Not as much leg room as we'd like, but more than most small cars I've been in, and it has a full back seat.





It's an odd car. I can't really put it in words so I'll show you pictures.

This is the "key".



It's like no key I've ever seen. It's like a key fob for newer cars with keyless entry, but there's no KEY on it. It fits into a slot on the dashboard.



And you don't turn it to start the car. There's a big button above the slot, and you touch that to start it. You don't push it, you touch it.



The gear shift (well, it's an automatic, but I don't know what else to call it) is totally alien.

I still haven't figured out what "B" means. R, reverse, and D, drive. You just put your foot on the break, move the lever to the direction you want, and it goes into gear. Without any noise or effort. It just does it. UPDATE: It's for "brake", like when you're going down the mountain. In other vehicles we downshift to D2, but not in this one.

Park? Not on the lever. Again, foot on brake, then

touch P. That's it. Totally alien.

What I'm not crazy about is the display screen, but it can be turned off. If there's a screen anywhere in sight, I'm staring at it. I'm a product of the first generation of kids to have television. I've always thought that it's a good idea for airplanes to have videos that show how to use the seatbelts, etc. because if a tv is turned on, I'm looking at it. It's a curse, I tell you.

This isn't a clear shot; I didn't take the time to do a decent job since I was on my way into work. It shows the radio display; instead of buttons to push, it has a touch screen. There's also a sound screen for adjusting sound properties; I didn't get into that this morning. It was hard enough to drive a new, alien car and take photos while pushing buttons.

Okay, I was in the parking lot while I did all this. The car was not moving.

This screen shows the climate control system. So far we haven't quite figured out how to turn on and off the a/c, but we can adjust the temperature. Wednesday afternoon it was hot outside, so the air coming into the car was cool (see that top row of the display? It shows both the outside and inside temperature. That may not be new for you people, but for me it's really exciting.), and this morning, when it was chilly outside, the inside air was nice and warm.


I haven't explored this screen. I'm guessing it has a tripometer and stuff like that. As for language, well, wouldn't it be a wonderful idea to have it display say, Spanish or French, and really forget to watch the road?

Thank goodness it can be turned off.

I think I'm going to do some research and see just how much a car like this costs.

UPDATE: The only thing that I don't like about the car? It doesn't have XM radio. I've gotten very spoiled by XM. It can be gotten on a new car, though, and mine will have XM.

But it does have a cd player, so I can make do.