Well, there ya have it, ladies and gentlemen, it's official: the TCH is freak-out quiet.



I was rolling through the local Home Depot lot behind these two folks walking towards the store. They chose to walk right down the middle of the road rather than on the sidewalk. Needless to say, the TCH was in my favorite 'Golf Cart Mode' (heretofore referred to as 'GCM'.) These two people just kept walking, oblivious to the fact there was a car behind them. Now, at this point, I realized honking would be just way way way too rude, but just what does one do to alert these folks to my presence? Turn up the stereo? Anyway they eventually realized I was there, they had this deer-in-the-headlights look. I would venture to guess they were less enamored with the TCH then I at that moment.

 

LOL. Roll down your windows and cough, maybe? I don't know! One of the few downsides to the car I guess.

I was sitting in the car the other day right after we got it and talking to my husband on the phone. I was parked, but the car was on. All of a sudden it went quiet and I said to my husband "OMG! Our brand new car just died on me!" He's like "are the dash lights off?" I said "no, but it just died for sure. Everything went silent." He said "put it in gear and see if it goes." So I did, and it wasn't dead at all! It's just a completely silent car! That's insane!

 

I'm telling you, I have a totally conditioned response to the pushing of the button. I push it and expect nothing. Just a few lights and a couple barely audible sounds. But then, I started up my parents' GS300 by pushing the button and it scared the crap out of me! Engine starts roaring, a billion lights and sounds go off, the steering wheel takes on a life of its own. The TCH is such a zen car. I could meditate in there if I wanted to. haha.

 

Perhaps we should install an externally mounted speaker playing a tape-recorded engine.

 

I was driving down Commercial Street in Provincetown Saturday evening in GCM and if you know P-Town you know that street is very narrow with tons of people walking on it. I overheard some guy exclaim in amazement, "Is that an electric car?" because he couldn't hear the engine.

Very Cool.

 

I had a reverse Freak out experience while coming out of a strip mall. This couple in a Range Rover cut me off. I thought...jeez in a big hurry for a Sunday. I waved them forward and they waved back at me to pull over. I thought "What are they state troopers in civilian outfits". Turns out they had just come from car shopping and had looked at the XLE, and wanted to know my thoughts about my TCH. LOL...needless to say, I regaled them with information for the next 30 minutes. There is so much to say about the car, and according to them, I told them so much more about the car than the dealer did. My dealer showed and told me very little, although I already wanted the car and didn't need a sales pitch.

A few people while I was driving have asked me about the car. but none of them noticed it was a hybrid. That fact always seems to surprise them.

Byron

 

I live for someone to ask me about my car. But beware. It's like inviting an Amway salesman in and asking them how the plan works. You're going to be there a while.

Apoligies to any Amway salesmen.

 

I'm a little worried about the silence of the car (which I don't have yet), because I park in a parking garage at work. You have to pull a 180 degree U-turn to go up or down the ramps, and there is no visibility to or from pedestrians walking up or down the ramp toward you as you begin the U-turn. And pedestrians are often there, especially at lunch time when they walk around and around it for exercise (it's too hot in Austin to walk outside).

Some of these exercise walkers are more busy talking than they are focused on where they are walking or what is coming. I feel that some of them are depending on the ability to hear cars coming. I'm going to have to take those U-turns at about 1 mile per hour. Again, I don't have my TCH yet, but this concerns me.

 

You can force the TCH to make some "noise" to alert daydreaming pedestrians.
If you have the A/C on, the cooling fan makes a normal amount of noise outside of the car, and pedestrians hear it quite easily. You can put the TCH in B mode instead of D, and the ICE will stay running.

 

I look forward to these questions too...

I was leaving a Logan's Steakhouse a couple of weeks ago after dinner with the wifey (we met there after work so had both cars with us), and I had parked right in front. There was a small group standing in front of my car on the sidewalk chitchatting as they waited for a table, and one of them asked how I liked the car. I told him I loved it, and then spent 5-10 minutes explaining the finer points its operation.

It was my first sales pitch to a stranger, and I look forward to more of them!

By the way, doesn't Amway go by the name Alticorp, now?