I got a GPS on Saturday (well, my brother got it for me while I was at the SKC competition) and I used it on Sunday to go to a 21st party, then the drive from the airport to the work site today, then from work to the hotel. The particular model I have is a Garmin Nuvi 1390T, and it took a while to update the software (two updates erquired) and one map update ( a 265 mb update required).
The screen is a 4.3" size and not too cluttered at all, and volume wise, is reasonable, where I have the radio on and can clearly hear the spoken addresses given. The lane changes and directional changes are typically given in advance between 500m to 1km and at the start of long stretches (e.g. turn x onto y in 9km). Navigation is fairly simple, but I couldn't seem to use it to find Lidcombe train station using the railway location finder....
So, today, I got "upgraded" to a Prius from a Hyundai Elantra... I've never driven a hybrid car before, and it is a different experience indeed. Keyless entry requires insertion of the lock tag (so uh, how is that any different to putting a key in??....) and foot on the brake before depressing the ignition button. The information panel shows you when the engine (petrol) is being used to drive the car, or when the battery is powering the system. The fuel use from my driving ranges from 0.0L/100km to 14.6L/100km..... I found that kind of really strange... One thing about the Prius is that it lacks any real acceleration. It's a bit annoying really by comparison to the usual movement in petrol engine cars, as you kind of crawl for the first few seconds before "something" engages and then you gain speed. Interestingly, it is a drive that feels like a high-ride. I.e., when driving, the speed that I was driving, didn't feel like that speed, where as in my own car (a Subaru), I feel like the speed I was driving at. To that effect, I had to keep constant eyes on the speed indicator to ensure I wasn't speeding...
I think it was a comfortable drive, but, if I was to buy a car, I wouldn't get a Prius....
2 comments:
why not? I drove that car in nz. can save money on petrol. quite good... and it is also quiet...
The prius is not the only hybrid car out there you know. Hybrid technologies right now are still very young in a sense, and if you are not a motoring enthusiast, you don't really understand the feel of having a nice car that sounds good with the engine. As for petrol, yeap, could save petrol, but if you want to say that, go drive a solar powered car.
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