If you're an ER, do you own "his" and "hers" cars?

[Gearhead Jim]

I like our newer Toyota when I'm a passenger, not so much when I drive.
My wife likes our Corvette when she's a passenger, not so much when she drives.
Our adult daughters like our old Toyota when they need to borrow a car. It has 120k but has been well cared for and runs like new. We plan to keep it until it dies.

Everyone is happy!

P.S.
Gas mileage on the 'vette is really low when racing, but that's only a tiny fraction of its life, road trips give us nearly 30 mpg. Not a Prius, but good enough for me.

[Milton]

Originally Posted by whitestick

For her, the high ride so she can see out and not feel claustrophobic,
the squared off windows giving a relatively unobstructed view of things (did I mention that she is a bit claustrophobic),
the higher clearance so she can pull up to the curbs in the parking lot and not hit the fenders or lower dampers,
the "feeling" of security in the event of a crash,
the spaciousness behind the front seats, so that when the grandkids are in their car seats and trying to kick the back of the front seats - they can't reach them - for rider peacefulness,
and the large cargo area for hauling 7-8 5 gallon water jugs from the bottled water place for our water dispensers.
Her mom (93) also enjoys riding in it better then the smaller vehicles, as it gives her room for her walker in the cargo area, along with a couple of strollers, so the two of them can take the grandkids out to the mall for exercise.
Not any hard data, but that's why she likes it.

Thanks for the explanation.

[kathyet]

Originally Posted by chinaco

Not FIRED yet. But when we do, we will have 2 cars. I figure we will have two vehicles until we reach the age where we drive much less... probably when one of us can't frive anymore or drive little enough that 1 vehicle makes sense.

I am afraid if I asked DW about going to one car... she would ask me what I would do for transportation... walk

LOL that is how I /we feel both feel.

Kathyet

[Gearhead Jim]

Originally Posted by Nords

Holy cow, the things you can do with/to this car. It's like getting a '67 VW Beetle with a fully-equipped machine shop, an electronics analyzer, and a computer repair facility.

First there's all the cool gear available for purchase. I bought the custom windscreen and the rear bumper protector. Others (who notice such things) have bought underbody stiffener plates, custom wheels, custom trim, and custom high-intensity headlights. The full list is far longer.
...

I'm pleasently surprised that no one has chastised you for the "false economy" of buying a relatively expensive economy car and spending more money on accessories and customization, just to save "a few dollars" in gas money. Hey, it's your car and your money, and you're happy. Can't get much better than that. Enjoy!
If I lived in The Islands, I'd probably do something similar.

[kathyet]

Originally Posted by Nords

Yep, it's all your fault, you started it! I've given test drives to half our dojang, too.

Best (and most grownup) car we've ever owned, but now in short supply-- the Prius inventory has shriveled in anticipation of high fuel prices. OTOH you may find a desperate Craigslist seller, especially when the 2009 models come out.

I especially like its interior volume. I thought it'd barely carry my 9'0" longboard inside but it'll easily handle a 10'0" and maybe even a 10'6".

Our kid gave up her $5000 savings for a 23% share and it's hers to drive until she leaves for college. After that we might go down to a one-car family. Heaven forbid I should ride my bike or take the bus once in a while, and the occasional rental or taxi is cheaper than the cost of insuring a second car. Fewer maintenance hassles and more garage.

I've learned a lot of good tips & tricks from PriusChat.com, I've been accessorizing & tweaking our equipment, and spouse is starting to view it as a "geek car". So she doesn't seem especially interested in driving it, especially when I leave surf wax on the seats...

We love our Prius...it is the best investment we made in 2007

Kathyet

[Nords]

Originally Posted by Gearhead Jim

I'm pleasently surprised that no one has chastised you for the "false economy" of buying a relatively expensive economy car and spending more money on accessories and customization, just to save "a few dollars" in gas money. Hey, it's your car and your money, and you're happy. Can't get much better than that. Enjoy!
If I lived in The Islands, I'd probably do something similar.

Au contraire, but the chastising usually stops when they get their test drive.

The windshield screen is required for Hawaii sunshine and a lot cheaper than tinting, while those cheap Toyota design engineers "forgot" to put the rubber on top of the rear bumper. (They must not use teenagers to test their cars.) Neither of those affects gas mileage.

Most of the rest of the site's accessories don't improve mileage either, with the possible exception of the warranty-voiding EV button and the SCANgauge real-time monitoring of the car's data bus. I don't plan to do any of those... I like a warranty and this car's LCD display is already distracting enough. But the plethora of products reminds me of the enthusiasm reserved for VW Beetles, deuce coupes, and Harleys.

There's a noticeable "Prius effect" on driving effort. When you're getting 19 mpg in a Ford Taurus, everyone thinks you're nuts for trying to raise your mileage by one or two MPG on a loser gas hog-- despite the fact that it's a 5-10% improvement. Yet just about every Prius driver enjoys their 45 mpg performance and goes nuts trying to reach 46 mpg-- a 2% return. I drive that car even more lightly than the Taurus. Ignorance is bliss, but when the LCD display shows you where the power is going you can't help yourself.

