Because of a failed test of the immovable object/unstopped force conundrum, the car that I had been driving, a dandy 11-year-old Camry complete with bike rack and a back window that would lower itself when it felt like it, is now dead, hood crumpled, engine collapsed, body towed by a man with Mr. T style gold chains and a German Shepherd. And just like that, in an instant, I had no transportation, and I was thinking that I'd have to start riding my bike to work, which really wouldn't be too bad except that now the temperature is reaching 100 and the commute would be a bit sweaty.
So I picked up the phone and tried to call in a couple of favors, hoping that doing so would let me scam a new Prius without having to sign up on the waiting list. Of course, as usual, no matter what I did, no matter who owed me, I got bumpkis. But then someone who works in my department mentioned that she knew a sales guy at the Toyota dealership. She called him. Instantly, he called me and told me that he had two (two!) Prius' on the lot. So being the eager fellow I am, I waited until after dinner and took everyone to the dealership to see the cars, which was a little too late because there was a woman negotiating the buy one of the cars right then (one was used, one new - she, of course, wanted the new one). Bummer.
A note about the Prius: I've been angling to get a Prius for a couple of years now, but really it made no sense for me to get one, since it would easily take another few years for me to drive my Camry into the ground. The Prius, though, had a great techno mystique to it. It gets 60 miles a gallon (at least that's what the sticker says) by running on a combination gas motor and electric motor. It has a funky touch screen on the dash where you can see how much energy you're using, how much you're recharging, and where it's all going.
Once, about two years ago, I test drove the Honda Insight, a two-seater that gets about 70 miles a gallon. With kids, though, a two-seater is out. Plus, on the test drive, every time an 18-wheeler drove by me (a common occurrence here on Interstate 40) I felt as though I was going to fly off into the sun, propelled by the trucker's wake.
The Prius that was left at the dealership (the used one) was white with a few dings in it. It cost more than the new one so I wasn't very interested. The woman wanting the new one was going to take it home for the night while she decided, so I told the car salesman to call me in the morning if she decided not to buy it. (We did, however, test drive the used one, just to make sure I could work the pedals - I was afraid they'd be too small for my Frankenstein feet; this is why I cannot drive a Mini - and to make sure all the kids could fit in the back seat. Everything fit, pedaled, and worked great.)
The next morning the salesman (er - sales consultant) called me and said the woman wasn't going to buy the car. Apparently her husband was angry that she hadn't consulted him about the car and had put the kibosh on the purchase. And just like that the car, if I wanted it, was mine.
I drove it the rest of the afternoon, back to work and to a board meeting, just to get a feeling for it. It's a great car: zippy, comfy, quiet, and it doesn't belch out a coal factory's worth of carbon monoxide. It's also a little creepy. When you come to a red light (or any other time you're supposed to be idling) the engine shuts off, and the car simply sits there, silent, as if I had just stalled. There's no rumble, no vibration (well, Elvis Costello on the stereo doesn't count). Yet when you push the accelerator, the car hops to a start and you're off. It's pretty amazing.
I've had it for about a week now, have washed it twice, and park it away from the behemoths at work (gigantic pickup trucks with always-empty beds) and SUV's that weigh more than Godzilla. So far I'm averaging 41.9 miles a gallon (the touch-screen dashboard display reports this information to me constantly), but I know I can do much better than that. I need to get a better feeling for the pedals and how to drive the car on hills.
Perhaps, next week, I'll start driving barefoot. Maybe that will get me past the 50 miles a gallon mark.
Even better, maybe I'll just start pushing it around town. I'm sure the gas milage will be great if I do that.
