Just a quick update: Orangest has finally finished moving to its new location on an uber fast (relative, that it) line.

Tada!

I was awoken about half an hour ago (3:38 AM on my alarm clock) when the thunder in my dreams turned out to be thunder in real life. It was making the cats nervous and they were freaking out in the room; Papaya was licking a plastic bag and Mango was rubbing himself against things in the room — okay so maybe they weren’t freaking out. Regardless, the thunder woke them, which then woke me when they made noise.

So I kicked them out of the room.

But I couldn’t go back to sleep anymore; the lightning flashes were getting more frequent, as were the thunder waves. I decided to close my window so I wouldn’t hear the thunder as loudly. Good idea. As I lay there, various thoughts went through my head. The power fluctuated a couple times (my UPSes went off and beeped a few times). I decided it might not have been a good idea to have my laptop plugged directly into the wall, so I got up and moved it to a power strip. I could see flashes of lightning as I got back into bed. I could still see them through my eyelids, but it was the thunder that really got to me. RUMBLE RUMBLE!

You know the trick where you can estimate your distance from the location of the lightning strike by counting the time and dividing by 5 to get miles? I started off counting the seconds between the flashes and the rumbling. Six seconds, five seconds, five seconds, five seconds, 6 seconds, five, four, four , three…two…one…one??? The lightning was getting closer! From just over a mile to 1/5 of a mile. The intensity of the closer ones were incredible. I could feel the thunder rumbling deep within my body. Spooky feeling.

Lightning in Davis - Photo by Jimmy Liang

I sat up. I looked outside the window. Rain was running down like crazy. I could see rivers flowing along the sidewalk and parking lot outside, with spigots running from overfilled roof gutters. Flashes were going off randomly, but they were starting to take their time. The time count drifted back up to 3 or 4 seconds. Looked like things were starting to cool off. Then,

BAM!

Holy SHIT! I jumped back from the window.

A bolt had gone off, right in front of my eyes. There was no following rumble, no seconds to count….it had gone off like a freaking GUNSHOT, instantly. It had literally gone off on the other side of the neighboring apartments…or maybe even along the freeway…wherever it was though, it was no further than a couple hundred feet. As my ears adjusted back, I could hear several car alarms in the background. The blast had been so intense that it set them off. I grabbed my car remote and put it to my head (to extend the range) and clicked the lock button, just in case. I started replaying that last strike in my mind — amazed at how close it had been, how bright it was, how loud it was, how I hadn’t felt a rumble but rather one single BLAM all over my body. It was definitely a new experience.

The slam of Tony closing his window snapped me out of my thinkingness. Nice, someone else had been awoken by the boom. I opened my door and was greeted by Tony and Tomas. They were talking excitedly about what had happened. Well, just Tomas. Tomas ended up getting a phone call, too. He was thinking it was his brother who had also been woken up by the gunshot.

I told them I saw the bolt go off and how close it had really been, but I don’t think they believed me. Ah well. In the end I had to take a piss, so I took care of that and went back to bed. Heavy downpour outside my window did now make it easy so I pulled out the laptop — and now here I am, writing this at 4:30 in the morning.

The lightning/thunder distance is now up to seven seconds, so about a mile and a half away. Storm’s passing, rain is starting to let up. No more car alarms.

Overall, an uneccesary interruption of my sleep, but a really cool experience being able to SEE in front of me what no doubtedly people will be saying they merely heard last night (the bolt that set off the cars, not the storm in general :-p).

Off to sleep again now. Good night, Internet.

More after the jump.

Disclaimer:
I didn’t get a chance to look at my mileage or anything like that. I don’t think I would have been a good candidate for that anyway – my 2006’s mileage is currently less than 42 mpg (I blame winter gas). Additionally, my views are those from a gadget enthusiast and not so much from a mileage or environmental enthusiast. Basically, to me the Prius is a cool car with lots of toys – the mileage and (relative) environmental-friendliness are side perks.

Background:
The model I drove was the one with the solar/moon roof. Having never owned a vehicle with a moon roof, I must say it’s pretty neat but certainly not something to choose over the Advanced Technology package. I didn’t get to see the solar-powered fan system in action (I hear it only works automatically at a certain temperature difference between the inside and outside, and only when the vehicle is off.) Tony, the Toyota guy in my car, asked if I would actually find use for the system. I told him that summers in the central valley (Davis, CA) are a killer, especially in a car with so many large windows. I’ve had things melt in there. I hear iPods don’t do so well in the greenhouse, either. Tony agreed, saying that in Sacramento it would be useful, but maybe not so much in the Bay Area.

