Wheelie cool...(ahem)

way way way way back i used to drive about 1 3/4 hours to work, then the same back again...which ended up in me damaging my knee ligaments (left knee, due to the constant clutch use), anyway...due to the recent training and stuff, my knee has been quite painful, so i decided to swap my manual Skoda Roomster for a new automatic transmission car (i get a lease car in Norway), and 'unfortunately' the lease company said...they dont make automatic Roomsters (imagine my delight)...so they duly turned up the next day with this...ladies and gents...i give you the Toyota Prius.

Now, for all you aware people, this is the car that all the hollywood 'greenies' own. this is because the toyota prius is the most environmentally sound production car in the world. it is actually a Hybrid car, which means that it runs on both a petrol engine, and an electric battery. the way this works (pay attention), is the at low speeds, in traffic and on local roads, it runs on an electric battery, and when you need more speed, it automatically switches to the conventional petrol engine (you dont notice the change). however, what distinguishes this from a normal 'electric car', is that the battery is charged from the petrol engine, so no need to pump electricity in from outside, it creates its own. very clever, very green.

Geeky stuff aside, its actually quite a cool car..yes its japanese, so the styling is not so clever (japanese never make sexy attractive cars), but lets face it...its a damn sight more sexy than the Roomster! its full of gadgets and stuff, like built in ipod connector, cruise control and loads of stuff...

Now...the problem with the car is its bloody unbelievably complicated to start...you dont just sit in, turn the key and away you go...oh no. it took me about 20 minutes to start it when i got it (in front of the rental guy i may add)..you have to do a weird combination of put the key in a slot, push the power on button, then push and hold the power button, then press the brake, then waggle this, and waggle that etc...its like trying to hit a 6 combo move on Mortal Combat! in the end...(and this shames me to say) i had to swallow my male pride, and actually read the instruction manual...i mean...who has to read the manual just to start a flippin car?? and its that much of a complicated car...'how to start the car' is on page 351 of the manual!! you have to go through 350 pages first before you can start it!!

needless to say, i thought id cracked it, but this morning, it took me another 10 mins to start it...hmmmm....nice car, although not too fast, but with the slowest speed limits in the world (apart from japan) and hefty hefty fines for speeding, thats not a bad thing

p.s. first thing you do when you get a new car? put the sheffield united and niigata albirex stickers on the rear screen (of course)