It’s not a car. It’s my Prius.

I bought my first SAAB in 1983, because it was a car ahead of its time. With front-wheel drive, McPherson struts, disc brakes, 5-speeed transmissions, and the first turbo, these quirky cars routinely went well beyond 200,000 miles. But they don’t make SAABs anymore so last year I bought a Prius.

What surprises me about owning a Prius is the reaction I get from people when I tell them. I get the raised eyebrows of surprise that scream: “you drive a what???” I guess that’s because the Prius is the bane of jokes about slow acceleration and smallness and the sexual prowess or orientation or both of its owner. I don’t get these jokes.

My Prius might be the best car I’ve ever owned. It is far and away the most Quirky. It’s easier if you don’t compare a Prius with a car. It is so different, unique, and advanced that “car” doesn’t cut it. It’s not a car. It’s a Prius.

Toyota designed the Prius to be a Partial Zero-Emissions Vehicle, or PZEV. They did that. And in the process, they built a simple, safe, reliable, low-maintenance, quiet car that gets amazing gas mileage.

It rides like a heavy car, because it is. A battery and electric motor weigh a lot and keeping that weight low creates a low center of gravity that makes it almost impossible to tip. It’s built like a racecar. The body uses spoilers just like NASCAR racers to glue the car to the road at highway speeds. Even high crosswinds on the desert are barely noticeable, and on rainy or snowy surfaces the down force really sticks the car to the road. The engine uses a timing chain like my SAABs that don’t require replacement at 100,000 miles. It’ll burn the cheapest gas you can find. It has a continuously variable transmission, so there aren’t any gears to wear out. The power steering, cruise control, and air conditioner are all electric and remarkable. The interior is bigger than a Corolla, smaller than a Camry. It’s a long, tall, thin car with a turning radius tighter than a Mini. There’s more front seat headroom and rear seat legroom than most SUVs. And it’s faster than anyone expects because the electric motor (with maximum torque at zero RPM) works with the engine when you accelerate.

The buzz on the street is that I’d better be ready to replace the battery and it’ll cost an arm and a leg. Not so. The batteries aren’t failing as the critics predicted. Replacement batteries go for under $1,000. And YouTube videos show how to replace individual cells easily.

I see no reason why my Prius can’t match the 315,000 miles that my 1989 Saab 900 convertible logged before the odometer stopped working.

With BMW, Porsche, and Mercedes jumping on the Hybrid bandwagon for performance improvement it’ll just be a matter of time before Hybrids will become sexy and we’ll all be driving one.

 

Blues. You?