New 2011 Prius III owner

I got mine Monday. It was snowing. Yep, the weather had been getting into mud season here in the Hudson Valley, and Monday it snowed! It's also snowing today.

A friend told me that his older model sucks in snow, but I find that it's not too bad in the snow, as long as you are light on the pedals. Don't let it slip, and you're okay.

At any rate, I wanted a sun roof, because I like the sunshine coming in from above, even on a cloudy day, so I got the only one on the lot. There seems to be a run on them around here. There were many more on the lot a couple of weeks ago, and only a handful remain. I am glad that I made the decision to double my fuel economy from my 2000 Grand Am!

So I have put almost 200 miles on it already. It seems that I have been driving a lot more in the past couple of days, and the gauge hasn't budged but two notches! I guess the gas gauge is like all gas gauges, and very inaccurate.

I call it my spaceship. When I open the door, you can find me saying, "spaceships don't need keys. They know who their owner is, and only open for him!" The dash is futuristic, and it even sounds like a something out of a Science Fiction movie, when you get going on electric. I love how the engine shuts off when you get to a stop. If all cars did this, we could save so much fuel, it's not funny. It's not too hard to do either. Okay, I babble.

I am enjoying this learning experience. This vehicle is great in that it keeps you aware of how you are consuming fuel. I just have to learn how to pilot it, to get maximum fuel efficiency. I figure that in a month or so, I should be at a higher level of proficiency and saving a good amount of money... Especially when gas goes up to five bucks a gallon.

Everyone is amazed at how much room it has inside. I tell them it's kind of like a TARDIS, and uses some of the same Gallifrean technology to accomplish this.

Last night I noticed a neat thing. The joystick on the console is illuminated by an LED from above. This is just so kewl! They could have run a wire and backlit it, but they did this crazy thing and mounted an LED in the headliner, near the courtesy light switch, that illuminates ONLY the joystick in the dark. I just think that this is so unusual, artful, and kewl, I can't wait to take someone, anyone for a spin in it at night!

Oh well, when the weather clears, I'll take a few pics, and post them.
Until then, Live long and prosper!