So after a test run at Chicago North Toyota, the Prius is out.
I know, I know. It failed the test drive test, which is simple: “Both drivers of a vehicle must take the wheels out for a spin and approve. If either driver doesn’t like the car enough to make faces, the car is out.” There’s a side note of ‘If either driver can’t figure out how to turn the car on…’ but that’s sort of understood. Personally, I feel the biggest problem was the Toyota guy (who shall remain nameless) and his ‘tutoring’ of how to drive.
The hunt continues!
I still love the Prius. I do. I thought it was lovely to drive, it felt like a perfect car to me. The problem is the other driver had serious issues with it, to the point that she was miserable and at that point I explained that since this is going to be our car, then if we’re not both happy with it, we’re not getting the car. Each of us has the power of veto, unlimited vetoes, and we don’t have to justify them at all.
Her problems were exactly what other people had warned us about, and it’s very clearly a ‘feel’ problem since I experienced none of these.
- Poor acceleration
She had problems getting the car up to the right speed fast enough, or without jerking. That could be learned, however. - Hiccup when the car went from EV to fuel
Possibly this was the reason she felt jerking with acceleration. - Joystick gearshift
Unlike conventional cars, the Prius has a joystick gear shift which snaps back to center after you change gears. So if you shift into drive, the only way you know is from the heads up display in the dash. And reverse? Well the car beeps. - The car beeps in reverse
I’ve been told that software geeks can turn this off, but damn it was annoying. - Poor visibility out the back
The angel of the hatchback gives you about half to two-thirds the visibility of a regular sedan.
Any one of these alone could be dealt with. In fact, we probably could have handled two. But when she got out of the car, I could tell she was miserable and unhappy. Still, I took it for a short spin myself (and after taking a wrong turn, showed her I do know how to handle speed bumps and a left turn across traffic), and I was delighted. If we had the cash to be a two car family, I would snatch this puppy up and live happy. Other than the park button (yeah, you don’t shift into park, you press a button), it was exactly the kind of Star Trek car I’ve fancied for … well, ever.
Shut up.
Anyway, I mentioned before that the Toyota Guy was annoying. Boy howdy. He was a total mush-mouth, not enunciating, and had a tendency to creep into your personal space. He was certainly friendly, but he garbled his explanations, answered the questions the wrong way, and let’s just say there was an incident that ended with a dent and a serious scratch in a car that wasn’t entirely our fault, but wasn’t entirely his either. When the managers pulled him off us and gave us a nice, quiet Dennis, we liked him much better. He was calm, collected, and other than forgetting to tell me where to take a turn twice (resulting in my aforementioned left across traffic), I liked driving with him.
When we talked to the Toyota manager, it was very different from the Dodge/Jeep/Chrystler guys. They asked when we were looking to buy (this month, we hope), what details, etc etc. It was a polite conversation. Then I asked what the base price was for the entry level Highlander Hybrid. $38k. I blinked and said okay, but then the man went on to explain that there weren’t any incentives just then or deals, but there might be tomorrow (something about the dealer’s owner not posting them…) and said we could call back or check online. I had visited them online before coming in, since I’m that way, and I knew what he was talking about. Then he added that they don’t really haggle much on the hybrids, and they are going to cost a few thousand more, flat out. I really liked his honesty, his openness and the fact that he didn’t try to hustle. He listened and understood.
Let’s compare this to the, at first, very nice, Dodge/Jeep/Chrysler fellows. We saw them on Wednesday. They pushed the hard sell. We walked away. Told them we’d have an idea by Sunday. They called to offer a ‘better deal’ on Thursday. Determined they weren’t for us by Friday, but did not call because I had food poisoning. Saturday they called, twice. A message was left Saturday late night to tell them thank you, but no thank you. Tuesday they called and got my BFF in a foul mood, who told them we were still done. Apparently she got so annoyed that when she told me about it she said “I wish I’d said “This conversation is now as over as Hammer pants,” but I didn’t think that fast.” They really were nice people, but compared to the others I’ve talked to, I don’t like their push.
At this point, we’re stepping down a little. I made up a master chart thingy to help sort out costs and what not. The low-end will be the Scion (a friend of mine is cheering, I can hear her). The high end is the Mercury, of all things, which is not the most expensive, but the most I’m willing to consider. I’m waiting on a call back about the test drive for that, though, so we shall see what we see.
For now, I’m riding my bike.