yarisobservations

In no particular order...

• when I go to a drive thru, esp. atm, now, I can reach the buttons/window without straining!
• holy cow what a sharp turning radius!
• Yaris is kind of a huge little car or a teensy big car: how did they make the seats so high up in such a little vehicle?! if you want a 4x4 but can't afford it get a Yaris - I swear I can see EVERYTHING and it doesn't even bug me anymore (much) when I'm behind some huge truck or something...
• two mirrors! crazy!
• 1^st gear is not as powerful as Hal's
• still kinda weirded about how the hatch is way smaller than Hal's
• in the front seat tho - omg what a huge amount of room! I swear if you put someone in there blindfolded and then took it off they would have no idea they were in such a little car based on interior space in the front.
• they wouldn't be able to tell how little the car was by looking out, either, for that matter, since you virtually cannot see the car body from inside - esp. the hood - it drops off completely - kinda disconcerting at the beginning...
• yay! little beeper alarm if you leave the lights on and open the door!
• yay! little beeper alarm if you leave the key in the ignition and open the door! (OK well actually Hal had that, too, PLUS he wouldn't let you lock the driver's door with the lock button -had to lock outside with the key - Tully will let you lock it with the button but at least he tries to warn you if you leave the keys in the ignition...)
• true to what Victor, my car salesman, warned me, one of Tully's many alert lights is about tire pressure and due to its being fairly cold lately tire pressure is thrown off in general so that light is on pretty much all the time...
• kind of still figuring out how to transport bikes inside - I have the trusty Mission Thrift comforter which I usually spread in the house if I need to work on the bikes... got a tarp at Walmart, too, so I think I'll put it down first (having lowered the back seat and hatch compartment cover) then my old stained blue rug which is almost as big as the surface in the back of the car, then Bike #1 (most likely Spike), then the comforter double thickness, then Toulouse on top, both bikes with front wheels off of course... this because I'm supposed to ride with Mike from the hiking group one of these days and he was going to try out my mountain bike so I am trying to figure out how to transport both of them at once...
• I asked at the dealership about installing a hitch kit - not to tow stuff but so that I can have a hitch-mounted bike rack - they could do it pretty easily... will wait til after Paris both b/c I will be less broke then plus by then I'll see if I really am riding consistently enough to merit the rack - but seriously, wouldn't Tully look Oh So Cool with a bike rack and two Rockin' Bikes on him??!!!!
• did I mention the turning radius??
• when I did the test drive I somehow instinctively knew Tully was almost the same length as Hal and due to my weirdly accurate spacial judgment capabilities I think I kind of scared the salesman by coming up rather close on a couple of cars when we were in traffic - I just knew where the end of the car was, is all! I probably scared the cars in front, too - Tully is so blunt in front it probably looks like your whole rear view mirror is full of car when someone comes up behind you - really I was normal distance but I know it seemed closer for both parties
• crazy - down to 3/8 tank after my free fill-up chez Toyota - I've driven more in the last 5 days than I did the entire Christmas break, honestly!
• I have a couple of errands to run in Anderson still day after tomorrow, but then my budget will take over - the car purchase has put my budgeting into overdrive - am using the cash envelope system Dave Ramsey recommends (a certain amount in cash in envelopes organized either by week or by category - mine is per week) so after this I might go drive but not to buy stuff at least
• omg! cup holders!! who the heck thought of those??!!! it's so funny how amazing they seem to me - can't believe how long I lasted without any in Hal - of course I had my little cracked pot which was perfect for pop cups but still not ideal... there are FIVE cupholders in Tully - kind of unequitably placed actually: two each for driver and passenger, one in the middle for the backseat people - but of course they probably would be too distracted by how cramped they were back there anyway to worry about beverage access... another bit of inequity: how incredibly roomy the front is and how crazy cramped the backseat is... I'm happy driving (altho of course, I'm not the tallest person in the world so I was not cramped in Hal either) and I'm sure a passenger up front will be quite content but I'll feel bad for backseat people, seriously - Hal had a much more equal distribution of indoor room
• actually when I have the seat at its most comfortable, even for rather short Me, there is Not Much Room At All in the back for a passenger behind my seat - there is room to pull my seat up but when it's up far enough for me to feel like a passenger in the rear would be even quasi-comfortable, it's awkward for my pedal-usage - that's kinda crazy considering how short I am - the front passenger could scoot up far enough for a passenger behind and still be mostly comfy at least
• crazy quiet, at least by my (and Hal's) standards - except kinda revs a lot more than Hal in first gear and second gear before you really feel you're at a good place to shift...
• I've killed the motor 3 times only - response is kind of simultaneously more subtle and more sensitive in first gear...
• almost the weekend, when I get to drive way more :)
• I might be getting a cold - more echinacea is called for - I have been doing Hall's Vitamin C candies all fall and winter - I keep them handy at home and at the office - with all my sleep deprivation both-candle-ends-burning that is the only thing I can think of that has kept me from getting sick... even thru the weird flu thing in the fall just before Thanksgiving and two officemates being really sick with respiratory stuff around finals week... but this time I can kind of feel it in there... hope I can keep it at bay again... kinda off topic, so
• bye