One Week Anniversary

Hi all - I took delivery on my C3 in habanero last Saturday so today marks one week that I've been driving it. And I've been DRIVING it. I've been taking it easy on the engine, but I live near Seattle and I've been to both Olympic National Park (twice) and Mt. Rainier National Park (twice) since getting the car. I had a 14yo Chevy Metro before this so I feel like I'm living in the lap of luxury right now.

I have a feeling that my driving habits in the Metro have trained me well for the C (the Metro had even less hp than the C and I had a 4 cylinder Metro). Yesterday I had a 400 mile trip and averaged 56 mpg which is the lowest I've had on any trips. The drives UP the mountains (Hurricane Ridge in Olympic, up Rainier, up Crystal Mountain) drag the mpg down, but the trips back down the mountains more than make up for it.

Amazingly, we've had no rain here so I haven't tried out the wipers yet nor the cruise control (haven't wanted any steady state speed while breaking in the engine).

The satellite reception is NOT good and I don't know if that has been the locales I've been in or just the antenna - I knew going in that reception is reportedly not that great with the antenna (I'll still talk to the dealer about it). I have some skipping with my iPod, have re-set the iPod (no help there) so will get a new cable tomorrow and fingers crossed on that. My only other "problem" is windshield glare/reflection - boy, that was really getting to me today (I was driving into the sun for quite awhile) so I'm going to order a dash cover and hope that helps - any other suggestions on that front would be helpful.

I consider all of those "adjustments" because honestly, I am so thrilled with "The Cheetoh." I'm sure at some point there will be enough of these spicy habanero Cs rolling around so that they're not quite the novelty they are now, but man....what a conversation starter (on the ferry, getting coffee, at national parks) - so many people have asked but it's usually the COLOR they comment on rather than it being a differently shaped C. Every time I see the mpg information for a trip, I know that I made the right decision for ME.

I'm a graduate of the University of Tennessee so have already ordered (and received) license plate frames that have "Go Big Orange" on them lol. I've never really been much into university "gear" but once I decided on habanero I figured I would ham it up with the orange just a bit ;-)

I've been lurking on the forum for quite awhile - I researched cars for about 6 months before finally taking the plunge and am so happy with the C. I've had 3 subcompact hatchbacks and shopping for those cars in the past was always about making a LOT of compromises for comfort and features. Fuel efficiency and reliability were my top priorities and I feel like I got both of those with the C AND more comfort and "toys" than I've ever had in a small car before.

 

Congrats Annie!

I went to Crystal first and rode the scenic gondola (I highly recommend that and they're only open 3 more weeks). Then I went up to sunrise. MPG was low 40s with all the climbing, but I was able to do a lot of coasting and used B on the trips down. The view from the gondola was the best today; the top of the mtn was socked in by the time I got to sunrise. Parking is much easier at sunrise too.

 

I had a funny visit with someone at Olympic National park who said it COULDN'T be a CHEETOH because those were neon orange and the car was more like a salmon color (we're awful big on wild salmon around here and it's pretty orange)!

I finally found my MIA prescription sunglasses which pretty much eliminated all the glare and reflections (duh).

 

Thanks....something else for the wish list ;-)