New Prius

[This post is backdated.]

As it turns out, the new Prius in the family is actually mine. They had a used 2004 Millenium Silver Prius at Titus-Will in Tacoma which we opted to get. The car was originally put into service on April 27, 2004, making it a little under a year and three months old. It’s a Toyota Certified Used car with an initial mileage of 16,972 miles. My parents initially test drove it and I didn’t have a chance to drive it until we were done with the paperwork and leaving the lot. I can make brief comments on some functionality here, but not a whole lot.

The drive is a very interesting one in this car, and is actually much more enjoyable for me than it would be in a normal car. Since I’m hearing impaired, the big thing for me is cabin noise, which the Prius handles excellently. At low speeds with only the battery running, nothing can be heard but whatever music is playing at the time — at highway speeds, it’s still possible for me to hear the sound with a much lower volume setting than I might otherwise have to use. Both great advantages.

Tons upon tons of information is available about this car, but the real kicker for me was that, at least in terms of overall operation, there is little difference from a standard car. There is still a gearshift and responsive steering — the only difference is that the Prius has an environmentally sound PZEV rating. Admittedly, this car is not going to solve all the environmental problems in the world, but it does reduce the footprint a single driver (and his or her passengers) have on the environment. I once mentioned the Leave No Trace hiking philosophy when discussing the Prius on this blog, and that definitely rings true.

Anyway, I made it home and pulled into my parking slot with 17,005 miles on the odometer. A very comfortable car, though I didn’t have much chance to test very much of it out. The consumption screen is very useful (and I managed to get at least one instance of 100+ MPG displaying on there). I turned on one of the area’s classical music stations on the way home and enjoyed being able to make the drive myself.

Further notes and impressions to follow.

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