my new car

I know that I said in my last blog post that I was going to post three recipes that we made out of the fresh vegetables...don't worry, those recipes are coming!  Something a little bit more exciting happened to me today that I wanted to write about...I got my new car!

It is a brand new 2010 Toyota Prius hybrid car in "winter gray metallic".  I love it so much, it is the car of my dreams.  I have been saving up for this car ever since I started my job three-and-a-half years ago.

This is my old car, a 1999 Mazda Protege with 322,000km of driving on it.  This car has driven to Toronto and back hundreds of times, to New York City and back, and to Ohio and back recently (just barely!).  I have been driving it since the end of high school in 2001 and I will miss this car!  It just got to be way too old and needed too many repairs.  I needed a reliable car for my daily commute.

Here is my new car, with just about 100km on it!  It is a gas-electric hybrid, so I won't have to be at the gas pumps nearly as often, which is fantastic as a commuter. I'm so excited to drive it around!

It has a sunroof and solar panels on top of the car.  There is a button on my remote that says A/C - when I press that button, it activates the air conditioner that is run just by the solar energy through the solar panels.  Air conditioning run purely by the power of the sun....genius!

It has a premium sound system with a 6-CD changer.  As you can see, there is actually a button to park the car instead of it being on the shifter!  To move into reverse or drive, you just move the joystick and it moves back into center.  Pretty darn cool.  Once you stop the car and you want to put it into park, you just press that "P" button.  It also has an "EV" drive mode which means that if you are driving a short distance, it will run strictly from the battery using no gas, an "Eco" drive mode (the default mode, alternating between gas and electric battery) and a "Power" drive mode that gives you a little bit more power on the highway.  I'm very impressed with how the car drives and how fast it accelerates!  It definitely doesn't drive any slower than a regular car.

It's hard to see here, but it also has a back-up camera that shows up in your rear view mirror.  The car actually beeps when it backs up!  The car is so quiet that this is a safety feature for pedestrians.  Beeeeep beeeep!  My car kind of sounds like a truck or bus backing up, which is pretty hilarious.

It is a hatchback with plenty of trunk space!  The back seats completely fold down as well.  I've got lots of room back here in case I make a trip out to Ikea or need to do any sort of moving.  Or I go to Whole Foods and buy tons of groceries!

I am so completely and utterly happy with this car, I cannot even tell you!  If you are looking for a new car and are a bit curious about the hybrids, you should definitely look into getting a Prius.  Better yet, if you're in the Brantford area, go to Hogewoning Toyota and ask for Doug.  Doug is the best salesperson I've ever had the pleasure of doing business with at a car dealership!  He is friendly, helpful, and not pushy at all like your typical car salesperson. 

Tonight calls for celebrations - I can't wait until Paul gets home so I can show him the new wheels and take him for a ride!  We're going to enjoy a sushi dinner at Sapporo Sushi in Hamilton - can't wait!