The Joy of Hybrids

Those of you who were with me in Orlando, now know all the joys of the Toyota Prius and probably more than you wanted to know. And for those of you who weren't you can now read all about the AMAZING and ECONOMIC Toyota Prius.

My dad offered his car for me to drive to Florida (from St.Louis) and back, along with my other driving needs during my time in the US. It has been a HUGE blessing, just to have wheels, but also INCREDIBLE that it is a hybrid, due to crazy high gas prices.

So, first of all, my dad's hybrid, which was the first Toyota Prius Hybrid they made is not quite as fancy as my mom's new updated one. His doesn't have cruise control nor anything more than a radio & cassette player and there are a few little details they have ironed out since this first model. BUT, all that said, despite it not being a manual car, it is a FABULOUS car.

1 - You get great gas mileage. I've averaged about 40 MPG, but I think gotten up to 42 or 45 MPG from time to time. (My mom's newer prius gets about 50 MPG.) In comparison to a normally fuel efficient non-hybrid, this is incredible. This is probably the coolest thing.

2 - There is a fun little screen in the car that keeps track of your mileage at any given time, both present and it tracks it with a bar graph in 5 mile increments. Secondly, there is a fun little graphic you can look at that shows where energy is coming from and going to.

3 - My mom's new and improved prius has some added features. It is MAGICAL! You just have to have the keys on you to open the door. But you don't have to actually take them out. You just touch the door handle and magically it opens! And you touch it again for all the doors to open. You can do the same with the trunk, just touch it and MAGIC it opens (if you have the keys on your person). Then you sit down and put the power button and turns on. Again no key. Easy and AMAZING!

And this little car safely took me across the country and back. So there you go. My dad and his little hybrid are amazing!