Over the last year I (Steve) have been helping a friend write his memoirs. Most Fridays I’d spend two or three hours with him whilst he talked about his life and work. Each weekend I’d write my notes up into chapters until, some 12 months later, we were ready to publish. (See page 28) We found a specialist book printer and set a date to go and meet with them. They happened to be in Kings Lynn, Norfolk. Coincidentally, Jonathan Carlisle of Farmer and Carlisle had asked if I would like to test drive and review one of their new hybrid cars. I put two and two together and on March 8th Bill Ford and I set off in the brand new Toyota C-HR Hybrid Crossover.
Bill Ford is no ordinary person. He is retired now, as one would expect at the age of eighty; until a couple of years ago he was Managing Director of the Great Central Railway plc and at one time he ran his own family business of Ford and Slater. Over the years he has also headed massive global enterprises such as Unilever’s Automotive division as well as Toyota and Ford franchises in the Middle East and America. What made him special, on this day as my passenger, was that he has owned more than a hundred cars in his life, many of which would be classed as supercars – Ferraris, Aston Martins, Bristols, Jaguars, etc. and I was more than a little curious as to what he might make of this comparably humble machine we were travelling in today.
I had never driven a Hybrid, or a Toyota, before and upon first sight I did think that the style really wasn’t ‘me’ at all – too many creases and bulges for my liking. I didn’t have to unlock it or put the key in the ignition, it knew I had the key in my pocket and I just pressed a button to start it up. The first thing I noticed was erm… nothing! That’s right, nothing.
It’s as quiet as a sound proofed booth on a windless night. When you set off there’s no engine sound at all as it uses electric power to get going.
I filled up with unleaded petrol taking only about forty pounds worth to fill it to the top. “That’ll never get me to Kings Lynn and back!” I thought.
It was rush hour, so I couldn’t really put the car through it’s paces but every time I stopped in traffic, so did the engine. Starting off again, there was still no engine sound as it was using only electricity and it was as smooth as I could ever imagine, especially with it’s automatic transmission.
Once I had picked up Bill from his home in Kibworth we hit the open road. Crikey! What a car this is!
“Lively, isn’t it?” exclaimed Bill, hanging on to his seat as we rounded a hairpin near Uppingham at just below the speed limit.
Then, somewhere near Wisbech on the other side of Peterborough, we stopped – dead.
“No wonder I don’t travel this way very often,” I thought. We were stuck for an hour and a half on a single carriageway main road in the flattest
landscape this side of the flat and desolate wastelands of Siberia. Mind you, we talked about anything and everything: wives, cars, Africa, families, airplanes, boats and bloomin’ road works!
And for that hour and a half we used no fuel at all -all electric on stop-start duty! Once we got going the huge ‘infotainment’ screen guided us perfectly to our remote printer’s location in the tiny little Norfolk hamlet of Blackborough End.
Our business done and hands shaken, we set off back home. I was getting confident now and so was Bill:”You’re quite a good driver aren’t you, Steve?”
He had let go of the seat sides now and seemed far more relaxed…
This Toyota really does motor superbly; maybe not quite like the Astons or the Ferraris, but for a car in the genre of the staid and thrifty hybrid league, it was a good division or two above what I’d expected. Returning the car at 4.30 pm bang on time, I noted that I had half a tank left, the MPG read 52 and we’d spent 29% of our time on electric power only.
Significantly, as we’d entered Great Glen, just before Kibworth, powering around the lanes past the church to drop Bill back home, he’d remarked, This car is rather quite good, isn’t it? Hmm…a Toyota, you say?”
Steve drove a Toyota C-HR Hybrid Crossover supplied by Farmer & Carlisle (Loughborough).  Why not get in touch with them on 01509 215 731 to arrange your own test drive?
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