Warm is fine

Just call me Goldilocks, trying to pick out a rental. First I jumped in a big, bad, Lincoln?Jimmy?Buick? SUV. Whatever, I didn't know the make, but it was tall and shiny black and would protect me in the wilds of LA. I threw my luggage in the generous boot and hopped into the driver's seat. But, the mantra, "Asian cars for Asian people" is not oft-repeated in my household for nothing. I did not fit! I was too short! Limbed, that is. I could neither comfortably reach the pedals, nor the steering wheel, no matter how I adjusted the seat (though at least I could see over the dash). It was very strange. I don't think that I am of such abnormal proportions!

Next, heading in the opposite direction, I tried the oh-so-trendy Prius. It was silvery and sleek (shiny!) Toyota, like a trusty dolphin to help me glide through the sea of traffic. I loaded up my bags in the backseat and slid home into the very comfortably-apportioned front seat. I put the key in the receiver slot, pressed the button, and turned on the (what turned out to be auxiliary) power.

Lights! Action! Excellent.

I pressed it again, holding it down like a computer power switch, expecting it to react similarly to the extended key twist and turn the engine over.

No change. Huh.

I pressed it again and everything turned off.

Wuh? Didn't it skip a step?

I ran through the sequence again, thinking I'd gone too fast/far and passed the crucial, Car:ON moment.

Nada.

???!!!

I looked around for other buttons to push that looked obviously related to turning the car on, but nothing jumped out. While I was looking around for a driver's manual, I noticed that the shifting mechanism was also more-than-slightly different than a typical car. Disappointed and chagrined (what, I can't beat a car?), but acknowledging the general bad-idea-bearedness of driving an vehicle with unfamiliar controls through only slightly familiar territory, I regretfully climbed out the car to pick one last time.

Cherry/cheery red Impala. Huge trunk. Quintessentially "normal" controls. Just right for now!

(And how, because I was so sick of moving my heavy and voluminous luggage around...)

(Anybody know how to turn on a Prius?)