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Supporting Lifestyles of Health and Sustainability Driving a Hybrid Car April 2005I am not an early adopter, a fast follower or a mass-market stampeder. But I am a gas-conscious driver.So that's why I was standing in a Toyota dealership in Palo Alto this week, the latest person to check out a hybrid car. Who needs $40 fill-ups? ``I can take you for a test drive in the 2004 model,'' Jose, my friendly salesman, said apologetically. Sure, there were five 2005 Prius models in the lot -- but nearly all were spoken for by customers who had already put down $1,000 deposits and waited 45 to 60 days for the Prius to arrive. It didn't matter. Even the 2004 model -- a former rental car with a limited warranty -- had me mesmerized. I nearly forgot about the 50 miles-per-gallon estimate once behind the wheel. For starters, there was the key, a rectangular module that is inserted into a slot. You push the ``power'' button to start it, like your computer or your stereo. The 2005 model lets you start the power button when it senses the key in your pocket. Then there was the display monitor, like a video game screen smack-dab in the center of the console. A lighted green arrow was running from a symbol labeled ``engine'' into a symbol labeled ``electric motor.'' I could change the radio station on the monitor and do other tricks with it, too. Is this thing on? We came to a stoplight. The green arrow stopped lighting up on the monitor. Silence. I thought the engine had died. Nope. We accelerated almost soundlessly when the light turned green. ``Stealth mode,'' a friend called it. (Golf-cart drivers, you know what that feels like.) We went on the freeway (nice pickup when passing) before I pulled back into the lot. Now what? ``Press the `Park' button,'' Jose said helpfully. No sliding the automatic transmission lever into the ``P'' position. ``Now, press `Power' to turn it off,'' he said. ``Don't forget to take the key out.'' The ``key.'' Oh yeah. After work, I went to Ford and Honda in Sunnyvale. There was Brett, the loquacious North Carolinian (a Mustang man at heart), who took me out in Ford's SUV hybrid, the Escape. Duane, the suspender-wearing, baseball-cap clad ex-truck driver from Olympia, Wash., let me drive the hybrid Civic. The Civic and the Escape didn't look any different from their counterparts in the gas-engine world. They both had the regular key that goes into the steering column. No display monitor with little pictures and lights to show real-time graphic display of gas consumption. For many, that may be their appeal. After tooling around in three different hybrid car brands -- Toyota, Honda and a Ford, I thought: How cool could this be? Saving gas money and doing well by the environment. Turns out there's a whole trend-watchers' classification for people who think like that: LOHAS. Lifestyles of Health and Sustainability. Buy a hybrid. Shop at places like Whole Foods. Pick up the Seventh Generation paper towels at Albertsons. No skin off our noses. Conscientious shopping, with no sacrifice or hippie stigma. Did I mention carpool lanes? San Jose reader Angelo Forlenza tells me that fellow Prius owners will often wave or give each other the thumbs-up. I dunno whether hybrid Honda or Ford owners do the same thing. Never mind Leonardo di Caprio, if Salma Hayek and Orlando Bloom can arrive in hybrids on Oscars night, I'd want them to wave back at me, too. For someone who is attracted by differentness, the Prius was seductive, from its aerodynamic design that looks a bit strange, to the modular key to the monitor. That's the idea, said Del Coates, who teaches industrial design at San Jose State University -- different, but with virtues. ``Do I feel virtuous? Not at all,'' Forlenza said. ``I do not feel morally superior. I do not feel as if I'm making a sacrifice.'' Oh, one more perk, he said: Parking at San Jose city garages and meters is free for hybrid drivers. SOURCE: San Jose Mercury News | ||
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