Zipping around in a Prius

I am a happy Zipster. One of the many urban dwellers who are Zipcar members (visit http://www.zipcar.com). For a very nominal fee, we get to reserve cars online and pay $8.50 and up per hour. The concept is simple: our reservation is transmitted to the car, which locks and unlocks with personal magnetic zipcards. The keys to the car are always inside the vehicle. There are no extra mileage fees for the first 125 miles per reservation. The best part, however, is that the hourly fee includes fuel and insurance. Not to mention the free parking spot at the end of the trip!

Due to a combination of circumstances, I reserved a Toyota Prius for a few hours the other day. This is a hybrid car: one that uses both gasoline (petrol) and electric engines to power the transmission system. The Zipcar website indicated that the car had several unique features, and I decided to see for myself. Better to fiddle with the new gadgets now than later, when you are in a tearing hurry.

The car itself looks sleek, with a curved dome that replaces the more traditional boxy types. For a low roof, head room was not an issue (although I am six feet tall). The curved top did pose one problem, though. It cut off my field of view to the left and right of the car. As a result, I ended up having to crane my body and neck back and forth at every single traffic light, to make sure I was not about to run over a person or pet in the crosswalk. The dome is steeper in the back, but still manages to cut down significantly on what you can see in the rear-view mirror.

Some crucial notes for the occassional driver:

1. The gas pedal is practically invisible. I searched for about 5 minutes before blindly feeling for it with my foot. The brake pedal, on the other hand, is large and prominent. Safety first, perhaps?
   
2. The ignition "key" is a small plastic device that you stick directly into a slot on the dashboard. Looks like the key you get with modern cars, the one with the standard buttons to lock and unlock the doors. There is a "power" button on the dashboard that springs the engine into rumbling action.
   
3. The hand brake is akin to the ancient pedal on the left of the car. Again, when activated, the pedal is hard to find. They put in a footrest instead, which I foolishly pressed for 5-10 minutes to no avail. I had to pull over eventually and dig up the user manual from the glove compartment to figure out its location. After more feeling with my foot again, of course.
4. When you stop at a red light, the engine "dies"! Disconcerting, but all you need to do is push the gas pedal and it roars back to life.
5. All indicators are digital, including the transmission system and speedometer. There is a little joystick on the dashboard that allows you to select a mode (reverse, drive, neutral). When you release the joystick, it springs back to its original position. The dashboard, however, indicates what gear you chose.
6. There is a funky touch-sensitive LCD display that constantly shows you "important" graphic details like energy usage: how much power the transmission system is directing to the various wheels. This keeps changing every few seconds, and was a constant source of distraction.
   

I hear there is a long wait-list for people dying to own this new beast on the block. Word on the street is that some people who do own it are re-selling for profits! Is the car really this good?!

The car is not really cheap: it costs upwards of about $20,000. Up until 2005, the accompanying tax break (for polluting the environment less than regular gas cars) is in the form of a deduction, so it does not translate into 1:1 dollar savings. The incentive apparently may morph into a tax credit for 2006, though the details are yet to be finalized. A more detailed analysis will be required (taking into account the proposed usage level) to see if this will be a worthwhile investment in the long run. I'd try out a few other models first.

A more detailed technical analysis of hybrid vehicle technology can be found at the HowStuffWorks website.