July 2 2006:
This is my new Prius which I nicknamed "Horta". 
If you are not a "Trekkie", the name may not make any sense.
I picked it up June 30, after 2.5 months of waiting.
I really wanted the red and passed on a few others that came in sooner. This car is really deceptive in size. It is huge inside and weighs only a few hundred more pounds than my Miata. It has excellent road manners and does not drive like I was expecting (ie. an anemic econobox). It has so far averaged 51.4MPG over the first 400 miles and I have not been employing the techniques I read about to get better mileage (pulse and glide). I have, however, been using the AC in AUTO mode set at 74F.
After the first week, I started ordering things to personalize my new ride.
From Sigma Automotive (SigmaAutomotive.com) I ordered several items:
A set of factory mudflaps which I then painted to match the Horta's color.
A set of color matched side moldings
and
A set of lightly tinted Weather-Tech window vents.
I also seperately ordered a Toyota XM kit for Horta. I have to have my XM.
July 19 2006:
The new accessories came in all at once and I had a brief window of opportunity between rain storms to install them over the weekend:
1) Door Moldings (install time: 40 minutes)
2) Mud Flaps (paint time: 3 hours, install time: 25 minutes)
3) WeatherTech vents (install time: 15 minutes)
and most importantly
4) A factory XM kit (install time: 3.3 hours)
The additions are not readily visible with the pic above so I took a few more while out testing them:
The Door Moldings came pre-painted and matched perfectly.
I painted the mud flaps with Duplicolor "Milano Red". it was the closest I could find to the Toyota "Barcelona red". It is a shade lighter but you would have to look close to see the difference.
I could not find an angle where the WeatherTech vents stood out. And thats the way I like them. They really blend in nicely.
August 25, 2006:
I ordered the Coastal Door Lock Module and EV Module. They arrived in about 3 days and took my maybe 50 minutes to install from start to end.
The Door Lock Module is great. It automatically locks the doors when Horta passes 15mph, although in cold weather it usually locks them shortly after starting. I actually would prefer the immediate locking, but I refuse to move to a colder climate just for that.
The EV Module allows me to run only in electric mode when I want to leave quietly. I just pull the cruise lever for a few seconds and if the system has sufficient charge, Horta is in EV mode.
Here is a picture of the modules installed:
I labeled them for clarity. They are just 2 small black squares connected behind the dash.
September 3, 2006:
After some reading on PriusChat, I decided to up the PSI in the tires to see what affect it would have on mileage. I went from 36/34 to 42/40 and saw about a 1.5MPG improvement on my daily commute. I may get more from higher PSI and / or better tires. I will probably wait on that until spring.
