Anchor ads are not supported on this page.

4S Ranch Allied Gardens Alpine Baja Balboa Park Bankers Hill Barrio Logan Bay Ho Bay Park Black Mountain Ranch Blossom Valley Bonita Bonsall Borrego Springs Boulevard Campo Cardiff-by-the-Sea Carlsbad Carmel Mountain Carmel Valley Chollas View Chula Vista City College City Heights Clairemont College Area Coronado CSU San Marcos Cuyamaca College Del Cerro Del Mar Descanso Downtown San Diego Eastlake East Village El Cajon Emerald Hills Encanto Encinitas Escondido Fallbrook Fletcher Hills Golden Hill Grant Hill Grantville Grossmont College Guatay Harbor Island Hillcrest Imperial Beach Imperial Valley Jacumba Jamacha-Lomita Jamul Julian Kearny Mesa Kensington La Jolla Lakeside La Mesa Lemon Grove Leucadia Liberty Station Lincoln Acres Lincoln Park Linda Vista Little Italy Logan Heights Mesa College Midway District MiraCosta College Miramar Miramar College Mira Mesa Mission Beach Mission Hills Mission Valley Mountain View Mount Hope Mount Laguna National City Nestor Normal Heights North Park Oak Park Ocean Beach Oceanside Old Town Otay Mesa Pacific Beach Pala Palomar College Palomar Mountain Paradise Hills Pauma Valley Pine Valley Point Loma Point Loma Nazarene Potrero Poway Rainbow Ramona Rancho Bernardo Rancho Penasquitos Rancho San Diego Rancho Santa Fe Rolando San Carlos San Marcos San Onofre Santa Ysabel Santee San Ysidro Scripps Ranch SDSU Serra Mesa Shelltown Shelter Island Sherman Heights Skyline Solana Beach Sorrento Valley Southcrest South Park Southwestern College Spring Valley Stockton Talmadge Temecula Tierrasanta Tijuana UCSD University City University Heights USD Valencia Park Valley Center Vista Warner Springs

Gina Granier's Prius has bells and whistles

Sometimes it takes a long time to get off at the P.B. exit.
Sometimes it takes a long time to get off at the P.B. exit.

Name: Gina Granier

Car: 2008 Toyota Prius

Do you like it? I love it. I like its fuel efficiency and its comfort. I think Toyota has done a really good job making a sedan that’s really luxurious. It feels like a luxury car. It’s all leather, and it has lots of bells and whistles, and it’s still reasonably priced.

Sponsored
Sponsored

Is there anything you don’t like about your car? I think the gas tank is a little too small. I still have to fill it up a lot, even though it gets great gas mileage. If the tank were just a little bit bigger, I could go longer without filling it up.

Tell me about the car you had before this. The car I had before this was a 2003 Nissan Altima, and I loved it. I had over 200,000 miles on it, and I didn’t want to buy a new car. I ran it completely dry of oil, and I put new oil in it, and it kept going like nothing ever happened. I didn’t want to, but I was afraid it would leave me stranded, so I sold it for $500 and bought my Toyota.

What’s your favorite drive in San Diego? Have you ever driven [the Del Dios Highway] between Encinitas and Escondido? It’s right through the mountains, there aren’t very many billboards, not a lot of traffic, and there’s some body of water down there that, I don’t know what it is — a spring or a lake [Lake Hodges] or something — it’s beautiful.

Where is your least favorite drive? My least favorite drive is from La Jolla Village to the freeway. It takes forever, and I’m so tired of every stoplight. Or any of the beach towns to the freeway. P.B. to the freeway is really bad, too. Because you hit every single red light. If you hit one, you hit them all. The sunnier the day is, the worse the traffic is. And the closer to the end of the week, the worse the traffic is.

