Spinning the Wheel

[fish_tie]

As I was cleaning my desk up to get ready for the weekend, I got a call from my adjuster giving me an update on the status of my poor Gypsy. He said that he was going to take a look at her on Monday but that the body shop has already given their estimate. The prognosis was not good. In fact, I cannot see how he won't get back to me and say that

Comments

[ohsochewy]

I am so sorry for your loss.

Are you sold on Toyotas? I'd highly recommend checking out the Honda Civic. I'm completely biased, of course -- I come from a Honda family -- but you'd be hard-pressed to go wrong with Hondas OR Toyotas. Very similar in terms of the roomy feeling inside and feeling pretty solid for a smaller car. The Civic hybrid feels practically identical to a non-hybrid except for the turning off part (which takes a little getting used to).

I've driven various Prii in Community Car, and it does totally feel like you're a Jetson. I'd urge you to stick with the manual if you can; I'm sad at giving my Civic up. You're right, though -- once you get over the weirdness of feeling like your key is a tiny eight-track, the Prius is a nice car.

[fish_tie]

Hondas were part of my research and test driving lists. The above was simply those that made the cut.

[piratelemur]

Abby, the owner of Borealis Yarns, drives a Prius, and is generally enamoured of it. Except when there's a problem. When there's a problem with the engine/ignition/what-have-you, the car basically goes into "Danger! Danger! Danger Will Robinson!" mode (actually, it's probably more like "I'm sorry, Dave, I can't let you do that"), and shuts down completely. It cannot be put into neutral and towed--a flatbed truck must come for it. The dealership she bought her car from has invested in several spare flatbed tow-trucks for precisely this purpose. :)

[tangerinpenguin]

I also have a Prius, and I believe the earlier models have more of the "I'm sorry, Dave" nature than the more recent ones - I had a "check engine NOW" light at one point (over a loose gas cap, which is apparently very common) but no complete shutdown.

I'm given to understand that the very first models did have a completely button-based automatic transmission but that freaked too many people out, so they went with a faux knob for everything except "park" as a compromise with expectations.

1958 Edsel

[tangerinpenguin]

The 1958 Edsel also had a push button transmission. It flopped.

~Kris

[anonymous]

My parents have a Prius and love it - Decatur has driven it. I don't know about where you live, but here you'd want a garage to pamper the batteries. Our neighbors also have a Prius and they shovel the whole road because it doesn't have four-wheel drive and they don't want it to get stuck.

We're being spoiled by the ways of a new car and don't drive the old one much - it has neither the remote key nor ABS.
-Yngvild