We recently bought a new hybrid car. It has been wonderful for driving and gas mileage. But it offers some challenges for those of us (me) who aren’t high tech! Even so, the thrill of getting a new car is still pretty cool. Now all that I need is a way to get car insurance near me figured out.
Technology has certainly changed a lot since our family last bought a new car 10 years ago. We recently bought a new 2012 Toyota Prius V hybrid car. My 10 year old Toyota RAV4 car was only getting about 21-24 miles per gallon on long road trips and was fast approaching 150,000 miles. With rising fuel prices, our family wanted to get a more efficient car.
Another thing we had to remember to sort out was our car insurance as well. There were loads of different places that we could get our insurance from. The thing that I probably found the most confusing though was all the different types of insurances that you could get. For example, SR-22 insurance form and guide – what is SR 22 was what I was thinking at the time. But after sitting down and doing some research I soon found out. That’s all that matters when you are getting your car insurance sorted. You’ll want to make sure you’ve done your research first and then you can find the best one for you.
Mike, my engineer husband, researched the cars with great gas mileage and cargo capacity similar to the old RAV4 for several days. The Toyota Prius V was the answer to all of his requirements for our new family car. My biggest requirements were getting a car with great gas mileage that also had enough space for my massage table in the back! This car has all the bells and whistles and high tech things he wanted in our new car. The saleslady went over the basics of starting the car and looking at all the knobs, but she admitted she didn’t know how these all worked. She wanted my husband to come back to the dealership after he figured these out and to give her a lesson!
I just wanted to know what to do to unlock the doors, start and stop the car, turn on the headlights and the windshield wipers at the dealership. I am being pulled (yelling and screaming of course) into learning how to use all the new technology with this hybrid car!
Keyless Car Ignition
My very first shock was that there was no key for the car ignition switch, which was also not present! The key fob is part of the radio-controlled entry to the car and can be put in a pocket or purse and left there for the entire driving time. The key fob just needs to be within a few feet of the driver car door in order to automatically lock or unlock the driver door without using the key itself. Of course, the remote key button can also be pushed to lock and unlock the car. It evens has an actual mechanical key that can be used in emergencies. I have not used the key fob yet to unlock the car door.
I had to remember to press in on the brake pedal when I pushed the button marked POWER to ‘start’ the car. Since it is a hybrid car, there is very little engine noise. So, I wasn’t even sure that the car was actually ON. It has a backup camera so that a child on a bicycle or small animal behind the car won’t be hit when backing up. There is also a beeping backup noise to warn people that a car is present and backing Up. Otherwise, when driving down the street in a neighborhood or in a grocery store parking lot, the engine is so quiet that people don’t hear the car approaching!
When driving down the highway on our first drive, I noticed that I could hear the pickup trucks passing my car. Before that, there was a lot of wind noise in my old car, and I never heard a car or small truck passing my old car. It was a nice to notice that it was so quiet inside.
Sound System, APPS and GPS
My cell phone is so old that my friends make fun of it! It is the oldest antique phone that they have seen a person actually still using today. It can receive and return phone calls, accept and return texts (I only text a little on it) and it has one simple game: tic tac toe! It has no APPS or other features to connect with our new car. So, I can’t answer the built in car phone when driving since I don’t have a Bluetooth phone. There are BING, PANDORA and other geeky sounding things on the radio and music panel for the car connected to my husband’s up-to-date smart phone.
The GPS system is voice activated. I get really irritated when she says ‘Wrong turn. Turn around. Or Recalculating Route’ in her very sweet voice! So, I will probably be driving without her voice ON. She doesn’t seem to respond to any voice commands except to “Favorite: Home”! My husband read the manual and he says it doesn’t have the correct voice commands on how to program the GPS for certain things. I am sure our 10 year-old grandson will be able to program it for us without any problems!
Gas Mileage
The gas mileage is wonderful in this car. It is rated 44 MPG for city driving and 40 MPG for highway distance driving. We went on a road trip to the Ozarks within a few days of buying this car. This car loves the Ozark mountain driving, curves and up and down turns on the twisty highways. My husband enjoys watching the screen showing whether the gas engine or electric battery is powering the car. The car is programmed to automatically go between both gas and electric engines for best gas mileage. This road trip length was about 680 miles and the car averaged 45.3 MPG. These are awesome numbers indeed! We can’t wait to see our gas mileage on our next trip to the mountains of Colorado!
Getting Used to the Technology
After owning this car for two weeks now, I am getting much more comfortable starting and stopping the car. My husband is downloading our music CD’s onto a large thumb drive to put into the USB connector in the car. Soon our favorite music selections will be all on this one thumb drive for many weeks of listening when on our next long trip.
We noticed that we were less fatigued after driving for several hours in this car than our old RAV4. Mike believes this is due to the reduced wind noise and better suspension on a longer wheelbase. Plus it has a nice lumbar support for the driver—we took turns driving. All of this adds up to a more comfortable and less tiring drive that was noticed quickly on our first road trip.
I am still not used to unlocking the car door as my instincts aren’t right for just touching the handle to open it yet! The only bad thing about this new car is that I had to give up my cute Toyota mechanic of many years as he does not work on hybrid car engines. Now, I just need to improve my parking techniques with this car and park between the lines in the parking lot! HA!
Nice car Mary. I always have trouble with the voice activation systems. I think my voice gets too high and I blow circuits or whatever. Either way, they might be easier for most drivers but all that they manage to do is raise my blood pressure!
Actually, this car is a little intimidating for me, too! The Bluetooth connection to the smartphone allows you to receive calls by pressing a button on the steering wheel (and talking through the car’s microphone and listening through the sound system. Even cooler, you can hit the voice button on the steering wheel and say “Call ” and it will search your phone’s directory and find the name and dial the number. It runs the cars Internet apps (like Pandora) by connecting to the internet via the Bluetooth link to your smartphone’s 3G connection.