Driving Impressions:
Upon driving, the first thing I noticed was that all of the controls were a lot tighter and stiffer, in a good way. The steering wheel felt more solid and sturdy, the gear selector didn’t snap back with a loud click, the gas and brake pedals didn’t feel like passive spring-loaded levers and had more resistance/feedback when pressed, and the parking brake travel was shorter resulting in more resistance sooner.

The seats were comfortable and leather (not a big fan of leather, but these were okay). Telescopic steering was a nice feature, which let me sit further back and still have the steering within reach. This addressed my concern for my knees hitting the dashboard in my 2006 if I were ever to get into an accident. The point is moot though, as the new model has a drive-side knee airbag for that very purpose. Didn’t need to try the lumbar support or height adjustment – they were just fine (maybe I should thank the driver before me) but for the record, I don’t have issues with the seats on my 2006.

The controls are well laid out, all within reach of the driver, although the modes buttons are a little awkward being on the other side of the gear selector. I like how the navigation screen no longer bulges above the dashboard, although the plethora of control buttons isn’t as appealing. I kind of liked it better when we had screen controls with the buttons being screen selectors. Also, touch tracer is pretty cool, but I dislike having to hold down buttons to navigate menus for settings. It detracts from the whole “you no longer have to take your eyes too far off the road to do something” mantra. In the 2006, turning off MFD involves a button press and a screen tap. In the new model, turning off the MID involves using the touch tracer to find the settings menu, pressing and holding a couple times to select “screen off,” then holding to actually turn it off. Not a big deal, except that the menu navigating can vary depending on what display mode the MID is already in. On the plus side, the NAV screen is still turned off using the Display button and screen tap method. It’s not all bad though – it takes time to get used to new things. Although it was a little sad to see a base model without the nice screen and a green LCD in its place – I don’t know if I’ll ever get used to that.

On the road, I found that the rear-view mirror blocked my view of cross-traffic to my right, just like it does in the current model. Not having the time to flip it upside-down (I don’t think Tony would have liked it anyway) I left it alone. Rear visibility is about the same – no problems – with the center bar across the middle. For the record, I’m 5’10”.

As for regular acceleration, it felt about the same as the current model, but a bit quieter (less engine noise, no noticeable whine of the electric motor). Additionally, it might have just been my imagination, but Toyota must have tweaked the aerodynamics of the sides of the car, too, because with all four windows down and the roof open, cabin noise was still decently low (at least for the front seats) at 35 mph. On my 2006, 35 mph with the windows down means raising voices in order to have a conversation. Putting the car into Power mode was something else. Taking off from a stop sign, I heard and felt the engine come on sooner. I could tell we were going faster, sooner, too. Although not a problem in my current car, merging onto the freeway will definitely be easier in this mode for the new model. (I had the gas pedal down about 2/3 of the way on that satisfactory straight-away. I might have had to floor it in my 2006 for the same effect.)

I wish I could have taken it out for a spin on the freeway to get an impression of high speed driving, but that was out of the scope of the event.

Other Impressions:
Inside the building there were two parked cars for attendees to play around with. This is where I got to do most of the button pressing, lever pulling, and knob twisting.

Remember that moon roof? The one with the solar panels? Here it is again.

It’s pretty cool, and instead of just being a cutout of glass that traditional moon roofs are, it consists of a giant glass panel stretching across the entire width of the car, just like in the Scion tC (“all glass roof!”). Here’s a video of it in action.

There are three stops when opening (cracking for air flow, 2/3 open, completely open) and two when closing (1/3 open, completely closed).

The solar panel array embedded behind the moon roof generates 59W that can be used to run an independent ventilation fan to help cool the car off while parked on a hot sunny day.

Off of the top of my head, two things that I didn’t like were the fact that there still isn’t an interior trunk release by the driver (despite the fact that it’s an electronic latch!!!) and that the new glove compartments feel like they’re made of especially cheap plastic. Hopefully they’ll put the layer of fur on it to mask this mistake like they did in the earlier model.

I’d post other stuff like technical details, but by now you can probably find them on a bunch of other sites (there’s one linked at the end of this post).

