From a Yaris to a Tesla Model 3: My car ownership journey in Belgium

With all the variety of different cars that I have lived with, the Tesla takes the cake and the cherry on top of it too.

BHPian stratos recently shared this with other enthusiasts.

I am probably making a dedicated new thread on Team-BHP after more than 7-8 years. Have been reading more than posting during this time. The idea of this thread had been in my mind for a while, so here it goes.

My journey with cars began in my early teens, at 7-years of age, when a sky-blue Premier Padmini (MMD6101) became part of our family. We have had numerous cars since then; Maruti 800 (BLD3112), Tata Indica DLE V2 (MH12BP2984), Tata Indigo LS(MH01MA9149), Renault Logan Edge Connect (MH14BR8954).

However, in reality they were all owned by my parents. I never really, "earned", them as my own cars. It was due to the hard work of my parents that we could afford those cars. I was merely enjoying the fruit of it.

The real, "My-Own-Car", journey began when I moved to Belgium for work in March 2015. What follows is a write-up from where my journey began and where we are so far...

Note: I will try not to go into too much technical details, as that is not the objective of this thread. This thread is about my experience!

2015 Toyota Yaris Hybrid 1.5 VVT-i

Family nickname:"Yaru"

Loved it for:

• Decent design, spacious interior for its class, comfortable seats
• Not sporty, yet mature road manners, city-friendly dimensions
• Fuel efficient

Hated it for:

• Irritating CVT soundtrack
• Lack of basic equipment (rear power-windows, GPS, cruise-control)

Being my very own first car, the Yaris will always have a bit of bias in my heart. I thoroughly enjoyed driving it across Belgium, Nederlands, Germany and France.The lack of cruise control (in the spec I had) was a huge let-down though. My drive from Brussels to Paris (335 kms) and Brussels to Frankfurt (394 kms) was quite tough on my right foot.

By the way, please multiply the above kms by two as I returned back to Belgium on the same day from both trips.

I have fond memories of driving my mother, grandmother and wife to Paris in this car (August 2015). The Yaris took good care of my family.

Transporting large items in the Yaris was easy, thanks to the overall large back-door opening.

Non-offensive, ergonomic interior.

Death by water!

Sadly, the Yaris was quite short lived in my life. It suffered a tragic end within an year of owning it.

During my work hours, I parked the Yaris on a road that was shaped as a large trough. Mind you, it was a legal parking by the side of the road. This was early June 2016 when Belgium and several other countries faced massive rain on a single day. As a result of this downpour, my car was flooded beyond the window sill. The waves of water created by trucks passing by began pushing the car towards the footpath. It was almost floating. I was asked to take the car out of the flood.

The visual memory of seeing my orange-coloured, song-filled USB pen-drive floating by my chest as I drove out of the water still haunts me till this day.

The hybrid system died 5-minutes after taking the car out of water and it was then towed to the dealer, where it was declared a total loss. Toyota is very particular about not having such water-damaged cars getting repaired and end up in the used-car market.

This is where I said good by to the Yaris.

2016 Toyota Auris Touring Sports 1.3 VVT-i

Family nickname:"Auru"

Loved it for:

• My very first 'big' car
• Comfortable, spacious with a loads of cargo space
• Well-equipped (GPS, cruise control, all-around power windows)

Hated it for:

• Appallingly underpowered 1.3L engine (98bhp), originally equipped in the smaller Yaris
• Extremely lethargic 6-speed manual transmission
• Very low seating position
• Scary understeer even at normal speeds on a round-about, especially in wet conditions

The Auris TS (now known as the Corolla) was a car that came into my life out of pure necessity. After having the Yaris drowned to death, I was in desperate need of a replacement car.

This 'Denim-Blue' (yes, that is what this colour is called) Auris TS was fitting into my budget. I had never driven it before, but just the thought of getting a much larger car than the Yaris was enough for me to go ahead and get it.

Like mentioned above, the car was quiet comfortable and drove around quite well, especially in city limits.

Once on the motorway, you would start getting vibes of a 'puppy not wanting to go for a walk'. Press the accelerator hard and nothing!

The 1.3L engine was way too underpowered. It probably did a decent job in the Yaris (which is lighter), but failed to propel this larger station wagon. After a lot of hard work, the car would eventually reach the speeds you desire.

I recollect driving the Auris TS on the autobahn and touching 205 kms/hr (analog speedometer reading). Facial hair generally would grow faster compared to the time it took me to reach this speed.

If you take its poor mechanical heart out of the story, the car was roomy and comfortable. In terms of cargo space, it would easily eat up multiple suitcases for breakfast, lunch and dinner. One one occasion, I drove it from Brussels to Innsbruck (865 kms) non-stop and I was still able to go sightseeing in the evening. It tirelessly ate all those kilometers, while the Mrs. folded her passenger seat and slept throughout the autobahn.

After two years in the family, we said good by to our "Auru".

Toyota - Always moving forward..

Taking in loads and loads of suitcases.

On our return leg from Innsbruck.

2018 Toyota CH-R 1.2 Turbo AWD

Family nickname:"White Beast"

Loved it for:

• Super stylish, muscular look, conspicuous road presence
• Smooth 1.2L turbo petrol with an adequate 116bhp, linked to a decent CVT gearbox
• Planted road manners thanks to the AWD system
• Loaded with equipment (ESC, RCTA, TCS, EBD, auto-lights, wipers, hill hold assist, blind spot monitor, adaptive cruise control. lumbar support, heated seats etc)
• Tall and commanding seating position

Hated it for:

• Ridiculous fuel economy for a small 1.2L (partially due to the AWD which was mandatory in this spec)
• Poor rear quarter visibility
• Cocooned, dark interior not to everyone's taste, even claustrophobic for some
• Tiny, prison-cell-like rear window, almost everyone who sat on the back seat hated it

While ordering the CH-R, I had a choice of getting the single colour spec which was cheaper than this gorgeous pearl-white bi-tone spec. Heart over head, I chose the latter. I was in love with these piano-black 18" wheels, that were specific to this spec only. The single colour spec came with a silver multispoke wheel design which I was not a fan of (talk about priorities of a petrol-head ).

The CH-R has a very special place in my life. Not only was it the most stylish car that I had so far, but also that it was the first ride of my little daughter home from the hospital when she was born. Over the next two years, the CH-R gave us company on several journeys across western Europe.

I was attending an airshow in Belgium the day after the car was delivered. I always knew that the car had massive panel gaps around the headlamp area (overall design language) but having driven 200 kilometers I discovered that the bonnet was unlatched from the time of delivery. It was a scary to think what would have happened if the bonnet opened at motorway speeds, if I had not noticed it in time. Something I (and the dealer) should not have missed during the delivery).

One of the longest journeys with the CH-R was 2261 kilometers; Brussels - Geneva - Milan - Lake Como - Strasbourg - Brussels. Carrying me, the Mrs. and our 6-month old daughter safely, the CH-R did not miss a single beat during that long road-trip.

Continue reading BHPian Stratos' review for more insights and information.