Maryrose Lyons blogging since 2003...

On Days Like This

October 20, 2009 at 9:10 am

I love my Toyota iQ. Wet dark morning in October, I’m on my way out to the gym. It’s grim. Every car is using its lights and windscreen wipers. Inside my little iQ it’s a warm and satisfying bubble! Heated seats – I could get used to this.

What I don’t like about getting started in the MX5 on damp winter mornings:

It’s cold in the car
It’s damp and every window is fogged up. Turn the heat on very hot to adjust the windscreen. Open and close the side windows to try to remove some of the excess moisture.
Turn on the engine, and go. Back window is plastic (car is convertible) so it’s not easy to see through when covered with damp.

Botty toasting magic in Toyota iQ

Turn on the engine, turn up the heat. Adjust regulator to make sure it doesn’t get too hot. Within minutes the car is a balmy warm.
Push botty down into the heated seat. Lean back into the seat to rub back off heated upholstery. Really like that. I feel like a cat.
Turn on the engine. (It purrs). Back window covered in rain drops? Flick the switch of the back windscreen wiper to ensure clear visiblity as I proceed down my driveway.

It’s a nice way to ease into the day. The interior of the iQ is one of the most marvellous things about it (after the fuel efficiency, and neat storage in the back). It’s the bit I find myself talking about the most when I have passengers. They all marvel at the space in the front. It is deceptive. I get to tell them how Toyota modelled the interior on the high end Avensis model, so it’s executive saloon luxury at small car prices. I also get to tell them how the iQ engineers came up with such a novel way of where to put the air conditioning/heating unit, that in future all Toyota cars will be built this way. (They put it under the floor… look at your car next time and note how much unnecessary space the heating/air takes up in the front).

By the way, I’m filling the car for €28 which to my mind is great value. I’m getting good mileage on that. I still have to play chicken with the fuel guage to work out exactly how many miles/km. But according to Toyota, it should be giving me 4.3litre to the 100km. You can ogle that statistic and more over here.

And now here’s a sexy interior style shot you can enjoy with your cappachino. Keep warm and toasty on this first day of winter. And if you’re driving, be safe on our roads.

toyota-iq-interior-15-04-09