This week I got a new car, a black 2005 Toyota Prius, a hybrid. First let me tell the story. Last week, on tuesday, I called my mom to talk about my plans for this summer. If you don't already know, I'm going to be at an internship in Atlanta. I was talking about how I was going to manage to get down there with all my stuff, and how I will commute to the job. My mom suggested that it might be about time that I get a car. This was the first I had thought about it in a while, and the first time I thought about it seriously. It was something she said that got me looking at hybrids. I did some comparison online, of all the existing hybrids as well as several conventional cars. I just kept coming back to the Prius as one I really liked. It had the best gas milage of any I'd see, it was competetively priced, and had the coolest technology. I'm a fan of high tech gadgets. If you read about when I got to drive a fully electric car a year ago, then you'd already know that I like the idea of electric.

I thought that a Prius would be unatainable. From what I'd heard there was a 2-6 month waiting list for a new one. A used one would most likely be a 2003 or earlier, before the great set of improvements in 2004. I thought I was going to have to make the difficult choice to wait, either with no car or with a less desireable used car, or else buy a car that may have been a second choice. As luck would have it, when I was considering used Priuses, I discovered a little secret. Although the dealerships have long waiting lists, sometimes they get in extra cars that are not reserved or someone withdraws from the waiting list.

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