By Katherine Rutkowski

Following a fender bender in a 14-year old Geo Prizm, I was in the market for an econo-box with decent gas mileage and adequate safety features. Call me Rip Van Winkle, but I was amazed at the techno-marvels available in the compact and subcompact classes. The Toyota Matrix above has a moonroof – hallelujah – and headlights that turn on and off automatically, windows and doors that don’t require manual labor, not to mention ABS and side-curtain airbags. Sure, these are modest expectations, but I dislike driving and have a commute that is a fraction of the typical 16.5 hours Americans spend in their vehicles each week.

Then too, my in-vehicle media demands are plain. Give me NPR for short drives, and a few music or audio-book CDs on the new multi-disk changer for longer trips and I’m happy. The story changes when my high-school senior drives. She wouldn’t pull out of the driveway without her engraved iPod Nano and Blackberry Pearl. And, if my husband had chosen the car, it would be loaded with bells and whistles. An in-dash navigation system, back-up camera and car alarm would make the list, as would satellite radio. Three people, three demographic clichés. Beep, beep, beep.

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This entry was posted on Monday, May 12th, 2008 at 2:26 pm and is filed under Connectivity, Green CE, In Vehicle CE. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.