Week 2 of Driving A Hybrid Car!

Now we are getting into the facts and figures! 

Week 2 of driving the hybrid car. I put £20 of fuel in the Toyota Yaris Hybrid when I first got it 2 weeks ago and haven't been near a petrol station since (except for a sandwich!) 

The tech guys at Bridgend Motor Group changed my display settings in the car and now I can see how many miles to the gallon I am getting - currently 56.5 which is slightly lower than the 59 average for a hybrid vehicle. With a bit more clever driving I am aiming to get to that! They have also put a lot more statistics on the Toyota Touch display screen, but when I am driving I prefer to have podcasts or music streaming from my phone - great sound system by the way. Will

 get a good look at the statistics on screen for my next blog.

With all this rain that is happening just now one of my friends asked me if I wasn't afraid driving an electric car in the rain in case I got electrocuted!!!!  The answer - in case you are wondering - is NO! All cars have electrical systems and nobody ever worries about them. In the hybrid and electric cars the batteries are bigger and in an enclosed section of the vehicle well away from where they could get splashed going through big puddles. The things I learn to answer people's questions are amazing!

Now check out the fab decals on the Toyota! The sales team have been impressed with how many people have been reading the blog and coming in and talking to them about it. They thought it would be great if people could recognise me on the road so the Toyota now looks even better with the decals on. Won't be able to get away with being a bad driver or having road rage issues now will I!!!

Anyway if you see me out on the road give me a toot or a wave you can't miss the Bridgend Eco-mobile now!

Over and out for this blog post. Loving the eco friendly driving!

One week of driving a Hybrid Car!

That's been a week now since I started trialling a hybrid Toyota Yaris 1.5 Icon CVT and I have to say I am really loving the hybrid experience!

With the keyless start, how quick it is to switch on and off and the speedy Bluetooth connectivity it's so easy to get on the road in the morning.

I also ended up working a few days at the Bridgend Eco Centre and it was great to be able to converse semi knowledgeably with potential hybrid and electric customers due to my experience over the past week driving around in a hybrid. Was great to see how busy they were with people genuinely interested in changing to eco friendly vehicles whether it be for environmental reasons, economical reasons or even just to be in at the forefront of new technology. Personally I think all three reasons work for me! Take a look at the range of vehicles they have in stock. They are "flying" out the door but more new stock coming in all the time!

https://www.bridgendgroup.co.uk/electric-and-hybrid/


I am also starting to get used to the rear view camera for parking and reversing but the biggest thing for me was driving an automatic which I've never had before. I won't lie though I still keep looking for the gearstick when I approach a junction or traffic lights! 

I am now learning how to maximise the electric part of the hybrid by driving more carefully. The petrol engine only comes on if I need to overtake or accelerate quickly. I am learning to take off slowly from traffic lights to lessen the petrol used.

And talking of petrol! I have hardly used ANY in a week. Amazing! 

Quite funny - I picked my teenage niece up from school during the week and she loved the car. I explained to her how it worked and she was really impressed. I told her "It's the future" she said "No it's not. Flying cars are the future!" That shut me up!

Keep following the blog to see what new things I learn over the weekend. Next week I aim to go a longer drive and see how that goes!

Day 3 of Hybrid Driving!

Day 3 of Driving the Toyota Yaris Hybrid and I am getting into the swing of it!

As it has a keyless start - you press the Power Button to switch it on - when I pressed the button nothing happened so I assumed that either I had done something wrong or the car was faulty. I asked the guys at Bridgend Eco Centre in Irvine what I had done wrong and they said "Nothing, remember it is silent" Doh! So I had expected it to roar into life but it is completely silent! A little strange to begin with but getting used to it now. 

I took it to the petrol station to put some fuel in the petrol tank as back up and £20 worth of petrol made the tank 3/4 full! Wow! And from the three days of driving about the needle has hardly gone down.

I am impressed with the quickness of the Toyota. When you accelerate it really reacts quickly and has a fast turn of speed when overtaking (which kicks you into the petrol engine) or accelerating from traffic lights etc. 

Am also impressed with the in car entertainment system powered by Toyota Touch which linked to my phones Bluetooth easily. I can get email alerts on the large touchscreen as well as playing Spotify Playlists and podcasts from my phone. 

Keep looking out for my blog posts and if you see me on the road give me a wave although with the silence of the Toyota you might not hear me! 

Trialling a Hybrid Car!

So I was looking to change cars and have been toying with the idea of going electric and saving the planet but since I am forever forgetting to charge my phone what are the chances of me being able to remember to charge a car! And that could be a disaster!

So after some thought and discussion with the experts at Bridgend Motor Group where I work as the HR and Payroll guru we decided I should trial a hybrid car before deciding to go "full electric" 

We chose a Toyota Yaris 1.5 Icon 5 door CVT  (link to website below) 

https://www.bridgendgroup.co.uk/used-car-details/used-toyota-yaris-15-hybrid-icon-5dr-cvt-leath-small-car-blue-automatic-hybrid/id-1020152500057/?Make=TOYOTA


With some really nice touches such as Bluetooth Connectivity and audio streaming, USB connections, touch screen media display, rear view camera, keyless start I was in geek heaven!

I have just picked it up from the Bridgend Eco Centre in East Road Irvine and Darren the electric and hybrid specialist has kindly shown me how it works and explained the technology behind the car switching between electric and petrol and how it recharges using the petrol motor as a generator. 

Follow me over the next few weeks to see how I - a first time hybrid and first time automatic car driver - get on!