Enough was Enough
I had enough of 12-14 mpg of my lovely AMG ML55 SUV. It was a great truck, except for the palpable pain I experienced with each fill up. The other significant annoyances with the truck included brake replacements ever 15K miles or so (not the way we drive... this is "normal" according to the techs), and the use of proprietary crap telephone technology, essentially locking me into a vintage 2000 motorola StarTac, that could not be upgraded without using the functionality of dialing through the center console.
I kinda went to the other end of the spectrum and bought myself a green Prius named Booger. I've had Booger for almost 1000 miles thusfar and it's been great. We're getting approximately 47 mpg (could be more if I drove it less like a regular car), it has bluetooth connectivity that pairs with most cell phones, allowing me to sync my address book with the car and use hands free. I can pair up to 6 phones with this set up. It also have DVD navigation, upgraded sound system, etc. One of the most hilarious things it has is a 'backup camera" that activates when I put the car into reverse, showing up a fisheye picture of what's behind, along with the "beep beep" backup sound like I was driving a garbage truck :-)
Now, the car DID have its flaws. The ones that drove me most insane were the nanny features, where someone at Toyota decided to force me to conform with their definition of safety. If the car was in motion, certain important features are "greyed out" of the touch screen display, including not allowing you to use your phone book to dial out, or to dial out using the pseudo keypad. You CAN, however, dial out on your speed dial numbers, or 911. The other major disabled feature is changing your destination or programming a destination in your GPS.
The idea that someone else decided for me what I could do and could not do in my own car that I paid for, and they would make my safety decisions for me, really ticks me off. If my passenger wants to reprogram the GPS, who are they to tell me I can't do that? If I'm lost in SE DC at 2 am, and I want to call a friend to help me figure out how to get out of the area, I shouldn't have to pull over to do that.
Luckily, enough engineers own the Toyota Prius so that there are detailed instructions along with lovely pictures on how to disable these ridiculous lock outs. Between their instructions and Wes' expert installation, the mission has been accomplished and Booger is now damn near perfect :-).