Saturday, April 04, 2020

My Daily Driver: @jumpingjehovahs's Toyota Prius T Spirit


1. How did you come to the decision of buying this car?

In 2015 I was on holiday in California and when I pitched up at the rental desk to collect my Intermediate, I was given the keys to a Corolla 🤔 I'd paid for a bigger car, so asked for it and I'll never forget seeing a Barcelona Red Prius driving down the ramp. I turned to my girlfriend at the time and said: "that's not ours, don't worry".

Well, it was.

I was so dead against it, I'm a petrolhead, I can't drive a Prius in the land of the V8! Within 10 minutes of driving I was in love, within an hour I was smitten.

Fast forward to this year and my Lexus RX450h was too big, too thirsty and maintenance was getting expensive on an older luxury car. So I bought a Prius T-Spirit, in Barcelona/Vermillion Red with a grey interior. I actually went to buy a Yaris Hybrid, but when I saw this, I was swept back to sunny California from rainy West London and that was it. It saves me a ton of money and I think it looks, and sounds, pretty cool.


2. What has your ownership experience been like?

Short, so far, but I love it. It's comfortable, reliable, efficient and has more space inside than it has any right to. The only downside is other drivers, who tailgate it and speed up when I overtake - I've never experienced it in any car I've owned, including my Smart car! Interestingly, although the seats aren't as comfortable, the noise levels on the motorway are similar to my Lexus and it does a great job of handling wind, rain, snow and the very narrow muddy lanes that living in rural England brings.

The savings on running costs are great and have freed up a little money for my other car, which is a bit of fun (that only cost £5!)

3. What is your fondest memory with this car?

I've only owned it 4 months, so I've not done any super-cool activities in it yet (but watch this space for my Habitent!) However, the moment that I think about the most is the day I took it home to see my family and it sparked some kind of deep-rooted engineering/car-loving gene in my teenage sister and my octogenarian grandfather. Their eyes both lit up in the same way at the way the car cruises in silence, sounds like a robot under regenerative braking and their excitement at the technology, especially seeing it park itself. My grandad's face of amazement/fear as the car steered itself onto the street from the driveway is etched into my mind. Pretty cool!


4. Why do you love cars?

They create freedom, I can go wherever I want and I've got a hotel room that I can add a kitchen to, an extension for more space and a way to get home. There's also this feeling of 'man & machine' that's hard to beat. Throwing a car fast into a bend (even a Prius) and it responding in the way you wanted, maintaining speed, it's a thrill. I also love the community they bring, no matter what car you have, if it's £50 or £50,000 there's a group of people out there who want to hear about it, learn about it and take it for a spin. If you've got a car, you've got somewhere to belong and I love that.


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If you would like to participate, just answer the above four questions and submit one to three photos of your daily driver to milhousevanh at geemail. Thanks and have fun!

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