Steve, First of all congratulations on the whole God Daddy thing. I've seen a few on the highway too, not two at the same time though. Maybe the other two in your trio will respond to this post. I was at a red light the other day, and a Prius owner signaled me to roll-down the window and then went on to interrogate me, in a good way, about the car and what I thought. I have never owned a car with such "curb appeal" that strangers come up and ask questions. Proud to be a member of the club.

 

I went to the dentist last week in my Titanium TCH. Another patient pulled up at the same time, driving a Titanium Camry LE. After the usual complements of how good each other's cars looked she asked me all about the TCH. By the time we had to go in for the teeth scraping she was lamenting not getting a TCH.

 

Steve.

Congratulations on becoming a God-Father! Won’t be long now until TCH owners are requesting meetings with you in darkened rooms asking you for favors and advice.

Seriously though, great news!

I haven’t seen any TCH’s while actually driving my TCH yet but we have been looked at a few times.

 

I pulled into a left turn lane on a busy street today and the on-coming traffic stopped in such a way that I couldn't make my turn until traffic cleared. The driver in the van next to me (going opposite direction) sort of shrugged as if to say sorry that he was blocking the driveway. His window was down so I rolled mine down and said 'that's ok...this is a hybrid so I'm not wasting any gas...' he took a second look at the car (Jasper Pearle), smiled and said 'wish I had one too!'

 

Steve, congrats on the God father thing. Perhaps someday you will have one of your own.


I finally saw my second TCH the other day. Was sitting at a light and saw what appeared to be a TCH grille in my mirror. When it passed me I confirmed it was. Unfortunately I was driving my Super Duty so the secret wave would haved been futile.

 

There is a TCH taxi in my area. It's been painted bright yellow . I spot it a few times. There could be more than one but I have no way of knowing how many.


OT: On a recent trip home from the airport, I got to ride in a Prius taxi, only two years old but with tones of mileage. The taxi driver explained that he shares the car with other drivers and it’s basically on the road 24/7. He said the car is really reliable. They haven’t spent a penny on repair beyond the regular maintenance. Hope our TCH will hold up just as well!

 

I pulled up to a stoplight in my small town today and was between a Prius and a Honda Accord Hybrid. The Accord turned but the Prius and I drove side by side for a while but she wasn't a hypermiler as she ended up racing up to the stoplight. Later we were both on the freeway and I was sedately going the speed limit of 60 and she zooooomed passed me! Oh, well!

Steve, since you started this thread, are you still with us? Someone was commenting that perhaps you did end up selling you TCH...?

 

We have a TON of Priuses here. There is not a day that goes by that I dont see one or 2. Most of them pass me. They must think they have a Mazda Speed 3 ZOOM ZOOM!

 

So does this mean that the novelty of hypermiling wears off and you eventually just drive it like a regular car?

 

I still drive with FE in mind, but I'd say I'm a little less fanatical about it. I think I'd seperate it into the good habit vs. let's be real category. Things like being more aware of traffic will probably stay with me. Why accelerate quickly above the speed limit to have to step on the brakes pretty good at the next light? Might as well get to speed, coast with the ICE off and try to hit the light when it's green. On the other hand I can't see doing pulse and glide, even when traffic allows. Just too slow a way to get somewhere and more importantly, take too much concentration away from the road.