Now that I've had my Prius for a little over a week now, I find myself turning off the radio and the heater just to sit in silence at a stoplight. I don't turn them on until I hit the freeway. I still think it is pretty darn cool to sit in my car and not hear or feel the engine running. Am I the only one who does this?
Not at all. We've pretty much stopped listening to all audio in our cars with the exception of a little Enya. Not that we are forcing ourselves to, just that, there is something so very calming about the silence.
<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(beezy @ Apr 18 2006, 03:59 AM) [snapback]241395[/snapback]</div> Yes, and hopefully you'll get over it. Just listen to your radio. You're just adding to the smug levels in your city!
<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(beezy @ Apr 18 2006, 02:59 AM) [snapback]241395[/snapback]</div> I also shut off the display!
I almost always drive with the display off unless I'm using it to entertain passengers. As for the stereo, I admit I've shut it off several times to enjoy the sounds of silence....especially when cruising the neighborhood in stealth mode.
Sometimes I'll drive the whole 40-minute commute with the radio off. Even after I've gotten used to it, when I take someone to lunch for the first time, their initial response to the silence makes me love it all over again.
<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(beezy @ Apr 18 2006, 02:59 AM) [snapback]241395[/snapback]</div> In the beginning I enjoyed driving the prius with out any other sounds too, just simply to learn and hear how it operates at given times. Then once I hat the ambition again to listen to my XM-Radio, I noticed how much better I could observe and listen to the sound comming out of the speakers, and this gave the term Car radio a whole new meaning again, since there are not as many car typical disturbing noices in the Prius. Just imagin the relaxation therapy that arrives out of "driving" a Prius, this is one of those added features of operating a Hybrid Synergy Drive Vehicle, and is not mentioned anywhere in the "Sales" brochures of Toyota, propably because they did not want to pay medical fines for "claiming" this healt related attribute of driving the Prius. Ralph
I too enjoy driving home in silence, especially after a long day at work. I also enjoy driving with the windows down, but with temps in the mid-high 90's, I can't do that anymore. <_<
I cannot stand being without music in the car. Presently I have a CD with the Bach Cantata # 140 and the Bach Magnificat. I turn up the volume for the spectacular trumpet bits. I'll listen to the same CD for a week or more. I just can't get over it. When I observe other people's reaction to music, I think it affects me differently than most other people. It's kind of like a part of my awareness is flying on the notes of the music, and the way the different lines of music (in the case of Bach) weave around each other, in and out, up and down, round and about, almost forming a kind of intricate fabric, has a hypnotic quality. But I don't drive an awful lot. The last CD I was listening to was Passion Vega singing Spanish coplas (a kind of traditional Spanish ballad, often very poetic). It's the poetry, I think, that affects me with these. However, I love the lack of vibration when the engine shuts off at a stoplight, and I just think how stupidly other cars are designed because they don't have HSD.
<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(TonyPSchaefer @ Apr 18 2006, 10:14 AM) [snapback]241447[/snapback]</div> Isn't it great doing that? The look on their faces the passengers are in auh.. Then they ask so where do you plug it in? I tell them you dont have to because it recharges it self. then the dumbfounded look , normal responce= WOW. Most people (excluding the techy people) are impressed that you do not have to plug the car in They obviously dont see it the same way as the pro EV'ers.... But to each their own I say
Sometimes I'll do that...usually only if I have a first-time passenger and want to demonstrate to them how insanely quiet the Prius is when stopped at a traffic light. I also do it when leaving my parents' house, because my mom likes to follow me outside as I start up and begin reversing out of the driveway, asking me "Is it on yet? When are you going to start the car? But I don't hear anything! It's too quiet!", yes EVERY time I come over to visit, about 2-3x a week. Makes me laugh every time! I tell her to stand behind my car as I'm reversing so I can see her on the back-up screen (I say this in a joking manner of course).
<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(DocVijay @ Apr 18 2006, 06:25 AM) [snapback]241421[/snapback]</div> :lol: LOL :lol:
<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(daniel @ Apr 18 2006, 11:11 AM) [snapback]241490[/snapback]</div> wow, again I agree with Daniel.... just probably different types of music... Same thing while riding my bike, I HAD to get custom earplug/headphones that exclude wind/road noise so I can listen to music at an acceptable, non-dangerous volume inside my helmet... Just can't stand being without it...
OK. Show of hands. Who knew I'd have to respond to this?! Remember that while you are smugly wondering why other cars don't shut off their engines at stop lights, I'm smugly wondering why hybrids have to turn on their engines so often just for scooting around town, or for freeway commutes! The EV is totally silent when stopped, when accelerating, when cruising. And I don't *have* to plug it in either. I GET to plug it in, and don't *have* to visit the gas station. If you want to REALLY impress passengers, get them into a real EV. The Prius is the tip of the iceburg... and eventually... through very expensive research and marketing - we'll be back to where we were 10 years ago. [/smug]
<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(darelldd @ Apr 18 2006, 02:47 PM) [snapback]241713[/snapback]</div> Wow, talk about smug! :lol: :lol: Luckeeeeeey!
<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(darelldd @ Apr 18 2006, 02:47 PM) [snapback]241713[/snapback]</div> I had planned to say that sometimes I turn off the radio, A/C and roll the windows down on residential streets to listen to the silence, then get annoyed by the click of a rock stuck in the treads, but I just knew you'd respond.
I'll do that if I'm alone (my bro rather listen to music). It's has a nice calming effect. I leave the fan running though cause it's pretty quiet in the lowest setting.
The engine turning off creeps my brothers out. It still means something is wrong with the car they think. I'm getting use to it.
I enjoy going into stealth mode in parking lots, and such to see the ppl jump when the see me out of the corner of their eye. Does this make me evil?