Do you have any accident stories? The first day I ever drove — the first day I had my license — I was allowed to drive to a play at school. It wasn’t very far from my house and I knew the way; I had practiced this with my mom a million times. And I did great. And then on the way home, I got into the car and I turned on the music, and I backed out of my parking spot, but I cut the wheel too hard and I hit a car. It turned out to be my teacher’s car. It was mortifying. And he had never been in an accident. It was the first time he’d ever had to call his insurance company. And he was trying to be nice about it, but you could tell he wasn’t happy. And neither was my mom. She said, “I told you a million times: go straight back and then turn.”

What do you listen to when you drive? I flip through every radio station, I find a song that I like, and then when it’s over, I flip to the next. I have a little button on my steering wheel and I just coast through all the stations over and over again. I can always find something. It’s not always good, but it’s listenable. And I can sing along.

What’s your favorite shortcut? I have exited on the next exit at Bay Park and then backtracked, because sometimes it takes a long time to get off at the P.B. exit. I’ve only done that once, out of desperation...there were so many cars.

Here's something you might be interested in.
Submit a free classified
or view all
Previous article

Why you climb El Cajon Mountain at night

The man with no rope fell 500 feet
Next Article

For its pilsner, Stone opts for public hops

"We really enjoyed the American Hop profile in our Pilsners"
Sometimes it takes a long time to get off at the P.B. exit.
Sometimes it takes a long time to get off at the P.B. exit.

Name: Gina Granier

Car: 2008 Toyota Prius

Do you like it? I love it. I like its fuel efficiency and its comfort. I think Toyota has done a really good job making a sedan that’s really luxurious. It feels like a luxury car. It’s all leather, and it has lots of bells and whistles, and it’s still reasonably priced.

Sponsored
Sponsored

Is there anything you don’t like about your car? I think the gas tank is a little too small. I still have to fill it up a lot, even though it gets great gas mileage. If the tank were just a little bit bigger, I could go longer without filling it up.

Tell me about the car you had before this. The car I had before this was a 2003 Nissan Altima, and I loved it. I had over 200,000 miles on it, and I didn’t want to buy a new car. I ran it completely dry of oil, and I put new oil in it, and it kept going like nothing ever happened. I didn’t want to, but I was afraid it would leave me stranded, so I sold it for $500 and bought my Toyota.

What’s your favorite drive in San Diego? Have you ever driven [the Del Dios Highway] between Encinitas and Escondido? It’s right through the mountains, there aren’t very many billboards, not a lot of traffic, and there’s some body of water down there that, I don’t know what it is — a spring or a lake [Lake Hodges] or something — it’s beautiful.

Where is your least favorite drive? My least favorite drive is from La Jolla Village to the freeway. It takes forever, and I’m so tired of every stoplight. Or any of the beach towns to the freeway. P.B. to the freeway is really bad, too. Because you hit every single red light. If you hit one, you hit them all. The sunnier the day is, the worse the traffic is. And the closer to the end of the week, the worse the traffic is.

Do you have any accident stories? The first day I ever drove — the first day I had my license — I was allowed to drive to a play at school. It wasn’t very far from my house and I knew the way; I had practiced this with my mom a million times. And I did great. And then on the way home, I got into the car and I turned on the music, and I backed out of my parking spot, but I cut the wheel too hard and I hit a car. It turned out to be my teacher’s car. It was mortifying. And he had never been in an accident. It was the first time he’d ever had to call his insurance company. And he was trying to be nice about it, but you could tell he wasn’t happy. And neither was my mom. She said, “I told you a million times: go straight back and then turn.”

What do you listen to when you drive? I flip through every radio station, I find a song that I like, and then when it’s over, I flip to the next. I have a little button on my steering wheel and I just coast through all the stations over and over again. I can always find something. It’s not always good, but it’s listenable. And I can sing along.

What’s your favorite shortcut? I have exited on the next exit at Bay Park and then backtracked, because sometimes it takes a long time to get off at the P.B. exit. I’ve only done that once, out of desperation...there were so many cars.

