Had to go to our other site in West London today, and as there were three of us we ordered a car.
The company our company uses usually has a fleet of Merc E-Classes and BMW 7 series, so while not my cup of tea you can at least pretend you are more important than you are being chauffered in them
Today though the call comes that there is a black toyota waiting... oh dear I think. But hey, so what was the bloody thing like?
Well as you would expect, it was bolted together well with no rattles and for a jap car it actually had quite a nice interior though still nowhere near as classy looking as an alfa. Loads of room inside though, I mean this thing is like a tardis. Which surprised me, I mean where are the batteries hidden away?
As for the whole hybrid thing, well the bloke claimed it had cut his fuel bill substantially, but as I say they usually use E-class/7 series so no wonder.
What surprised me was how it works, I thought it was supposed to use battery upto 30mph ish. Well this guy wasn't thrashing it and as soon as you pulled away the engine kicked in with the instant mpg showing about 20mpg. I know we were 4 up but none of us were that big. The battery does cut in on the move though and aid the engine.
So to be honest, if I wanted to be more environmentally conscious I would probably but either a 147 JTDm 16v, or a FIAT T-Jet.
EDIT:
And I forgot, i thought i would show interest and asked the driver what it was like. His answer... "it's alright" Ask me that question about the Alfa and I won't shut up
