The lovely white Chevy Tahoe was delivered this morning with characteristic bells and whistles for our house, which is to say it was a low-key affair. The nice GM folks called when they arrived, had me sign on the dotted line and handed me the keys. All car transactions should be this painless.

Since it was just about time to pick up the daughter from school, it seemed like a great time for a spin.

Our pug, however, felt it her duty to approve it before any of her humans. Any new big dog on her block is something to explore and understand before humans are allowed to touch it. Thus, the exploration of the interior by The Pug. (Don't worry, GM, she just had a bath and wasn't on the seats for more than a couple of minutes. I don't think she left more than a small trail of pug hairs behind).

She was impressed by the comfy leather seating and roomy interior. (yeah, I know I sound like an ad but really,they are comfy and it IS roomy).  The controls were just a tiny bit out of her league, and it took me some time with the quick start card to find them as well. Priorities being priorities, the first thing I looked for was the iPod connector.  

Hmmm.  Looked in that great big console storage area just behind the pug in the first photo, but didn't find it there.  I did, however, discover two sets of headphones for the onboard DVD player.  I also discovered a power outlet there, which will be handy when I get Suebob tomorrow morning and we have her laptop fired up, EVDO and all.

Looked hard at the Bose sound system. (yeah, Bose) Still didn't see any indication that it would play nice with my iPod. 

Fortunately for me, all cars have some basic features in common, like a steering wheel, shifter, brake and accelerator pedals. That meant I could go get my poor wilting daughter and figure out the bells and whistles later.

As a small car driver, I was a little concerned about driving a big one, but they really make it easy. It's smooth, easy on the turns, and has nice acceleration when you need it, smooth braking when it counts.

I was impressed with how it handled and how it felt to drive. It has a very solid feel to it.

Her comment, upon climbing in, was "it's HUGE". Mine: "C'mon, geeky girl, figure it out for me!" The drive home from school is about 8 miles or so, and in that time she figured out the XM radio, OnStar commands, and part of the dashboard. Dancergirl always checks out the moving parts, so she was opening the glove compartment and looking for the refrigerator she was sure GM had hidden in the console. She said the same thing I noticed -- everything feels very solid and heavy. This was good, because she is such a Prius snob that I was wondering what she'd say about a different brand and mode of hybrid.

 We also discovered the gauge for measuring fuel efficiency, although it wasn't until later that we found out the real-time data displays on the speedometer. Being a Prius driver, I'm used to getting feedback about whether I'm leadfooting or driving easy. That stuff is really important.

Well, that and the iPod connector.

As I turned the corner to our house, I noticed a guy in a much older GM Chevy Tahoe was following me. Honestly, it creeped me out a little bit. I parked and the Tahoe didn't unlock everything. Dancergirl was a little whacked too, so she was already firing up the OnStar alert.

He walked up to the side of the car and asked if he could talk to me. I rolled the window down about an inch and nodded.

He asked me if this was one of those hybrids he'd read about in the newspaper not long ago, the ones that GM would be introducing here soon.

I said yes, and he asked how I got it. I explained that I was carpooling up to BlogHer, and GM was letting us use it for the duration.

He began to ask me all kinds of questions about how much it would tow, etc. -- questions for which I had no answer. Ultimately I handed over the fact sheet to him, admitting that I didn't have a frickin' clue what tow weights were and how to figure them out.

He looked, and then said it wasn't enough for what he needed to tow. So I flipped over the fact sheet and suggested that perhaps the GMC Yukon hybrid would work for him. All I had was a reference to it, nothing specific.

He thought it was worth a shot and said he'd look it up when he got home.

All I could think of was how wild it was that a total stranger took the time to follow me off the freeway to ask me about what I was driving. Interested, much.

Time to pack, get goodies, and get going. More from the road tomorrow!