after weeks of hearing "maybe in the next two weeks" from my dealer, my 06 seaside pearl package 7 is here, proudly parked in front of my house. i was like a schoolboy on christmas at pickup, and now that i'm home after a little spin, here are my first thoughts. * this car handles much better than my 98 vw jetta. i know that's not saying much, but it feels good to drive a car that feels modern and snappy and well built. * the car is not as wide as it looks from the inside. to put it another way, much more of the width of the car goes to actually useable space inside than on some other cars. * the steering wheel is very small. i'm going to like it when i get used to it, but as of now it's weird. very good steering wheel texture. * odometer at delivery: 1 mile. mpg average at delivery: 10.6 (got it up to 35 in my seven mile drive home... ) * after test driving the car back in december, i was worried about visibility. so i took my time adjusting the mirrors and the seat, and now i feel very comfortable with visiblity. i'm not tall, only 5' 9", but i feel like i'm "on top" of the patch of road that my prius occupies, as opposed to my jetta where i feel like i'm looking out from inside the road. if that makes any sense... * door handles with sks are better than i thought... literally just grab the handle to open! so intuitive. * took literally 2 minutes to pair my sony Z250a cell phone with the car's bluetooth system and upload my phone book. no problems at all. * in general, the car has some of the best fit and finish of any product i've ever used. the high-end techno-wizardry of the nav, bluetooth, sks, etc. all seem to *just work* and contribute to the feeling that this really is the car of the future. that's all for now. got myself a manual to read... cheers sam
Way to go, sam! (If that's OK.) I remember you posting when you ordered. When I got mine at the dealer, it took forever to creep up to 45 MPG, and not because it had been driven. That's a one-time phenomenon. I like the steering wheel, too.
Welcome to the chat! I completely agree with your initial impressions. Especially the part about the car being wider then it looks from the outside. My biggest concern was rear visibility, but after a month I have gotten used to the hatchback window. Congratulations on your purchase.
My last car was a '98 Chevy Cavalier convertible. With the top up, I had a rear window that was extremely small. One of the first things I noticed with my Prius test-drive was how very much I could see out the back! And it has good visibility out the side windows, too. Since I had a coupe convertible, I didn't have any metal ''pillar" to block my vision. I test-drove a few different sedans, all pretty small, and kept having to move my head left and right to see around the "pillar" when I needed to merge into traffic! I've had my Prius for 9 days, and I LOVE it! Congrats on your new beauty!
<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(Jeannie @ Apr 27 2006, 05:10 PM) [snapback]246314[/snapback]</div> I agree about the rear visibility. I was very concerned about based on some of the posts I read here and on other web sites. But I find the rear visibility is better than any other car I have had, same for the right side visibility. Gary 2006 Super White
I absolutely love reading posts like yours. Kinda brings back our first impressions of the car. When folks get into the back seats they're ready to be cramped and always (100% so far) comment on the large amount of room back there. I explain it this way, " It's bigger on the inside than on the outside.". Congrats and good luck. You picked a great car IMHO. Both the wife and I still love the car after approx 16k miles.
Congratulations! I have one of it's siblings. I've had it allmost two months and I'm still giddy. I came really close to calling the dealer while I was waiting and asking for a different package, but in the end the #7 was perfect for me. Welcome to the Seaside Pearl club.
thanks for all the hellos, everybody. another wonderful thing about the prius is the community that comes with it! more impressions after a couple of days: * voice quality for the cell phone link is very good in the car. i have had no trouble having natural two-way conversations. * voice quality for the other person while i'm in the car is apprently acceptable, but not stellar. * hid headlights are new for me. they are very f***ing bright! * the brakes are very sensitive. as a result, i tread very lightly on the brake pedal. as a result of that, i find myself sometimes not stepping hard enough to let me switch from reverse to drive. weird little thing. * the gps system is incredible, but i wish there was an easier way to hide all poi icons, clear destination, and make the lady stop talking. * disabled the reverse beep right away. i know when i shift, thank you very much! more observations to follow in the coming days... cheers sam
Congrats... We just got our seaside pearl this weekend and we are so happy with it.... still have to figure out all the stuff with this car.... still trying to get a cable to get my ipod to connect with the aux port....
<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(samkusnetz @ Apr 29 2006, 12:20 AM) [snapback]247114[/snapback]</div> I've noticed that too, I love how easy it is to answer a call on the Bluetooth. Yep-when I turned mine on for the first time, everyone (myself included) thought I had the brights on. I love how well they light up the road! The easiest way to clear all POI icons I've found is to hit the voice command button on the steering wheel and say "Hide all icons". That'll clear up the map screen very quickly. do not know a quicker way to clear the destination or make the lady stop talking. Same here! Didn't mind it very much at first, but after the first 20-second-long beep-beep-beep while waiting for other cars to move so I could back out of a parking space, I'd had my fill of the beeping and found the reverse beep disabling instructions very fast. It's pretty easy to tell you're in reverse without the need for beeping.
Congrats! I picked up mine (seaside pearl #3) just over a month ago now, and I am loving it! Currently averaging 50mpg, looking forward to better. John <div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(samkusnetz @ Apr 26 2006, 07:18 PM) [snapback]245883[/snapback]</div>
... "another wonderful thing about the prius is the community that comes with it!" . That's a really great tagline/quote/whatever. Folks should remember to mention that when talking to other people about the cars... hand 'em Priuschat cards, say "join the club", etc etc.. Best of all, the dealer can't charge you extra for that option! . _H*
