My New Car – a Prius Prime

Late last year, I had decided to give my 10-year-old car to my daughter/son-in-law and buy a new car for me. This weekend was the scheduled hand off and I decided to start looking at new cars last week. My husband was very leery of going down to one car for very long. At first I wanted to look at a plug-in vehicle and then decided a plug-in hybrid would be better. Most of my driving is close to home and I wanted something that would be electric most of the time but I quickly decided that I would need a hybrid if I wanted the option of taking the car on a road trip. So – when I started looking at cars, the Prius Prime was at the top of my list and the Chevy Volt was a second choice. The Prius Prime has a 25 miles estimated EV range and a 640 miles estimated total range. I was a little concerned that the dealerships in Maryland would not have the Prius Prime since so many of the cars were going to California…but there were several available at the first Toyota dealership we visited (the one closest to where we live). We took one out for a test drive. Wow! I liked the feel of the car. I had to watch that I didn’t go way over the speed limit! The car is very quiet and handles very well.

When we got back from the test drive some additional Prius Primes had been delivered to the dealership – including a red one with a white interior which is what I thought I wanted based on my web-based research. So – to shorten the story – I bought it! It was home in our garage about 4 hours later and charging at the regular outlet in our garage (it takes about 5.5. hours to charge on this type outlet).

There are three versions of the car and I got the middle one (Premium); the ones the dealer had were all this version and it is probably the most popular one they sell. The car has all the must-haves (navigation system is the highest on my list) except for the Homelink mirror (that includes a garage door opener) which I ordered; it will be installed next Wednesday.

I’ve driven it for a few short errands and put my key addresses into the navigation system. It is easy to drive and I’m thinking about what road trip I can take. My husband installed a hook to coil the charging cable when it is not in use.

This is an easy step toward a greener lifestyle!

(I’ll be posting about the next phase of my experience with this new car in about a week. This is the most different car I have ever bought…quite an adventure. Hopefully there will be some sunny days so I can get some better pictures too!)