I picked up the car from Lindop Queensferry on the 2nd of September. She’s up to just over 350 miles so far and I can’t wait to get past the run in period even though I’m still having a lot of fun up to 4k.
Very happy with the sapphire blue - I had been pretty lucky to see most of the colours while I was in Japan earlier this year and had been really drawn to this. So when the email came through from Toyota in June offering an allocation, it was an easier choice than expected. I had been a little worried it might look a bit took dark on cloudy/rainy days but I’d argue it actually brings out the colour even better than on a bright day. The different shades of blue and hints of purple look great.
Full disclosure, this is the first manual and first N/A car I’ve owned (which feels a bit embarrassing to say as a so-called car enthusiast
), got to start somewhere right? Gearbox is loosening up nicely, the throttle mapping quirks of 1st gear are apparent but I don’t find them that problematic.
Some initial observations
+ The ride over poor roads is good particularly at speed,
+ Cornering poise is so reassuring
+ I’m enjoying the predictable power delivery of an NA car
+ I love the thinner steering wheel compared to most modern cars (I’m looking at you BMW…), makes it’s much nicer to use.
+ The adaptive headlights work well (and I like the start up waggle they do!)
+ The relatively small size of the car is great for British roads
= Not too bothered about the pumped in sound but I might care more once the run in period is over
= The infotainment system is perfectly adequate and works well with CarPlay, it’s quite snappy (faster starting up than my partner’s much fancier Audi system and not prone to overheating like that one does).
= 30.2 mpg on the first tank in quite mixed conditions - I’m pretty content with that
- 40L petrol tank is frankly too small
- Road noise on older concrete motorways is pretty high, will have to look at some sound deadening options as this is part of my commute (certainly not a dealbreaker though).
- At low revs in gear 1-1.5k rpm - the car sounds like a tractor gargling a bag of spanners
The plan will be to get a polish and ceramic coat next week, then try and take it for a decent run somewhere and hopefully get some much better photos too!
Very happy with the sapphire blue - I had been pretty lucky to see most of the colours while I was in Japan earlier this year and had been really drawn to this. So when the email came through from Toyota in June offering an allocation, it was an easier choice than expected. I had been a little worried it might look a bit took dark on cloudy/rainy days but I’d argue it actually brings out the colour even better than on a bright day. The different shades of blue and hints of purple look great.
Full disclosure, this is the first manual and first N/A car I’ve owned (which feels a bit embarrassing to say as a so-called car enthusiast
), got to start somewhere right? Gearbox is loosening up nicely, the throttle mapping quirks of 1st gear are apparent but I don’t find them that problematic.Some initial observations
+ The ride over poor roads is good particularly at speed,
+ Cornering poise is so reassuring
+ I’m enjoying the predictable power delivery of an NA car
+ I love the thinner steering wheel compared to most modern cars (I’m looking at you BMW…), makes it’s much nicer to use.
+ The adaptive headlights work well (and I like the start up waggle they do!)
+ The relatively small size of the car is great for British roads
= Not too bothered about the pumped in sound but I might care more once the run in period is over
= The infotainment system is perfectly adequate and works well with CarPlay, it’s quite snappy (faster starting up than my partner’s much fancier Audi system and not prone to overheating like that one does).
= 30.2 mpg on the first tank in quite mixed conditions - I’m pretty content with that
- 40L petrol tank is frankly too small
- Road noise on older concrete motorways is pretty high, will have to look at some sound deadening options as this is part of my commute (certainly not a dealbreaker though).
- At low revs in gear 1-1.5k rpm - the car sounds like a tractor gargling a bag of spanners
The plan will be to get a polish and ceramic coat next week, then try and take it for a decent run somewhere and hopefully get some much better photos too!
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