We have been looking at trading in for a new car for awhile now. Among the things wrong with my old car besides holding oil like a sieve and barely keeping out the elements, are a series of compounded issues. When the front bumper fell off it took with it the temperature sensor which somehow reset the internal computer to German and zeroed out every known value. The odometer has long stopped revolving which probably took place somewhere over the Rockies and has since halted on the magic number 137,160. The actual mileage is well over 200,000. The most recent serious economic downturn and subsequent stimulus has provided an ideal situation to pick up a new car especially a new hybird. The US government offered me $4500 for my car–a value just under half its original price paid over a decade ago. Enter the new 2010 Prius IV. With the third generation of innovations, Toyota has struck upon a recipe for a 50+ mpg winner. Among its repartee of innovation includes improved battery life over previous models, better-adjusted sensitivity of the regenerative braking, and perhaps the most overriding feature: a height adjustable seat the presence of which in its most basic form enables my 4’10 love to see over the dash. We decided on Winter Gray–but it’s miraculous that we could even drive away with a car at all. Of the hundred some odd Priuses that came into the dealership over the same weekend, over sixty left the same day. And people are wise to the economic incentives. Cash for Clunkers set aside one billion dollars to get old cars off the road and bring a trying punch to the floundering sales economy into submission. We were able to qualify and do our part for the US economy. Albeit it required being over eight hours at the Sunnyvale Toyota dealership last Saturday.
