Hybrids - A Cure for Speeding Tickets

TDrag27February 3, 2009

Dean's lease on his car was up a few weeks ago. For the last year he has wanted a Toyota Camry Hybrid. He even tried talking me into trading in my car so he buy it and then have me drive his lease for a year only to have no car in a year when the lease needed to be turned in. Needless to say, I didn't take the deal. Can't blame a guy for trying though.

So after patiently waiting for a year and ogling the brochure every week, he got his hybrid. I've gotten to drive it a few times now and it is a cure for speeding tickets. I'm a fast driver. Now some clanmates are surely going to come in with the "women can't drive" bullshit. All I have to say to that is "check your insurance rates assholes."

Anyway - I can't speed in this car. Can't do it. It's not that the car isn't capable of speeding. It's that it's like a goddamn videogame driving it. If you get a good MPG at the end of your trip the dash will flash a little message "Excellent." And there's a meter that is constantly telling you your MPG at any given second that is constantly fluctuating. I find myself looking for hills so I can push it to 60 MPG. And then - there's a chart that shows your MPG minute-to-minute. Dean and I get all excited when we get the 60 streaks. Plus - the dash turns a bright blue when you're getting good mileage.

The damn car is so full of positive reinforcement for good gas mileage that I can't bring myself to speed. It's like going for a high score.

Next car for me - a Prius. I don't even care that I'm going to look like a hippie-douche-bag. I'm playing video games dude! (Hopefully neither one of us gets in any accidents because we're spending too much time staring at charts and dashboards).

Hybrids FTW!

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Comments (15)

h8z_u_all·Feb 3, 2009, 4:14 PM

When you stop hugging those tree's let me know stalkee....\r \r oh and women can't drive!\r \r (ducks)

ekattan·Feb 3, 2009, 4:14 PM

I'll feel much safer on the road. :)\r \r http://thechive.com/2009/01/woman-are-good-drivers-not-22-photos/\r

ThePengwn·Feb 3, 2009, 4:20 PM

I feel the exact same way in my Escape hybrid! Damn I'm glad it doesn't say \"excellent\" or anything like that. It's videogame enough with that damn graph and the average mpg. Must....stay...above....30 mpg.....

ATC_1982·Feb 3, 2009, 4:26 PM

If you would have bought one a few years ago like Dean Suggested you could have gotten 1500 back on taxes. Listen to your man or get hit on by timmies. 8)

Jedi_Kez·Feb 3, 2009, 4:34 PM

Woman can't drive! :P\r \r Oh, and there is no diff in insurance between male/female (nor young/old) in my Province, it's all based on your past driving record... but I bet if you looked at the averages of demerits, females would have more :p

nae·Feb 3, 2009, 4:40 PM

lmfaoooo kashi needs a HOBBY!!! video game my ass... becareful Dean she may have a CAR CRUSH..\r you will notice the late night drives.... the offers to run a few errands in your car... WELL because it has better gas mileage of course ((wink wink)) her things will start to appear in the car.... than BOOM dean.. your (CAR) will become her PRECIOUS!!!! She will NEED precious!!!!! precioussssssss\r :)

NormalGuy·Feb 3, 2009, 4:41 PM

Awesome! My wife and I are about to head to the Toyota dealership and walk out with a Camry Hybrid AND a Prius as well. Hopefully, they will cut us a deal since we are buying two cars :)\r \r NG

Lusetti67·Feb 3, 2009, 5:00 PM

Women cant Drive !\r \r

Flywalker·Feb 3, 2009, 5:00 PM

According to the dash it says you are only getting 24.9 mpg. I hate to tell yall this but my Toyota Tacoma with the big engine and 4wd gets 23mpg, and I drive so fast that i think nascar has been trying to catch me. I will give up 2 mpg so that i can run 80-90-100-110-120. I normally drive 70-80 but still i drive in the country alot and I like opening it up and letting the ponies run.

Automan21k·Feb 3, 2009, 5:02 PM

I push our Sante Fe with a lead foot and I still get 26mpg....I'll keep my foot room and pay the extra.

TDrag27·Feb 3, 2009, 5:37 PM

It takes 1000 miles to break in and that 25 was for the first tank of gas. It's up to 30 on the second tank. Plus, in MN cold weather and crappy roads - MPG will suffer. \r \r Besides - there was nothing about this blog stating that a hybrid is better or worse than any other car. I was just saying that they're fun and like a video game to drive. So no need to worry about defending your trucks.

J-Cat·Feb 3, 2009, 11:44 PM

I would get into an accident watching my video game... um I mean dashboard.

J-Cat·Feb 3, 2009, 11:46 PM

How is the battery in the cold weather? I heard that hybrids didn't do well in extreme cold, which really put it out of contention for us.

TDrag27·Feb 4, 2009, 12:02 AM

J-Cat - His hybrid actually heats up faster than his lease car did. And with heated seats - well...you get a toasty ass. As far as starting/not starting - we can't say from personal experience yet since we've been hovering around 0 degrees lately. But our friends that have had them don't have problems.

Armorsmith76·Feb 4, 2009, 3:02 AM

Now I feel cheated. My wife got a hybrid Saturn VUE and it didn't come with a videogame!!! Just a little needle that moves back and forth to show when the electric is engaged/charging.\r