Comments
Sponsored
Here's something you might be interested in.
Submit a free classified
or view all
Previous article

Ten women founded UCSD’s Cafe Minerva

And ten bucks will more than likely fill your belly
Next Article

Why you climb El Cajon Mountain at night

The man with no rope fell 500 feet
Comments
Ask a Hipster — Advice you didn't know you needed Big Screen — Movie commentary Blurt — Music's inside track Booze News — San Diego spirits Classical Music — Immortal beauty Classifieds — Free and easy Cover Stories — Front-page features Drinks All Around — Bartenders' drink recipes Excerpts — Literary and spiritual excerpts Feast! — Food & drink reviews Feature Stories — Local news & stories Fishing Report — What’s getting hooked from ship and shore From the Archives — Spotlight on the past Golden Dreams — Talk of the town The Gonzo Report — Making the musical scene, or at least reporting from it Letters — Our inbox Movies@Home — Local movie buffs share favorites Movie Reviews — Our critics' picks and pans Musician Interviews — Up close with local artists Neighborhood News from Stringers — Hyperlocal news News Ticker — News & politics Obermeyer — San Diego politics illustrated Outdoors — Weekly changes in flora and fauna Overheard in San Diego — Eavesdropping illustrated Poetry — The old and the new Reader Travel — Travel section built by travelers Reading — The hunt for intellectuals Roam-O-Rama — SoCal's best hiking/biking trails San Diego Beer — Inside San Diego suds SD on the QT — Almost factual news Sheep and Goats — Places of worship Special Issues — The best of Street Style — San Diego streets have style Surf Diego — Real stories from those braving the waves Theater — On stage in San Diego this week Tin Fork — Silver spoon alternative Under the Radar — Matt Potter's undercover work Unforgettable — Long-ago San Diego Unreal Estate — San Diego's priciest pads Your Week — Daily event picks
4S Ranch Allied Gardens Alpine Baja Balboa Park Bankers Hill Barrio Logan Bay Ho Bay Park Black Mountain Ranch Blossom Valley Bonita Bonsall Borrego Springs Boulevard Campo Cardiff-by-the-Sea Carlsbad Carmel Mountain Carmel Valley Chollas View Chula Vista City College City Heights Clairemont College Area Coronado CSU San Marcos Cuyamaca College Del Cerro Del Mar Descanso Downtown San Diego Eastlake East Village El Cajon Emerald Hills Encanto Encinitas Escondido Fallbrook Fletcher Hills Golden Hill Grant Hill Grantville Grossmont College Guatay Harbor Island Hillcrest Imperial Beach Imperial Valley Jacumba Jamacha-Lomita Jamul Julian Kearny Mesa Kensington La Jolla Lakeside La Mesa Lemon Grove Leucadia Liberty Station Lincoln Acres Lincoln Park Linda Vista Little Italy Logan Heights Mesa College Midway District MiraCosta College Miramar Miramar College Mira Mesa Mission Beach Mission Hills Mission Valley Mountain View Mount Hope Mount Laguna National City Nestor Normal Heights North Park Oak Park Ocean Beach Oceanside Old Town Otay Mesa Pacific Beach Pala Palomar College Palomar Mountain Paradise Hills Pauma Valley Pine Valley Point Loma Point Loma Nazarene Potrero Poway Rainbow Ramona Rancho Bernardo Rancho Penasquitos Rancho San Diego Rancho Santa Fe Rolando San Carlos San Marcos San Onofre Santa Ysabel Santee San Ysidro Scripps Ranch SDSU Serra Mesa Shelltown Shelter Island Sherman Heights Skyline Solana Beach Sorrento Valley Southcrest South Park Southwestern College Spring Valley Stockton Talmadge Temecula Tierrasanta Tijuana UCSD University City University Heights USD Valencia Park Valley Center Vista Warner Springs
Close

Anchor ads are not supported on this page.