Hypermile: Day 1

For as long as I have driven I have struggled with paying for 91 octane fuel for cars that weren't really designed to be the most economical with the precious natural resource.

I have also started growing weary of the issues that come with owning an expensive European car after warranty. Every weird noise or light would set me off. I wanted a car that I could drive without checking my bank account first. I wanted a car that I could drive without putting $50 into savings every paycheck for a emergency repair fund.

I decided I didn't want a used car, I love the idea of used cars but I am tired of inheriting other people's problems. I also wanted to stay under $300 a month as I am not getting any richer any time soon.

There aren't very many interesting choices for a person like me, I can't drive an applicance car. No offense if you drive one, but I just cant.

There is only one choice. The Toyota Prius.

I wasn't sold on the first two generations of the Prius, but the new one really caught my eye. Toyota took it upon itself to modernize the exterior and what they did is make a handsome little hatchback. Grace and I rented a 2010 Prius in the Bay Area for our last trip and we recorded a 55MPG average over the three day trip. I was sold.

Toyota currently is offering a pretty awesome lease program for the Prius. If you approve for it, it basically is $0 down and .000000001 money factor. It will make your payment $249 for a base model Prius II or $399 for a fully loaded Prius V.

I decided on Blizzard White Pearl (I always wanted a white car for myself) and the Prius III with the JBL Sound and Navigation and Entertainment packages. The Navigation comes with a USB interface for the iPhone, a rear view camera and a trick Bluetooth system so I had to get it.

I bought the car at Toyota El Cajon from a nice gentleman named Dale. The experience was great and I fully recommend purchasing your Toyota from there.

So far, the car is more than impressive. Sure it doesn't do the 1/4 mile in 12 seconds, but it doesn't struggle in the least bit to get to SoCal freeway speeds. In POWER mode it even surprises people off the line as the electric motor acts as sort of a supercharger for a short burst. The car handles well for what it is, I plan to upgrade the suspension and get 17" wheels as I personally find it necessary to do so to get the feel I like.

My favorite part is trying to hypermile, or keep the MPG average as high as possible. People online are getting in the 60s easily. So far I can't even get to 55, old habits die hard I guess. My current strategy is to keep the ECO status bar under the ECO rating, but it's hard to do so and not lose speed.

Enjoy the iPhone photography =)