Yes, my ship came in, and on it was my shiny new Prius. Since it began to pour down rain and darkness falls early these days, I’ll post up a photo of my new baby a bit later.
Pros: GPS navigation seems to work pretty nicely — didn’t send me way out of my way to get somewhere. The self-leveling headlamps are way cool. Bluetooth phone system is very nice and incredibly useful. Gobs of cargo space means I can now actually buy something when I go to Ikea.
Cons: It will take forever to learn the various buttons and functions. The car has more features than I even thought, and it is going to be a steep learning curve. The new car scent is so strong that I have to keep the windows open.
Now a plug: I bought the car from Alexandria Toyota, where I’ve taken my previous Prius (pre-Prius?) for service since I got it. It’s true — service is what drives sales, and I made sure they knew the reason I was buying from them. It’s also great that Jack Taylor, the owner, is active in our community, with underprivileged kids and local hospices. He raises money for these causes and is an active citizen — unlike car dealers who expend all their energy to build more and more dealerships. An example of how he operates: the dealership is displaying art depicting cars throughout the building. They were all created by art class students at TC Williams High School for a competition, and Taylor bought them all, giving the students their first commissions.
I’m glad that some of my hard earned money is going to make it back to the community in ways like that.
