I told my students yesterday that I was celebrating Earth Day this year by buying a Prius. It’s technically true (that’s when I went in to sign papers on it), but I’d actually been looking into it for a few weeks, ever since my 2001 Mazda Protege died on me.
Alas, poor Protégé
It was a sad state of affairs. I’d had the Protege since I was doing my student teaching back in the spring of 2001, and I expected it to last me several more years. I’d just put a couple grand into it in January, when the mechanic assured me that everything looked good on it overall. “Proteges just don’t die,” he told me. “We call them little tanks around here.”
It’s a good thing they didn’t make tanks like that in World War Two. End of March, my seemingly happy little Protege, which had served me well for eight years, started making awful sounds, in fifteen miles going from a vibration to a rattle, to the this-thing-is-about-to-fall-apart cacophony that you’d expect to hear in a car in a bugs bunny cartoon.
New motor = not worth fixing = start looking for a new car.
I wanted to buy American, given the state of Detroit, but I truly couldn’t find something that had the right combination of fuel efficiency (commuting to Cedar Rapids as I do), interior space (with a couple of car seats in back), safety, and price that I needed. I know this has been beaten to death already, but the paucity of hybrid cars from American companies tells you a lot about why the president of GM has to keep answering questions about bankruptcy.
Enter the Prius.
The Prius
I’m pleased so far. Setting aside the obvious benefits like the mileage (45 mpg in the Prius, better than most other hybrids), and the odd little quirks (pressing the start button in lieu of turning key in ignition), I’m liking the space. And while it’s not the most attractive car, the hatchback made it possible to get a bookshelf up to school that wouldn’t have fit in any other car I’ve ever owned.
Too early to say what all I will or won’t like about it, but if you’re in the market, at least test drive the thing.
