Driving Two Extremes

This week I got to drive a couple of different cars. At the weekend my friend Becky kindly allowed me to drive her Toyota Prius – the most popular of all the hybrid vehicles. I am getting ready to buy a new car and the Prius is right up there on my list so I was keen to take it for a spin. I do so much want to buy a Prius because it is the right thing to do, but I am afraid I found it a bit cramped for my 6ft + frame. The visibility wasn’t great either, though I could get used to that. In all other aspects it is a great vehicle but I just wish it were a tad larger inside.

Then this week I went to Oklahoma City and went from the sublime to the ridiculous. I reserved a Compact car but on arrival I found they were out of that size and so I got upgraded to a Lincoln Town Car. The Lincoln Town Car is a huge boat like gas-guzzling monster that I would be embarrassed to drive down my own street in. But, in Oklahoma City no body knows me so I had a blast cruising down the freeway, in what must be one of the largest saloon cars on the market today.

What a contrast in those two vehicles. It’s not just that the Lincoln is a larger car; it also doesn’t strike me as being well designed or as well made as the Prius. The controls for things like the side mirror adjustments, the lights, the gear shift, etc all seemed a bit clunky and just did not feel like they were built to last. I am afraid that is the feel I get when I get inside most American cars – there is something they just don’t get about good design. That of course is just my humble opinion.

It was interesting to find that in the links to the automobile sites above, the Toyota Prius's catchphrase is "so advanced it makes the future seem obsolete" while the Lincoln Town Car is just the Flag Ship of the Lincoln Fleet. The nautical comparisons are quite appropriate for the Lincoln I think.