[RexIQ]

At first, I thought I should rent a car for this trip up the coast to see my friend (from San Diego to Santa Cruz) but I'm glad I didn't. My first big trip on my iQ. Note to self - Right butt cheek gets cramps after 150+ miles. Must stop and stretch once in a while.

The drive from San Diego to Santa Cruz along the coast was gorgeous. There were some traffic on the 405N around noon. The stop and go was not that bad on the iQ with the CVT engine. I didn't have to switch gears and rock back and forth like I did with my Smart. But after the 405, the 101 and Hwy 1 went easy. I was averaging about 37MPG because of several hills and cliffs. With only about 500 miles on my brand new iQ, I'm glad the coastal drive made the it easy (didn't go any faster than 70mph). Spent a night in San Luis Obispo, then drove and stopped at Hearst Castle, continued on Hwy 1, stopped and watched the sunset, then spent the night in Monterey. After two days and two nights of easy driving, I arrived Santa Cruz to see my friend and join in on their New Years Eve festivities. The drive back on 5 South was a little hard on the iQ. That stretch on the 5 from Los Banos to Grapevine has a slight upgrade with headwind so I got about 30MPG there. That's a slight climb that lasts for 180 miles at 75-80mph! (And no, you can't slow down on that long, straight 3-hour highway ;-)

Overall, I was very pleased with how the iQ handled this trip. For a vehicle labeled as a "city car", it does pretty good on the open road! And, there was enough cargo space for two people, two overhead bin luggages, 2 sleeping bags, 2 air mattresses, a bag of snacks and drinks, a laptop and carrying case, and several shopping bags that my passenger and I managed to collect along the way LOL!

 

[surfcitylocal]

Congrats on a safe trip. I just hit 1,000 miles on my iQ this evening. I picked it up on December 15th. I've driven it on the freeway from Huntington Beach to San Diego and I really thought it was a much better ride than I expected.

 

[iqforyou]

hey guys,i ass well have 1000kilometers on mine,oh,im a canadian kid,hence kilometers,im thinkin she must be gettin close to bieng broken in,fairly gently i might add.im rather excited to see if there is a disernable difference between S mode and D mode from a srtanding start with full throttle,im hearing it pretty much just gets louder,HA HA HA, but like i have said before,i did enough research to realize i wasnt purchasing a sports car,im really enjoying the little thing as well.

 

[RexIQ]

Yes. Fun little car to drive. While it is not a sports car, it can take the corners pretty well. I'm relying on the VSC a lot. I love this car!

 

[scion-guy]

Have fun on the trip, should be fun driving it that far with the iQ. Even tho the iQ is a city car i still think it has sports car features and beats nearly everything comparable to it.

Keep up posted!

 

[RexIQ]

Actually, I'm back from my trip. The total distance was 1,050 miles and the iQ did very well. I'm impressed!

Have fun on the trip, should be fun driving it that far with the iQ. Even tho the iQ is a city car i still think it has sports car features and beats nearly everything comparable to it.

Keep up posted!

 

[westgl]

While I am at about 850 miles, i love this car. I do not baby my car, But i don't give it 3/4 to full throttle either. I usually drive it with 1/2 throttle, and it does well.
I live in the north, it has been a little Icey, it drives nice, I saw the traction control come on only once, that was not because of frosty/icey road it was steering wheel was turned while accelerating it tried to break the wheels loose, engine de-tuned to to keep the wheels from spinning.

I wish it had a switch to turn off the traction control, like most cars then when engine is restarted defaults back to on.

Update: Found the Trac Control Switch to turn it off

 

[westgl]

Ok RexIQ,

I made it to the 1000+ miles Club. I would say that the Car (engine Transmission, drive train) is not fully broken in yet.

Although My IQ, does feel a little snappier. I would say around 3K miles would be more like it.

With that said i have always believed that you should baby a new car so that it gets broken in properly. i also believe that let the car warm up, properly and when new and in the recommend break in period.
No full throttle rapid starts, but you do want to use up to 2/3 throttle. That engine needs to get the internals seated properly.

I would say limit above 3/4 throttle until about 3K miles.

When i was at the dealer they were talking about a new tundra that had an engine fail, it had a 1000 miles on it.

 

[RexIQ]

Awesome! Yes, baby a car in its infancy period no matter what people say. I belong to a couple of Vespa forums and there have been several debates about "how to break-in an engine" and some people say "ride it like you stole it! Engines nowadays are built to handle harsh conditions even during their break-in periods." I say no thanks. You can do that to your ride, but I won't do it to mine.

Glad we're all enjoying our new iQ!