Friday, November 27, 2015

Driving Judy's Car

                                                        Driving Judy’s Car
                                                           by Warren Bull

We are a one-car family now.  We will be for some time into the future.  Judy bought her Prius in 2003. I bought my Prius in 2012.  We have Judy’s here in Kansas City, where we live.  Mine is waiting for us in Portland where we are going to live.  Being a small hybrid, Judy’s car is named Pikachu after the Pokemon cartoon character that is an electric mouse.  

While Judy’s vehicle is a classic first generation Prius, mine has some features not available when Judy’s came out.  I don’t have a conventional key.  I have an electrical doodad that my car senses when I come close.  (I usually claim it smells me.) It unlocks the door and allows the car to start.  When approaching Judy’s car, it is wise to get the key out of my pocket before I sit down in the car because it is hard to get at while sitting down. 

Using a key to unlock the door it is helpful to remember, especially in the dark, that  the key goes into a horizontal slot.  It unlocks with a counter clockwise wrist turn toward the trunk.  It locks with a twist toward the hood.  The key goes into the ignition only at one particular angle.  I often fail to remember which orientation is required for a specific step.

If I leave my keys in my car, it pitches a fit, beeping until I come back to get them.  Pikachu does not.  My car also sounds off if I leave it running, which is really quite easy to do with a hybrid.  Again, Pikachu does not.  They both have a light on the dashboard that indicates when they are running.  On battery, neither makes much noise.  After driving for a while the car’s computer switches the gas engine off.   Therefore, my years of paying attention to the sound of the engine are of limited value.
I will admit that parking is easier with Judy’s little model. On the other hand, my sense of how much space is needed is based on my larger vehicle. I park too far from the curb.

Pikachu is not the car to pick in a drag race.  Her pick up and go is laid back and slow.  I should know.


We have not decided what to do with Pikachu when we move to Portland.  We have only one reserved parking place at the new home we will live in.  There is already a long list of people already in the building who want to buy another parking space. We could get a parking pass to park Pikachu on the street but we’d still need to keep moving the vehicle every couple of hours.  That would be a hassle.  Maybe we’ll find a good home for her here, like we did for the seventeen-year-old Accord I owned before 2012.  If we do we’ll be sure to leave her in good hands.
We are a one-car family now.  We will be for some time into the future.  Judy bought her Prius in 2003. I bought my Prius in 2012.  We have Judy’s here in Kansas City, where we live.  Mine is waiting for us in Portland where we are going to live.  Being a small hybrid, Judy’s car is named Pikachu after the Pokemon cartoon character that is an electric mouse. 
 
While Judy’s vehicle is a classic first generation Prius, mine has some features not available when Judy’s came out.  I don’t have a conventional key.  I have an electrical doodad that my car senses when I come close.  (I usually claim it smells me.) It unlocks the door and allows the car to start.  When approaching Judy’s car, it is wise to get the key out of my pocket before I sit down in the car because it is hard to get at while sitting down. 

Using a key to unlock the door it is helpful to remember, especially in the dark, that  the key goes into a horizontal slot.  It unlocks with a counter clockwise wrist turn toward the trunk.  It locks with a twist toward the hood.  The key goes into the ignition only at one particular angle.  I often fail to remember which orientation is required for a specific step.

If I leave my keys in my car, it pitches a fit, beeping until I come back to get them.  Pikachu does not.  My car also sounds off if I leave it running, which is really quite easy to do with a hybrid.  Again, Pikachu does not.  They both have a light on the dashboard that indicates when they are running.  On battery, neither makes much noise.  After driving for a while the car’s computer switches the gas engine off.   Therefore, my years of paying attention to the sound of the engine are of limited value.
I will admit that parking is easier with Judy’s little model. On the other hand, my sense of how much space is needed is based on my larger vehicle. I park too far from the curb.

Pikachu is not the car to pick in a drag race.  Her pick up and go is laid back and slow.  I should know.  We have not decided what to do with Pikachu when we move to Portland.  We have only one reserved parking place at the new home we will live in.  There is already a long list of people already in the building who want to buy another parking space. We could get a parking pass to park Pikachu on the street but we’d still need to keep moving the vehicle every couple of hours.  That would be a hassle.  Maybe we’ll find a good home for her here, like we did for the seventeen-year-old Accord I owned before 2012.  If we do we’ll be sure to leave her in good hands.

5 comments:

  1. Since, I live alone I only have one car - a small 2007 Ford Focus. Even when I was married, we only had one car since my husband had a business van he drove. For years I even drove a super cab pickup and pulled a horse trailer with it when my kids were in 4H with horses. Now I only want to drive a small car that gets good gas mileage. It's surprising how many even my age like to drive huge SUVs.

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  2. I become attached to my cars. I was sorry to trade in a Subaru with over 350,000 miles on it, but the body was so rusted out it wouldn't pass inspection. I now have a 1996 pickup truck I love. I was fortunate that a friend of mine was able to do the body work on that so I can keep it. It runs like a champ.

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  3. We love our cars. Our 1986 GMC Jimmy is about to return home after 9 months of renovation. A metal fabricator had to knit Jimmy back to body heath. I would hate to give up my 2003 Trailblazer. I can't buy any SUV like it. I'm sorry you have to give up one of your cars, Warren. Perhaps look for a garage you can rent for the car. Judy deserves to have her own car! That's my vote. Just say, no.

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  4. Lots of our retired neighbors are moving from two cars to one. That’s not likely for us since Jan and I have very different schedules given our varied interests. Good luck finding a satisfactory solution. One of our cars is a 2014 Prius, so I can relate to the new car; not so much to the older one.

    ~ Jim

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  5. Isn't it amazing how only one decade can make such a huge difference in the Prius. We owned one from 2007 and got a new one five years later and were shocked at all the changes in that short time, so I can only imagine how much shock you are feeling after having jumped from one ten years older to newer.

    Jeromy @ Fiesta Kia

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