Hi all,

I've posted a couple of times, but hadn't found this area for introductions. Sorry in advance. I'm trying to be a good bulletin board citizen. I had posted to a poll about changing the bulletin board software. I'm under the impression that this is the new software version. It looks good. Or I could be stupid and not realize I'm looking at the old software. Maybe somebody could clarify if I'm looking at the old software or the new software in action. I can't tell.

I picked up a 2005 Prius, silver over gray in Package 5 on 12/11/04 from a dealer that was about 150 miles away, but worth the trip. Very accommodating, low pressure and had no waiting list. In fact, when I first made contact they had 3 on the lot, none of them were the package or color I wanted so the dealer immediately offered to find me what I wanted. About 3 weeks later I picked it up. My experience purchasing one has been very opposite of what I have read on the Yahoo groups covering the Prius and even some of the posts here.

The weather has turned south up here and so it is in the garage until it dries up a little outside and there is less slush and chemicals on the roadway. I'm driving my old car, which is a remarkable snow car anyway. I'd rather have somebody slam into that than the new car.

My mileage hasn't been bad. Certainly better than any other vehicle I have ever driven. I keep a record in my old Palm. I'll try to upload my records to the database.

Thanks for the site. Easy to navigate and use.

It has been said:
Hybrid drivers come in 3 flavors, greenie, techie and cheapie. Pick any 2.
2005 Prius, Melinium Silver over gray, package 5 (AI)

This is, indeed, the new software!

Welcome and make yourself at home

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JEROMEP,
I'm glad you found the "official" introductions area. Sound like you had a pretty good buying experience. That's one of the shortest waits I've heard of in a while. Way to go!

Eric Powers

MHG Organizer - www.MadisonHybridGroup.com
Hybridfest 2008 - A Hybrid Electric Car Show and More! www.hybridfest.com
Madison, WI July 19 & 20, 2008

Thanks for the welcome.

Well, I started looking at the car in earnest in late September. I talked to the local dealer and wasn't impressed with their sales staff, and they were quoting long wait times. I didn't mind the wait time, but I also didn't want to be jacked around, i.e. "now that you have given us your deposit we will let you rot on our list while we take our dear sweet time getting you a car." So, I looked at a couple of different dealers that were outside of my area and found one that seemed honest and wasn't in a hurry to take ahold of my deposit (which there never was one) and then let me sit. Great dealer, kept me apprised of my order about twice a week during the transit time. Apparently he found my specific car on the ship coming over from Japan and got it assigned to his dealership for me. I admit this dealer was in the sticks, or an area that would appear very rural to many of the metropolitan users on any list, but I have always had better luck with rural dealers.

I always thought the Insight looked pretty cool. I especially like the fender skirts on the back. And your red just looks cool. I had a friend that I worked with at college who graduated and went to work for the Microsoft Access support group. When he and his wife moved to Redmond they wanted a second car and a high economy commuter to boot. So the Insight was their choice. They had the 5-speed. I believe they paid a very competitive price for it. Last time I checked they still owned it and were very happy with it.

As a side note; I can drive a stick, but prefer not to. I suppose my experience with sticks is limited to an '85 Ford Ranger V-6; my parent's. The clutch is still as positive and hard as a rock as I can remember, but shifting is involved because of the strong spring resistance on the clutch pedal and the long shifter throw. Typical pickup truck, I suppose.

It has been said:
Hybrid drivers come in 3 flavors, greenie, techie and cheapie. Pick any 2.
2005 Prius, Melinium Silver over gray, package 5 (AI)

Thanks for the personal welcome. I don't know many boards where the creator will post to new users. I like the look of the new software in spite of previous comments. I hope the migration hasn't been a technical nightmare. I have too many bad memories from my college days being down in the server room with co-workers working through major upgrade problems. Sure it was air conditioned, humidity controlled, fully filtered and probably the most comfortable place on campus during the summer, but it had no windows and was kind of depressing.

I'm glad I'm not in technical support anymore.

It has been said:
Hybrid drivers come in 3 flavors, greenie, techie and cheapie. Pick any 2.
2005 Prius, Melinium Silver over gray, package 5 (AI)

Oh, it was more than just an upgrade. Try converting to a different software altogether!

The problem now isn't the forums. Our homepage is, for all practical purposes, broken. It used to update blog-style with the Announcements and Hybrid News forums. Also, (and I didn't even think of this before converting!) the mileage database is no longer sync'd with the discussion forum database. That basically means that it's still drawing off the old database and new members can't log in there.

To make it worse, I think that member ID's were changed during the convert, so they no longer match up between the mileage database and the NEW forum database. I'll have to write a script to sync them back up, and then replace the code to connect the appropriate databases. Ugh, yes -- a nightmare!

Oh, and did I forget to mention that I'm leaving in a week for DC and won't be able to administrate during that time?

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