Real Life Drivers Test

            Yesterday, I was asked if I would like to drive to Syracuse to pick up a car and bring it back to Handy Toyota.  I said without hesitation, “sure I would be glad to.”  After 12 hours of driving through pouring rain, two different cars, I finally made it back to the dealership in one piece (and the car as well).

            The day started with me driving a Toyota Rav4 to Romano Toyota.  The route would take me across the top of the state on Route 11, and then interstate 81 down to Syracuse.  I figured I would get a good opportunity to talk about these two Toyota’s like how they would be driven by a typical driver rather than magazines such as Car and Driver taking it out onto the track and measuring the center of gravity, ¼ mile distance and all the “stuff” that doesn’t particularly matter to the everyday driver.

            The Rav4 I drove to Syracuse was a green XLE model.  The steering and braking was much quicker

than what I was used to since I had been driving a 10 year old car for the past year.  One feature I thought was pretty cool was when driving, a green light will show up on the dash that say, “eco” to show if you are driving economically or not.  That light was on during the entire trip so I was driving economically and making the most of the gas mileage.  Since it was raining, I made good use of the windshield wipers, which worked perfectly as I would expect of a new car.

            One thing I noticed about the Rav4 was after three of four hours of driving; my back wasn’t getting stiff like it has on other long car rides.  I think a lot of that had to do with the seat and the way it was designed. The seat resembled a bit of a racing style being so you were nestled right in the middle.  It was very comfortable too.

            The Toyota Highlander that I was taking back from Romano Toyota drove very much like the Rav4. This one had leather seats and an eight-way adjustable seat, so it was a little more luxurious than the Rav4.  The Highlander didn’t have the “eco” light that the Rav4 did, but other than those little differences, and the Highlander being a little bit bigger, there was essentially no difference in driving either car.  I would be happy owning either one of them.

            After almost 12 hours of driving, I finally made it back to Handy Toyota, and drove myself back home to eat dinner and get ready for another work day.  This was a good tune-up for another 12 hour drive I’ll be embarking on this Sunday.  The drive will put my grandfather and I in the southeast corner of Pennsylvania for one of the biggest model airplane contests in the country.

Matthew Colan

Handy Toyota

St. Albans, VT