I've had my eye on these cars since 2001 but we had no reason to buy until our kid came up with her own idea. Since 2000, when she turned eight, she's had a portion of her allowance diverted into a "Kid 401(k)", with generous employer matching and tax deferral yet also with incredibly low expenses at "Mom & Dad's Brokerage".* The deal was that she'd get the money at age 16 (a lifetime away for an eight-year-old, just like retirement is for a 20-something) to buy herself a car. We expected that she'd have a few thousand bucks for an island bomb, but Berkshire Hathaway (her chosen investment) did her proud and coughed up $5000.

About six months ago she noted $3.50/gallon gas with alarm and started looking at high-mpg cars. Then she proposed that instead of buying her own car (or leaving her money to compound) she'd rather own a share of a family car and sell the share back when she went to a Mainland college. (Most Hawaii kid's don't take their island cars to college.) We talked about expenses (and depreciation) and she settled on a Prius or a Civic. Then she read that the Civic hybrid's rear seat doesn't fold down for longboard storage, and now she owns 23% of the Prius. She also gets first dibs on its use if she pays for the gas, which is going to be pretty light on her wallet. When she goes to college in 2010 she'll probably get back $4000.

I'm doing everything I can to encourage our little engineer-in-training, starting next week with her first oil change.

Finally, there's the long-term payback of owning a car for a decade (or more) and converting it to a plugin. The math isn't so good going from 19 mpg to 45 mpg but it's pretty compelling going from $5/gal gas to free photovoltaic, even if I have to buy fuel stabilizer for the gas tank every year... at this point the average chastiser's eyes start to glaze over.

Most people will get a much bigger payback from cutting their energy use (and their spending) in other ways. We've already gone through those processes and this is the only area not subject to diminishing returns.

It's nice to feel happy, too!

*This and other kid-money ideas were plagiarized from David Owen's "First National Bank of Dad".

[CuppaJoe]

We each buy separate bus passes each month and have no cars. This is not irrelevant, it is a major component of my LBYM retirement plan.

[Khan]

There's a noticeable "Prius effect" on driving effort. When you're getting 19 mpg in a Ford Taurus, everyone thinks you're nuts for trying to raise your mileage by one or two MPG on a loser gas hog-- despite the fact that it's a 5-10% improvement. Yet just about every Prius driver enjoys their 45 mpg performance and goes nuts trying to reach 46 mpg-- a 2% return. I drive that car even more lightly than the Taurus. Ignorance is bliss, but when the LCD display shows you where the power is going you can't help yourself.

I have been researching the Prius and have noticed that people have said: "The car trains you."

As I have mentioned before: just recording usage (money food electricity...) will often get you decreasing same.

[Nords]

Originally Posted by Khan

I have been researching the Prius and have noticed that people have said: "The car trains you."

The accelerator (can't exactly call it a "gas pedal" anymore) is just a voting machine, not a throttle. And the brake pedal is actually connected to a dummy cylinder just so that you feel you're pushing against some feedback. Most of the acceleration & braking is done by the motor-generator (pushing electrons in the appropriate direction). Under normal use the brake pads don't even come into play until the car slows to 7 mph.

Originally Posted by Khan

As I have mentioned before: just recording usage (money food electricity...) will often get you decreasing same.

Exactly. That's why 50 years after the invention of automated logging systems, submariners are still walking around with pens & logsheet clipboards.

[RetiredGypsy]

Originally Posted by Nords

Exactly. That's why 50 years after the invention of automated logging systems, submariners are still walking around pens & logsheet clipboards.

From an article in Undersea (or whatever that magazine's called) the new Virginia class subs have electronic logs.

[Nords]

Originally Posted by RetiredGypsy

From an article in Undersea (or whatever that magazine's called) the new Virginia class subs have electronic logs.

To the everlasting humiliation and denigration of the geezer submariners. It's about time.

We've all been jealous aware of the phenomenon since the 1970s implementation on surface ships, but Admiral Rickover was not exactly a big fan of computers, simulators, or anything but the actual neutron-spewing equipment accompanied by eyeballs on gauges. When he retired the sub force enjoyed a tsunami of computerized training devices but still no "workplace enhancements".

A generation later we're finally catching up to the end of the 20th century.

The biggest drawback to electronic logs and LCD displays is that you can't argue about gauge parallax and the thickness of the mark on the dial. I don't know what the watchstanders will have left to talk about...

[Gumby]

Call me a geezer, but I think Rickover had the right idea -- make it manpower intensive, and then train the hell out of the manpower.

