Uneingeschränkte Zuverlässigkeit* (NHR)

*Absolute Reliability

My man did good. So good. He bought us a Prius: ) I finally got to see it today. I was going crazy all week. All I could do was read up on PriusChat.com and learn about these cars, and make a big ol' list of questions for our sales rep. Today he answered them all for me, and with the answers I wanted to hear too: )

I wish I had better pics, but the car is wedged in back of the dealership and I couldn't get the entire car in a photo. Oh well, in a few days it will be here.


Hypermiling Germany

Even before our yellow rocket car decided to destroy our trust in it, we had been hypermiling away. That is, beating the EPA MPG by driving very smoothly and coasting a lot. (And trying not to annoy other drivers at the same time.) We made it a contest - who can get a better MPG to display on the dash. (I always lose!)

Well I must admit I have enjoyed our yellow speed demon this week, taking it 160 kph, the speed this car achieves easily. It was made for the Autobahn. But we have been leasing it from my man's family, and the turbo started to act funny again and my man said "That's it."

I got that yellow car cleaner than it has ever been, inside and out, because my in-laws are *really* looking forward to getting it back. It is fun to drive, and getsa not-too-shabby 40+ MPG itself.

Reliability is top priority

I started looking at what cars are most reliable in Germany. I know the answer already in America. Japanese cars. But what about here? Is it different here? I had to read lots of German last week, looking at break down statistics and trying to find their version of Consumer Reports. There is a definite bias toward driving German cars here, no matter that they do not win the reliability contests. I get that. I am loyal to Chevrolet when it comes to trucks.

I made a list of my findings, which happily pointed us to Hondas again. Woo! My favorite. But, alas, they all use Benzin (gasoline). The only diesels are tiny things I would not feel safe in. And their hybrid is a "mild" hybrid and not a full hybrid. There went my hopes. But at the end of my research I found an article about the most reliable car, the Toyota Prius. As a joke, I sent the article to my man. I thought there is no way we can afford one. The article was called "Prius: Uneingeschraenkte Zuverlaessigkeit." I suddenly rememberd all the Prius taxis I'd seen in Seattle this summer. Entire fleets of them, and I read that they pass 100K mile tests with nothin' but oil changes.

Wishbone

Then I baked a chicken. In this chicken was a wishbone. I brought it to my man and he had no idea why I was sticking a chicken bone up close to him. I said, "What, you don't have wishbone wishes in Germany?" No they don't. So I told him to make a wish. I made mine. He won. "What did you wish for?" I asked.

A Prius. And last Monday he found us one! In blue. We so didn't want grey (which I consider to be the "invisible car" color, and dangerous).

(Note to self: Next time I bake a chicken and remove the wishbone, tell him to wish for a million dollars.)

He remembered driving my dad's Prius back home. He was enchanted by the electric engine taking over; the times you drive it purely on electric, with not a drop of gas being used. With hybrids, traffic jams are only a waste of time, not money. And best of all, the electric engine runs absolutely silently. Good for sneaking up on people.

I sat in it today and oh, how I love new car scent, which remained even though this car is used. (It has 44k km.)


The sales rep pushed the power button (keyless start!). In fact, you don't put a key in the door. The car recognizes the remote in your pocket, and unlocks when you touch the handle. A car that recognizes its driver, I love it.

I checked out the cup holders (4!) and they look big enough for *american sized* travel mugs! Ours does not have the built-in navi, *sniff* but we've got a handheld so that's OK.

The console images teach you how to drive it even more efficiently, showing a diagram of how the energy is transferred, with MPG for each mode of operation. Driving it becomes a game.

Sneaky

I can't wait to make people jump. That's what this car is good for, stealth mode. That fits my personality perfectly.

More pics to come, and ...uh, horse related posts too.