New Prius C Owner

Hi everyone!

Long time fan, first time owner, how y'all doin'?

So, my wife and I scrimped and saved, and bought ourselves a brand-new (actually previously owned, auctioned and imported) 2015 Toyota Aqua (known as a Prius C in other parts of the world) just before New Year's. More than we could afford, honestly, but we figure it'll be worth it, seeing as we plan on keeping it long-term. It's the base model, so there isn't a rear wiper, no push-start, and probably fewer airbags and speakers, but still pretty awesome.

It's a bit of an upgrade compared to our previous car, which was a Hyundai Santro (known as the Atos in other parts of the world). No power-steering, no power-windows, no power-mirrors, no climate-control, no Bluetooth, no airbags... it was essentially a box with a 1-litre injected engine and seats. It was a very nice box, pretty quick off the mark, and it was quite a bit better than a lot of the usual cars you get in this part of the world. But still, it was a lot less horsepower than the Aqua, and a lot less fuel efficient.

We've been driving it around for nearly a month now. We first filled it up on the day we bought it, and I've filled it up again last night, and I've gotten about 49 mpg, which isn't bad, considering that the most I've ever gotten is 37 mpg. Me, I reckon I'm quite happy. My wife, not so much, because the indicated mileage was 56 mpg, but I think that's just because we'd been out of town for a couple of weeks, and I'd asked my father to start it up every few days. And the driving around to various mechanics getting the car checked out, that's never good.

A few things that I've learned, tootling around in my Aqua:

1. Every car that I've driven had its own personality. The Santro always wanted to go fast (well, as fast as it could). It didn't have any equipment, so it felt light and excited, and just wanted to go, and go, and go. My father's car (a Suzuki Cultus Crescent, known as a Baleno here) feels sluggish, like it just wants to go back to bed, and feels like it needs to be pushed and shoved from place to place. My mother-in-law's car, a pretty old Toyota Corolla, which has been driven by far too many people, wears its abuse pretty openly, feeling like it's been whipped into submission, but you can see traces of its old grandeur sometimes, after it's been given an oil change and a wash. The Aqua feels unhurried, honestly. It'll go up to 60, 70 mph easy and smoothly, but it feels as though it just wants to cruise low and slow.
   
2. The drive to the city is uphill, so I tend to do between 49 and 56 mpg (indicated, and yes, it varies that much by traffic), but the drive home is downhill, so I can get anywhere between 56 and 70 mpg (indicated). I suspect that I might be able to do better, because I did once get a 94mpg at the end of my commute. And it might get better in the Spring... before getting much worse in the Summer.
   
3. Driving the Aqua makes me a more careful driver. I'm always anticipating where I'll need to stop or where I'll be able to overtake, so I know when to accelerate hard, when to glide, and when to start braking gently so that I can regen efficiently.
4. I suspect that the car was made for the generation that's been brought up playing video games, because I can't help but treat it like a video game. I keep wanting to "improve my score", except in this case, rather than just bragging rights, I'm saving fuel.
5. It's our first automatic (which also has power-steering), so it's practically impossible not to drive it (currently) like a thug. You know what I mean. Left leg leaning off (because there's no clutch), right arm draped over the steering wheel (because it's power-steering so you could turn the wheel with your pinkie), and your entire self slumped over on the seat because you're trying to figure out how to read the Japanese text on the center-screen.
6. You don't realize it when you're driving it, but it is seriously freaky how silent it is from the outside when it switches to EV mode. You'd never know it was running if you weren't paying attention, which is why I've starting tooting the horn a lot more.
7. I keep turning the fans off because they're too noisy. Actually, it's not that the fans are noisy. It's that the car is usually so quiet that I don't have to crank up the stereo.

So, that's my "Hello" and "How are you". I'm looking forward to picking everyone's brains on how to get the most out of our new "Quack-Quack" as my kids call it.

 

Thanks!

But, y'know, I felt that I should empirically check what the car tells me rather than accepting it on faith. Doubting is bad, but questioning is sound and scientific.

Which is why I also used Google Maps to check if I'd actually done as many kilometers as the trip-meter said I'd done. A bit, y'know, anal, I realize, but I felt it was necessary for my own peace of mind.