Car notes

[jducoeur]

I mentioned, just after Thanksgiving, that we had just bought a new Prius. I'm pleased to report that this week, after more than two months, I'm about to fill the tank for the first time.

Now, that's partly because of covid times. Where Jane and I used to drive 10-12k per year each, Kate and I average a few thousand miles per year between us, and that's down to something like 2k/year now, since there isn't as much worth driving to.

But still, I'm managing just about 45 MPG -- not exactly electric-car hyper-mileage, but not at all bad, especially given that a lot of that is city driving. I've forced myself to get into the gamification of the thing, maximizing how much I can do on the battery without letting the gas engine turn on, which requires a just-so touch on the gas pedal. (I'm also learning when not to do that, on the grounds of pissing off cars behind me more than it is worth.)

The Prius is still a lovely car, although it is definitely a computer on wheels. I spent 15 minutes figuring out how to get it to open all four doors when I touch the driver's-side handle (which involves holding both buttons on the keyfob), and am still figuring out how I prefer to play music in there. At least for now, I'm given up on trying to use my old iPod in it -- while it is likely that I could have someone mess with the hardware to expose the Aux jack, that's not going to happen soon. Still, being able to turn on the car and have it automatically start playing music (or my current book) from my phone is delightful.

Comments

[danabren]

A friend of mine can't get her phone to acknowledge her car as anything beyond "accessory" when she plugs in into the [dashboard thingummie], which entertains us both more than it ought.

[jducoeur]

In my case, it's the other way around: Android Auto works fine, so I can get the fancy experience. But the trivial old-fashioned one isn't available to me.