Final Thoughts:
All in all, the new Prius has a bunch of small improvements in every category, which add up to a great new car. Maybe not new enough to justify getting one if you already have a current model, but definitely enough to recommend to new buyers or those with a Classic, despite the increased cost. Of course, that’s only my gadget-infused opinion – if I were in the market for a new Prius, I would get the one with the most new technology and doohickeys. That said, I wouldn’t turn down a third gen if it came with the moon roof instead of the Advanced Technology package, but I would if it had neither. Ultimately, Toyota should offer a model with everything on it, including the plug-in option later down the line. The car already gets great mileage, and from what I hear from other bloggers, way higher than 50 mpg. I really don’t think that the gadget nerds would mind the hit from the added weight of the extra features. I know I wouldn’t.

For an in-depth review of the 2010 Prius, I recommend checking out this forum post.

Check out some of the other pictures that Becky took from the event in the gallery.

There we got a closer look (i.e. sit inside, push buttons, pull levers, turn knobs, etc.) at the upcoming model and got to drive it around town.

Unfortunately, the NDA we had to sign inhibits me from saying any more, but come March 25, 2009 I’ll be posting my thoughts and impressions. Then you can all go out and buy it when it launches this May.

Until then, here is a stock image from October 2008 that I’ve found on the Internet.

I didn’t get a picture, but my sister managed to snag it on crappy iPhone video.

I’ll be trying something new this year, depending on how long my battery lasts, I’ll be posting everything as it happens. Yay! So stay tuned to this post…who knows what will happen.*

*: Disclaimer – when the store opens, things will get hectic and I might not be able to update blow-by-blow then :-p

5:00PM First things first, a shave.

6:37PM All ready to go.

6:45PM Alrighty, off we go to Sunnyvale!

7:06PM Hot damn, the line is already around one corner of the building. Screw that; we’re headed back to Campbell to check on the line.

7:32PM Okay, the line is shorter than Sunnyvale’s; we should still be near our usual spot though.

We’ve decided to move it back to Campbell. If you’re deciding to join us, come to Campbell.

8:07PM Someone has passed a sheet around for us to sign…I guess there have been enough people cutting…

9:55PM Line is twice as long now.

9:59PM Some guy tried to sneak behind us and blend in. Luckily the guys ahead of us reminded them that line jumping is not permitted.
If you’re thinking of joining us, don’t worry, we already told them we had a couple more people coming.

10:15PM Tomas is resting in this here tent. It makes for a great barrier and keeps line jumpers at bay.

11:00PM Line hasn’t gotten too much longer, but the number of cars pulling into the parking lot has gone up. A cop circled around a bit but didn’t stop.

11:14PM Here is the current state of the line.

Also, the two dudes ahead of us have gone off to get food.

11:16PM Hey hey hey, it’s the guy last year who showed up at 4:45AM and tried to blend in at the front of the line. Looks like he’s trying to blend in to the middle of the end this time.

He’s the dude in the white sweater.

11:26PM #1

11:30PM Take a look at this. This is the same section of line as earlier, but with a bunch of line jumpers. Boo!

11:40PM Guess who’s here now.

11:51PM Longer line…

12:02AM Oooh, wires…

12:07AM Alan just called. He’s made a wrong turn. Hehe.

12:24AM More setting up…

12:29AM He’s here!

12:32AM And so is Shane!

He brings cake!

1:14AM Some random line pictures.

1:Joe enjoying the fruits of his labor and watching The Italian Job.

Some people playing soccer in the parking lot.

These people are playing Taboo! and shouting “penis” repeatedly.

Here’s an RV. It’s being recharged right now.

2:48AM Here’s the status of the line. It’s entering the side of the under-parking-garage.

3:05AM Fry’s Employees are starting to arrive. Hm, people are feeling pressured to clean up their chairs and tents and crap. Here’s to hoping that people don’t start sardining us too early, like last year — except this year it’ll be two hours too early. The dudes ahead of us seem confident in forming an impenetratable barrier while we clean up, but I’m hoping we’ll leave the tent in place until the last moment.

4:45AM The doors are going to open really soon. The crowd has really bunched up behind us. Everyone’s getting anxious.

4:58AM THE FLOOD GATES ARE OPEN!! WARRRRRRRRRRRGH!

5:53AM Back outside.

6:30AM Home at last. The sun is starting to rise and it’s now time to sleep. Will reorganize and upload new pictures later. Until then, good night!

More pictures…