In addition to my Navy nuclear qualifications, I am also a certified senior reactor operator on a GE BWR-6 commercial nuclear power plant. Commercial plants are far, far more automated than submarine reactors/steam plants and run with far fewer operators. That is great for making electricity cheaply, but if I am in a naturally hostile engineering environment, far from support services and in circumstances where you can't simply shut down and figure out what's wrong, I want the simplest, most rugged equipment I can get. I don't want integrated circuits, where if you don't have the proper card, you can't fix the system. I want simple, rugged, easy to understand and repairable-at-sea mag-amps.

In my mind, electronic engineering logs and LCD gauges are the same as digital compasses and fire control computers up forward -- you lose that visceral, physical connection to the reality of the boat. If you rely too much on computers, you forget how to do it manually, and you probably will need to do so at the most inconvenient of times.

[Nords]

Originally Posted by Gumby

Call me a geezer, but I think Rickover had the right idea -- make it manpower intensive, and then train the hell out of the manpower.

Can't argue with that. Manpower was cheap in his day, too.

I think that the microprocessors started replacing the magnetic amplifiers when the Cold War ended and the submarine force suddenly had to go on a budget.

Automated loggers are a lot cheaper than re-enlistment bonuses... at least until the fire or the flooding starts.

[JonnyM]

Two at present, although one would suffice 90% of the time.

DW prefers full-size pickup as "her" vehicle and she wants total reliability which implies reasonably new. Traded 1999 Dodge Pickup (318ci) for 2004 Dodge 4wd Hemi in '04. They truely made us an offer we couldn't refuse, 10k of Factory price plus ZERO percent loan. She wants to pay it off with a year and a half to go, and I keep arguing (so far successfully) that it's other people's money, what's the rush.

She appreciates being above the crowd for good visibility, lots of American Steel to protects us from all those Prius's whose drivers cut us off, (LOL) and most importantly what smaller vehicle could effectively haul the kids around (pack of 3 Irish Wolfhounds). Neither of us would be caught dead in a mini-van, just can't do it.

Invariably she defers (prefers?) to my driving her Truck when we travel so I "get" to drive her Hemi regularly, it is an extremely comfortable "car" for long trips. It's like sitting in a comfy chair, except this giant T-Rex size head keeps popping into your peripheral vision from the back seat (with seat fully folded up and dog pads in place, you can fit two IW's back there) licking your ear which is Wolfhound for "Please put the back window down Dad, I wanna smell the outside world".

While I worked my last three years with DW already ER'd at home, she bought me a Auction car on the cheap, '95 Lincoln Mark VIII with 119K for $3k, and 5 years later it's at not quite 130k, my commute was that far, and I liked her not being stranded, OK what I really liked was her ability to run errands and get things done I didn't want to do after I got home from W**k. Now 2 years into ER it's mostly just a spare although I try to use around town or for trips out to Drummer's house in the sticks for Musical Jamming. If it failed or became to expensive to fix (knock on wood, it's been very economical so far, just tires and a Battery in 5 years, god I hope I didn't just jinx it by writing this!) we'd probably just stick with the pick'em up truck for a few years until we get in a place where we can find reliable dog-sitting. Then she wants a Caddie XLR for cruising the country. I tell her it's too small for packing much luggage, she says we'll just get a teardrop trailer to pull. Gotta lover her...

[Gearhead Jim]

Originally Posted by JonnyM

...
...
Then she wants a Caddie XLR for cruising the country. I tell her it's too small for packing much luggage, she says we'll just get a teardrop trailer to pull. Gotta lover her...

The trunk on the XLR is REALLY small becasuse of the folding hard top.
The top on a Corvette convertible is somewhat larger because it's a ragtop.
The trunk on a Corvette coupe is BIG, 22 cu/ft. If you don't fill the trunk, you can store the lightweight lift-off cupe top in there for topless driving. If too much luggage, unload it at the hotel and then go topless.
The Corvette is not as luxurious as the XLR but still we find it quite comfortable for long road trips.
The dogs would need to stay home...

[ESRBob]

Originally Posted by Nords

The accelerator (can't exactly call it a "gas pedal" anymore) is just a voting machine, not a throttle. And the brake pedal is actually connected to a dummy cylinder just so that you feel you're pushing against some feedback. Most of the acceleration & braking is done by the motor-generator (pushing electrons in the appropriate direction). Under normal use the brake pads don't even come into play until the car slows to 7 mph.
.

Nords,
I'd been wondering about that -- so add 'won't have to replace brakes very often' to the list of lower total cost of ownership. It felt so much like real brakes that I'd begun thinking the brake-generator thing didn't apply that much. Guess I should be hanging out more on the Prius forum.

In the Hubris department, ever since posting here that the Prius is My Car, my wife has started acting rather differently. I think it is the cost of refilling her Passat that is finally getting to her, (rather than her reading my posts here and getting even!) but she is arguably driving the Prius more than I during these past few weeks. She's arguing that I either get comfortable with this or find room in the budget for a second Prius.

btw, the sticker on the back bumper comes in some of the pricier package, if I'm thinking of the same thing. Even Toyota isn't immune to these marketing gimmicks.