Fast Fiction

You may consider this your three month update on the new car.

Gas prices are going up. And so is my mileage. I’m about to top 2,000 miles on my new 2004 Toyota Prius and I’ve gotta say I’m lovin’ it.

When I first got it, the mileage was anemic. About 42 miles per gallon. Yeah, you say, “I’d be pretty damn happy with 42!” But I know I can do better. And I am. I think the car was getting broken in and I seem to have pushed through a wall and I’m at 48 mpg my current tank of gas. So, as the price of gas goes up, so does my mileage and in a sense they’re balancing out. By summer I’m hoping to get about 55 mpg.

My old Subaru used to get about 28-32 mpg. So, I’ve gone 2,000 miles so far on the new car. The old car would have consumed about 68 gallons of gas - at today’s prices that’s $140. But even with my overall lifetime for the Prius at 43 mpg, that’s only 46.5 gallons and $97 in gas. Whee!