While New Zealand has some of the cheapest second-hand cars in the world, I wondered – was this too good to be true?

Cheap Generation I Prius? It comes with a big risk.

After some extensive desktop research I found out that it probably is. Here’s why…

Any Prius earlier than year 2000 (NHW10 model or ‘Generation I’) was an experimental model which was released only in Japan. About 70,000 were sold and it appears hundreds of these are now being exported to New Zealand.

Apparently around 1 in 40 can have a battery problem and Toyota Japan still replace these battery packs for free – but only in Japan. Additionally the diagnostic equipment in most Toyota workshops throughout New Zealand aren’t compatible with the Generation I Prius (so if you have a problem, you may have trouble finding someone who can fix it).

I rang three Toyota dealers to verify this.

Toyota Wellington seemed unsure but strongly recommended I avoid the Gen I Prius. Toyota Kapiti told me a similar story, but it was Toyota Northshore who seemed to have the most hands-on experience trying to fix common problems with the Generation I Prius.

The Toyota Northshore workshop said they frequently had people coming in with the Generation I Prius, and while making repairs is possible, can often be very expensive. For example, a new battery costs upwards of $7000 plus labour costs.

They recommended, if looking for a cheap Prius, to start with the Generation II (NHW11 model). If the back seats fold down flat then it’s probably the NHW11, and they began producing these in 2000. But if you’re wanting a Prius for under $10,000 you’ll be out of luck, the cheapest NHW11 I’ve seen advertised was $12,000 – they usually sell for around $15,000.

A good place to start your own research is the Green Car Company – at first I thought their information sounded bias towards enticing me to buy a more modern Prius – but it turns out they are right in their analysis.

Anyway, I ended up buying a freshly imported 1997 Honda Logo for $5000 – which is averaging  5 litres per 100km (just as good as the Gen I Prius).

ferris

Ferris is pretty simple, but inquisitive – its main function being to drive around the floor, bump in to objects, act ‘confused’, persist and eventually get out of tricky situations. Of course “Ferris” – part of the family nowsometimes Ferris will get stuck, and a human’s helping hand will move Ferris on to the next adventure.

This quirky little robot is admittedly endearing, and the whole phenomenon has taken me by surprise.

Ferris is now over a month old, and is a familiar sight on our lounge room floor. It’s reached the point that my daughter calls Ferris by name, and even shows concern if we venture out and leave the little plastic robot behind.

The idea of dismantling Ferris… …well, I won’t be the one to do it.

At the same time as all this has been going on I’ve been gradually reading Don Norman’s book ‘Emotional Design: Why We Love (Or Hate) Everyday Things’, which has an extensive chapter on Don’s theories about how robots will interact with humans and the important jobs they will perform. He refers to the robots as ‘emotional machines’, and how programming in emotional responses (such as frustration) will lead to more intelligent, intuitive and useful machines.

This got me talking with the dedicated mother of my children, who is lumped with the vast majority of the housework while I work in the “glamorous” design web design industry, “socialising all day” and doing “funky design stuff”).

We talked about robots, and how we would feel about them being in our lives. I pointed out that we already have several robots – a dishwasher and washing machine – but what she really, really wants is a robot to “fold and put away the clothes” (anyone who has kids and lets them play creatively will understand the significance of this!).

Maybe one day clothing will come embedded with some sort of RFID tag so the domestic robot knows which article of clothing belongs to who, and where it lives (e.g. folded or on a coat rack).

Then this week, a major drawback in the domestic robotics world with Sony announcing they’re dropping their Aibo, Qrio and Qualia robots, and its entire robot development team.

So maybe robots will not be mainstream in my lifetime, but maybe for my kids, Ferris is just the beginning…

Chunkalicious!

My work colleague is in love with these new mega-chunky Phillips headphones, which he bought half price for $40.

I tried them on for myself. The sound quality is pretty average – I’d even go as far to say the sound quality isn’t quite as good as my lightweight (and foldable) Sennheiser headphones, which I bought for a similar price.

But Bob doesn’t give a toss…

His justification is that they totally cover his ears and the headphones are damn comfortable.

He’s prepared to sacrifice sound quality and looking silly for usability factor, with the added bonus that it makes the Provoke designers giggle (so it turns out that the headphones are also good for our health).

Maybe Bob and Phillips are on to something…