I've done about 60 miles so far, most of it with a grin on my face. It's so much fun to drive, rolling through corners like a 2CV, shimmying over bumps and doing it all while looking like the cheekiest little car you've ever seen. There is zero chance of anyone feeling intimidated by this car, it's like a puppy. I love it!
My worries about the auto box making it rev too high at motorway speeds have been unfounded. It pulls about 3400rpm at 70mph, which although a bit busy, is tolerable. At 60mph it runs at a more civilised 2800rpm. Showing an average of 38mpg so far on a mix of suburban streets and 'A' roads, so actually better than my Skoda was.
A minor annoyance with the auto - the gear selector isn't illuminated, so at night you have to judge the position of the gear lever by the number of clonks as you shift, when parking etc. Bit of an oversight considering my 1988 Renault 5 had that bit illuminated!
As expected, there's loads of body roll and the steering needs a fair bit of arm twirling to go from lock to lock (mind your elbow on the door trim, ow!), but it goes/stops/turns just like an average car from the 1990s, no drama. Don't treat it like a hot hatch and try to blast around a corner at speed otherwise it's change of pants time as it does feel like it could fling itself into a hedge!
Although slow on paper, it's quite sprightly off the line with the auto box. No opportunities to bog down or fluff a gear change, just point and squirt. The auto box does hunt a little bit around town, but not to the extent that it becomes annoying. It's quick to kick down, at which point it all gets a lot more noisy and slightly faster. Visibility is outstanding. Loads of big windows gives you a proper 360 degree view.
Interior comfort is good, front seats would benefit from a bit more support under the thighs but all fine other than that. Kept me nice and toasty inside on a freezing day. The infotainment is better than expected, plenty loud enough to drown out the engine, Bluetooth paired easily and the touchscreen volume control annoyed me less than I thought it would.
With the driver seat setup for me (5ft10") there's plenty of room for someone my size to sit in the seat behind, with a couple of inches of knee room spare. I do wish the front seats could remember the position of the backrest when you return them to position though, as you need to adjust it everytime you move to let someone into the back.
Boot space with the rear seats in the most reclined position is laughable. A couple of small carrier bags of shopping at most. But there's a useful size cubby box below that, where my towbar is stashed, and the wheelbrace and jack below that. Flap the rear seats down and there's plenty of space to carry stuff, although it will then slide all over the place on the hard plastic seat backs - rubber load mat is nice and prevents that.
Overall it's exactly what I expected and wanted. The colour still takes me by surprise each time I see it, as there doesn't seem to be anything else like it around. I've not yet seen another one on the road, so feels nice being a bit exclusive for a change and other people seem fascinated by it.
