Welcome! I THINK I have or have had 22 cars, the last four of them Prius. There may be others I didn't think of in my quick trip down memory lane. Why Prius? Total cost of ownership over the long term.
Welcome to PriusChat! My first car was 1962 Ford Falcon two door station wagon, the Prius v of it's day. About a 2.4 liter straight six, three on the tree. 1967 Chevrolet Chevelle 3.2 liter straight 6 1971 Ford Torino station wagon 4.9 liter V8 (automatic) 1976 Mazda 808 Mizer station wagon 1.3 liter 4 1978 Mazda GLC 1.3 liter 4 1972 Ford Maverick 3.3 liter straight 6 (automatic) 1980 Plymouth Volare station wagon 3.7 liter slant 6 1985 Ford Escort Station wagon 1.6 liter 4 1989 Toyota Corolla All-trac station wagon 1.6 liter 6 2001 Subaru Forester 2.5 liter flat 4 2009 Toyota Prius 1.5 liter 4 I was carrying a lot of networking/PC gear about 150 miles a day, and a 24 MPG Subaru Forester was not all that frugal. I had dismissed the Gen 2 Prius as too small but my wife led me to one from behind. The hatch held all my gear, and got 42 MPG as loaded. A semi ran a red light and carried that Prius several blocks, so I have a v now, 38 MPG as loaded.
Some of my school classmates had grandchildren in school before the first Prius was on the market here. So, no, this isn't anywhere near my first car.
Like others this is far from my first car. My first car was pretty far removed from a Prius. It was a used 1967 Oldsmobile Cutlass with a 320 horsepower engine. I got rid of it when I got 200 miles to the quart of oil. It’s replacement was a 1969 Toyota Corolla with a 2 speed automatic transmission.
Definitely not my first car. That was a used 83 SAAB 900S. I chose my Gen 2 because gas prices in Chicago were in the low $4 / gallon range, and I had a job that required a lot of driving at the time. I chose my Gen 4 because my Gen 2 kept me safe in a rollover accident and it would be really hard for me to readjust to one of those primitive ICE cars. Posted via the PriusChat mobile app.
A 1912 Detroit Electric has more forward "gears" than that!! (although at "top gear", there was a distinct smell of burning electronics electrics)
... burning electrics. Electronics were in their infancy, used mostly for radio and audio amplifiers, and a long way from entering control and calculation equipment.
Lets see...my first vehicle...Piper Cub, J3, Cessna 152...Flying before driving Now C182, TBM 850 Turboprop...otherwise 1965 Mercury Park Lane 1969 Ford Galaxie 500 1972 Mercury 1979 F100 1981 Full Size Bronco 1985 Full Size Bronco Needed all winter 1987 Full Size Bronco 1993 Ford Festiva 5 speed 2004 Prius 2006 Ford Ranger FX4 winter ops 2009 prius 2017 Prius Prime... I guess thats it at this point in time... Prii for cars from here on out due to reliability and gas prices getting out of hand and im keeping the prime as long as she will go...Last 2 prii still going...04 at 300,000miles and 09 at 265,000 miles
From doing later research that was the first year for US and Canada. Only Canada got the 1200cc 2 speed automatic. The US versions all had a manual tranny.
Interesting. And people think the Gen 4 is ugly! Great warranty though - 6 months or 6000 miles. Mesquite Hugger: So close! A Comuta-Car (Citicar) in Arlington, TX!!!
There is a terminology difference that is important to those of us in the industry, but seemingly not to most of the general public. Electronic refers specifically to electron devices, such as transistors, vacuum tubes, and modern LED lights. Electric is more generic, including wires, electromagnets, motors, heaters, and old fashioned incandescent lights, none of which care about specifics of the charge carrier. The general public is now often using (& confusing) the former term in place of the later, which is grating to those of us on the inside.
You guys ever seen a Bond Bug. Bond Bug - Wikipedia Even uglier was the Bond Minicar... Bond Minicar - Wikipedia
