Well... I just returned from a long road trip out to central Illinois...

Here is how the Prius did:

avg of 47.6 MPG highway; 55 MPG locally...

-Super smooth & quiet ride
-very nice handling
-great climate control

HOWEVER- we did have one small issue:

This is a bit embarassing- moreso to my dear wife- we were LESS THAN TEN MILES from our destination in Dixon, Illinois at my sister's house, and....

We ran out of gas.

Yeah- I know- let the prius jokes and wisecracks commence...



Here is the deal- we were told by our friends who own two priuses (or prii?? ) and they said there is a blinking warning light that appears after which you should have at least a gallon of gas and 20-30 miles remaining.

Well- we were on route 88 west of Chicago and stopped at the last "oasis" (that is what they call their super clean, very nice rest stops) before Dixon, which was nine miles down the highway with only cornfields and highway in between.

When we stopped at "the oasis" we had been driving since that morning from the PA border, where we had spent the night in Cranberry @ the Fairfield Inn just off the turnpike. My wife was driving, and we both remembered there being at least two of the ten bars still lit on the digital fuel gauge.

So we stopped to use the restroom, call my sister, and grab a quick Starbucks thinking we were about 20-30 minutes from our destination. We got about two miles down the road when all of a sudden my wife noticed the fuel gauge blinking- so she reduced her speed to about 60 MPH, put the cruise control back on and kept going- then a check engine light and red low fuel light came on and started blinking and beeping- she was freaked out so she decided to pull over and let it sit for a few minutes then try again- hoping we could make it on battery power.

The car was still running at that point, but it was going totally on battery power and my wife and I both were afraid it might totally drain out the battery and precipitate a very expensive repair to either the battery, computer, or transmission. Plus it had lost a bit of its acceleration ability- which we were obviously quite concerned about being on a busy interstate.

So we pulled all the way off the road, put the blinkers on, and I called my sister. My brother-in-law was there and was going to go and get a can of gas and bring a couple of gallons out to us to get us the remaining nine miles to Dixon and the next gas station. Because it was an interstate that goes through farmland- he was going to have to drive 25 miles in the opposite direction then come back to us...

Lo and behold though just then- a large yellow highway department truck with big flashing yellow lights and one of those big detour arrow signs on the back pulled up behind us. I got out and quickly explained the situation and half jokingly asked "got a couple of gallons of gas I can buy from you?" He said- "actually I do"- he asked me to fill out a brief form with our address and license info, etc, and said we would need to send $10 in and he had containers in the back with 2 gallons of gas in them.



He watched traffic while I poured the gas in, I shook his hand, thanked him profusely and gave him the gas can back, called off my brother-in-law who had not gotten on the highway yet, and continued on our way...

Moral of this story:

Priuses are GREAT have awesome features and get INCREDIBLE mileage, but make sure you fill the tank when it gets down to a quarter of a tank...

__________________
Peace,

John

My Librarything

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I bought a new car last year. I wanted to buy a Prius originally, but when I crunched the numbers it just didn't add up. I didn't drive enough to make it worthwhile. Instead I got an '07 Elantra, which is one of the best gas-powered cars there is. (Gas was $3/gallon when I was making this decision, and I think I crunched the numbers assuming $3.50/gallon to be conservative. Guess I wasn't conservative enough.)

I disagree that it is always environmentally better to live in a City. It's probably best to live closest to your job. For example, my job is in the far suburbs of Richmond (an area similar to King of Prussia, although not quite so far from downtown). Public transit does not run to that area. By choosing to live near downtown, I'm commuting 18 miles each way every day. That probably outweighs the gas I save by being able to bike/walk around town. But I chose to live in the City anyway because that better fits me and I like to be able to walk to the corner store or bike to popular local parks.

If I did live in the suburbs, though, I'd probably still want some sort of New Urbanist development. I'd also feel much more comfortable buying an existing house instead of feeding the market for new McMansions.

Basically, it's not an easy decision on where to live and to work. Carbon footprint should be a factor - but not the only factor or even the most important factor.

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Boom, boom, acka-lacka-lacka boom.
Boom, boom, acka-lacka boom boom.

Good points- for us though the Prius was a no-brainer with the out-of-this-world gas mileage avg around 50 MPGs, the PZEV rating of it giving it a minimal carbon footprint, and the affordable cost being in the low to mid 20Ks fully outfitted complete with the 3 yr/36,000 Mile factory warranty and great dealer service.

$aving big on gas & mtc + spacious interior w/great performance + environmentally friendly + full warranty with great service = great deal in my book

__________________
Peace,

John

My Librarything

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