Flexcar: Finally, a Hybrid

Thursday, February 17, 2005, at 01:01PM

By Eric Richardson

My Dad's in town right now, so after my morning class I came back Downtown, met him for lunch at the Yorkshire Grill, and then we took the DASH over to Union Station to pick up a Flexcar. If you remember back to my first trip I was disappointed to not get a hybrid. Well this time I made sure and reserved ahead of time to get one of the cars at One Gateway Plaza (two cars, both hybrids). I've actually still got the car right now since we're heading back out in a bit for dinner, but I thought I'd drop by the blog for a midway update.

The pick-up process is so smooth. I had made my reservation a few days ago, so all I did now was take the bus to the Gateway Transit Center, walk into the parking garage and over to the car, hold my wallet on the reader, and there we were. And yes, this time I did test out the whole deal of not even opening the wallet. It works just fine that way, and it feels a lot cooler to do.

The parking card for the car was sitting in the visor, just as it should be. All we had to do was swipe it in the monthly reader and we were all set.

The car is a Civic hybrid. I don't know if it's an '04 or an '05 or what (I'd guess '04... it has 8000 miles on it), but it's fairly new and very nice. The dashboard is a fun-filled array of data and LEDs. Instant gas mileage, charging/assist, battery levels, etc. It's raining today, so I didn't get to ride around with the windows down listening to whether the car was super quiet, but it rode very well. The steering is a little mushy, but not enough to be a problem. Flexcar has put their PIN keypad in the center console, right under the cd player (much nicer than the tape deck in the Bonaventure car).

Tonight we're headed to the west side for dinner, after which we'll drop my dad off at the airport. Then later on I'll make a run to the grocery store before I return the car. I made the reservation until 6am, since that's when the free hours go until, but I plan on returning it well before that. I do have work in the morning.