Monday, I took my first drive in a new Toyota Prius. Critical point in that sentence: NEW. The old Toyota Prius was based on the critically lauded Toyota Echo, and it showed. It was a crappy little car, where I felt like I was bumping the dashboard even at full seat extension.
The new Prius, on the other hand, seems like it just stepped out the concept car garage for a little spin. The start button! The crazy no-button dash! On Saturday, while futzing with the glove compartment in the Pig, I commented that they should really be making glove boxes bigger by now. My comment echoed backwards through time, such that when I got into the Prius on Monday, there were TWO spacious glove compartments facing the passenger seat.
Also, I know tons of cars have controls conveniently located on the steering wheel, but I don't drive those cars, ok? And as soon as I noticed those controls, the car came together for me. The zen driving experience had begun.
Yes, that's because I nearly freaked out when I started it. I was rushing a bit, because I didn't know when Kitten's train was, and I didn't want her to miss it because i was lollygagging around the parking lot, so I was quite keen to be off. Except whoever drove the car before me had the air conditioner on so high, my eyeballs were drying out. I'm trying to figure out how to turn it down, and I'm pawing at the dash, hoping some secret panel of controls is going to pop into view, but when the dash popped, the only thing revealed was a spot for your cell phone.
It's all controlled on the screen, people. That screen isn't just there to entertain you with statistics of how much energy you're using, and how much you've regained. (Hint: slamming on the brakes = high score in the battery recharging game!) Yes, push another button, and a display so big your blind Aunt Bessie could read it from the back seat shows you all the radio stations you've preset, along with their names. Another push and a rather dauntingly button-rich panel pops up to control the "climate". A little of the ol' red=hot, blue=cold would have definitely helped make that screen look less like a sea of boxes. As such, I am now sending my request for more use of colors backwards through time to the Prius designers, and expect to see improvements by the next time I rent one.