I like babies. They don't like me much, initially, but I like them.
You can tell them whatever you want and call them whatever you want and they will goo goo and ga ga as long as you use the right tone of voice.
You can tell a baby it is the ugliest thing you have ever seen (and let's face it, some of them are ugly no matter what their parents think), and if you do it in a sing-song voice the baby will smile and coo all day long.
They are small and soft and must be treated gently because some people think they break easily.
And this is exactly how I handled the gear shifter in the new Toyota Prius. It doesn't look anything like a baby, but it is the smallest and cutest shifter I have ever seen. I had to catch myself on more than one occasion talking to it like it was a baby.
"Whose the cutest little shifter in the car. That's right, you are, you little cutie."
You can't just grab it and slam it back into gear like some cars.
You have to grab it (even grab is too harsh a word) between your thumb and your index and fore fingers, like a posh lady holding a cup of her best china filled with Earl Gray tea, little pinky in the air, and move it ever so slightly to the left and back to put it into drive.
It is so cute. I just wanted to pinch its little cherub cheeks.
Once in drive the Prius moves off without even a hint of noise, because if you didn't know by now, the Prius is a hybrid car.
It can drive on the 1.8-litre gasoline engine alone, the electric motor alone or a combination of both.
Driving around the city is super quiet and even on the highway it is noticeably quiet.
The Prius gets an excellent 59 mpg on the highway, and although there are a few vehicles that can match or come close to these numbers, absolutely none can come close to the 66 mpg the Prius gets in the city. And when you think about it, the vast majority of everyone's driving is done within
the city.
The new Prius has a boxier rear end than the outgoing model and the batteries for the electric motor have been improved and are smaller in size. Combined, these make for almost 50 per cent more storage space in the trunk. Under the floor there is space to store the tanneau cover when not in use and there is also some extra space for other odds and ends.
The split rear seats fold down, as you would expect, and both slide forward and back roughly 12 inches making for more storage space when the seats are up and your passengers have short legs, or more knee room when your
passengers have long legs.
This is the top of the line Prius coming with everything Toyota offers in any Prius. You get a proximity key, push button start and dual sunroofs with power visors. The roofs are made from resin not glass saving on weight and assisting with the phenomenal gas mileage.
All the power options with one touch up and down for all four windows, dual-zone automatic climate control, navigation, satellite radio, back up camera, intelligent park assist, headlamp washers, dynamic radar cruise control and every safety option you will ever need have been included.
This you are going to like.
The intelligent park assist I mentioned earlier will park the Prius for you. Drive past the spot you want to parallel park into, stop, put the car into reverse via that adorable little shifter then push the OK button on the screen and with your foot lightly on the brake the Prius will park itself.
With the dynamic radar cruise control the Prius controls the distance between you and the vehicle ahead. You can set it for long medium or short distance. When you come up behind a vehicle and are getting too close it will apply the brake to maintain the set distance.
If the distance gets smaller than what it should be the Prius sounds a warning signal that you are getting too close. Once the vehicle in front moves out of the way the system takes the Pius back to the speed you were doing before it slowed down.
Packed with technology, leading gas mileage and a petite little baby shifter the Prius is definitely worth checking out.
