Before I launch into this post I need to confess something first.
I never drove the Prius before we bought it.
It’s crazy and kind of stupid, I know. Mark test drove it, with the salesperson crushed in the back with Emma and Sarah, and me in the passenger seat. The second time we test drove it – when Toyota deemed us to be more serious – the salesman didn’t tag along and we were allowed to take it out on our own. Again, I sat in the passenger seat and just watched (and asked the important questions).
I was nervous about driving it. It looked scary. And weird. It had a pushbutton start! And no real key! And there was a strange joystick-like gear shift thing that didn’t work like a gear shift! And it’s so quiet you can’t tell if it’s on or not! And most importantly, what if I crashed/scratched/blew up a car we didn’t own?
I regret my lack of nerve during the testdriving stage. I am better than this, and I don’t like fear getting the better of me. Letting fear control my life is a big mistake, a dangerous habit to fall into because FEAR can edge out REASON and take over my life and affect its outcome. But that is neither here nor there.
I am happy to report that I have now driven the car (more than Mark has) and I absolutely love it.
WHAT A RELIEF.
There are a couple of general misconceptions floating around that I’d like to address for a moment.
1) The Prius is expensive.
We snagged a deal at our Toyota dealer that included a few rebates. Bottom line, all in, once we get our rebate we will have paid just over $27,000. I have a pretty good feeling this is in the same price range of many minivans and SUVs out there on the market today. For some reason there’s this idea out there that you have to be rich to buy a Prius. Newsflash! We’re not rich! We needed a new car* and felt really strongly that our choice needed to reflect the times in which we are living. We want to live small. It had to be fuel efficient. We wanted to do what we could to minimize our carbon footprint. Every dollar we spend is a vote for the kind of world in which we want to live.
* Certainly, it can be argued that if we REALLY felt strongly about our environment we’d give up our car entirely, and rely on Vrtucar or OC-Transpo to get around town. We’re not in a position to give up our wheels completely.
2) It’s a wienermobile.
By “wienermobile” I mean “nerdy” or “girly” or “pantywaist.” Automobile marketing to woman and men is wildly different. I find it totally hilarious that marketers have convinced everyone that MEN need MANLY cars and that everything else is wimpy and weak. Men’s vehicles are equated with speed or capacity to haul. Manly cars are fast or dirty (or both!); they’re marketed as speed machines designed to hug curves tighter than Pamela Anderson’s T-shirts, tough mud-splattered pickup trucks or 4×4 SUVs slicing through old growth forests. Because the unspoken truth is that every man is harbouring a 12-year old boy inside of them.
Women’s (read: MOM) cars are quiet and comfortable, with focus on cupholders, storage, and entertainment to keep the kiddies quiet. I find this mildly insulting although I do appreciate the need for cupholders.
The Prius can’t easily be lumped into either of these categories. Should we make up a name of it? Eco-geek? Eco-chic? :) It’s not utilitarian like many cars out there (I would classify our old Mazda as a utilitarian car – low on style but gets you from A to B). The Prius is neither a sexxxy sportscar nor is it a big bully on the road or a couch on wheels. It is comfortable; a mid-size sedan that feels like you’re sitting in a cockpit when you’re driving it. And it’s smart, oh so smart, and thoughtful. The Prius makes it’s own statement. But then again, doesn’t every car make some kind of statement about its owner? (I want to know, what does your car say about you?)
We reflected long and hard about the kind of car we needed. This is what we knew:
- We are a family of four (plus one small dog)
- We have always been a one-car family
- Most of the driving we do is in the city
- Fuel efficiency and emissions are important to us
- We never have the need to transport more people
- We seldom have the need to transport large amounts of stuff
In short: it is the perfect car for us.
Driving the Prius is a dream. As I mentioned in my other post, I feel like I’m gliding around the city when I’m behind the wheel. When we stop at a light (or are stuck in a jam) the car is perfectly silent. I’ve taken to turning the radio off, that’s how much I enjoy the quiet. It’s downright relaxing to sit at a stoplight. It has done wonders for my mental health.
A strange thing has happened. It’s actually become fun to drive. But it’s a different kind of fun. It’s not “how fast we can go” fun. Thanks to the car’s unique dashboard design I’ve started playing “how low can we go” kind of fun. Like a video game.
I’m not the first one who’s made this connection. I love this line from this review: “Earth geeks and mileage freaks will spend hours away from World of Warcraft coaxing ever-high fuel economy out of the 2010 Prius.” It cracks me up (mostly because it’s true!) even though I don’t play W.o.W.
Driving in the Most Economical Way Possible has become a game to me, and the dashboard is entirely to blame. The only way it could be more addictive is if Toyota installed a tetris game right into the dashboard. (You can see a photo of the display here. Scroll down to “More Subdued Efficiency Displays.”)
As for the lack of traditional car key? It’s practically the thing I love most. There’s a key fob (that’s not the part I love, the fob is actually a little too big and awkward for my taste) which contains a sensor. I keep it in my purse. In order to unlock the car I don’t actually have to do anything with it. It just stays in my purse, and when I get near the car and touch the handle it magically unlocks. And when I sit down (with the fob/sensor still in my purse) the car starts at the push of a button. COOL.
I am oddly proud of our choice of family car, and I can’t say I was proud of our last car. I didn’t feel anything about it. It was just a car, after all. The Prius is a state of mind.