Exhaust Nightmare

Ws driving home from work today, as you do and my exhaust was knocking, as it has been doing for the past few days/week. Next thing i know, i hit one of the many uneven bits of road in Lewes and hear my exhaust *ding diiing ding* hitting the ground so pull over straight away on double yellows whack the hazards on

Exhaust isnt resting on the ground, but when i go along its bounces up and down, ring Jas and we just decide i gotta limp home as had no cable ties or anything in the car (lesson learnt there!)

So im driving through Lewes with the exhaust hitting the ground constantly, really embarassing! Decide to pull into Tescos petrol station to see if they have got anything i can hold it up with and they kindly gave me some string so its temporary fixed so i can get home
IQ is off the road until I can get it sorted, but at least I can borrow the other halfs Subaru Impreza!

My temporary bodge job, thanks to Tesco!

My temporary transport. Subaru Impreza STi RA

Rising Sun - True Jap

My IQ is one of the only few Toyotas actually put together in Japan. So I wanted something to show I was proud of its Japanese roots! Jas cut me a one off custom sticker for my fuel cap, and here is the finished product!

Bring On The Noise!

I decided that it would be time to get the IQ heard. I went to a local garage who said they could offer me a full custom stainless steel exhaust system from the cat back. The IQ has two catalytic converters so we decided to start the system just after these. We decided to not bother with a silencer as we didnt expect a 1.0 3 cylinder to be very loud. I also went for an oval exhaust tip. Unfortunately no pictures though.

We found out that we were very wrong, and the system was just too loud for my liking! So it went back to have the silencer fitted and for a couple of little tweaks.

Total Cost - £240.00

Little Bit Nutty

Well another exciting mod but there we are! Ordered some black lightweight wheel nuts and also a set of locking wheel nuts from Driftworks in M12 x 1.5 fitment. I love Driftworks, you get free sweeties with every order! I got a mini Wham! bar this time :)

 

Total Cost - £49.39

Get Low, Low, Low...

Ordered some parts from SRB Power, they came from Germany. Its a set of front and rear H&R Lowering Springs, they lower the car by 35mm. Jas set to work fitting them straight away! I went out with friends and left him to it...He started with the rears first as they would be easiest, they only took around 15-20 mins each side.

Here is the old and new springs side by side for comparison

And the rear springs fitted

The fronts were much more hard work...as the front suspension set up is unique and made specially for this car so we werent really sure what to expect. Here is a pic of the old front spring...in total in took Jas around 3-4 hours to do the whole car.

And an after shot compared to a standard IQ at the local Toyota Dealership

I know its not amazingly low, but bear in mind the car is still only four months old and a brand new model! So the only options you really have are the 35mm H&R, the 25mm Toyota ones or fully adjustable Tein coilovers retailling at over £1k!

Total Cost - £195.00

Renamed

Just a quick little update!

I bought myself a private plate when I had my old car (a Honda Civic EK3 if your wondering!) It had been on retention waiting to go on the IQ, I finally got round to going to DVLA in Brighton to get it put on. So the IQ shall now be known as S2LXX!

Also a close up of my sticker Jas done for me with his vinyl cutter :)

New Shoes!

I had been browsing for a while for some new wheels for the car. I finally decided I would like to get some Rota Grids in 17"s in Gold with a Polished Lip. I just thought that the style would really suit the car. I didnt realise that they would be a hard wheel to find, especially in Toyota fitment!!

I eventually found a set on eBay just on the outskirts of London. I placed my maximum bid and waited for the auction to finish, keeping my fingers crossed!! Alas it seemed like I would be on the hunt again as my max bid was beaten in the last 10 seconds! Was very frustrating! So I proceeded to place an order with Andy at Kudos Automotive.

A couple of days later, I got an email from the seller of the wheels. The person who had outbid me on eBay had not paid for the wheels or made any effort to contact the seller. He asked if I would like to buy them instead, and could I collect that same night! After a quick phone call to Jas to see if we could collect in his work van, we found ourselves heading towards East London.

I paid £325 for the wheels, which was a fair price. So I was now the owner of 4 x 17"x7.5" Rota Grids in Gold w/ Polished Lip. Was very excited to be putting them on my car, especially since the car was only 2 and a half months old!

Two of the wheels needed new tyres, so we popped to Kwik Fit in Uckfield where I paid £200 for 2 x 17" tyres, fitting onto the rims, wheel balancing, old tyre disposal, inflation and valves. Jas managed to get me a cheeky discount which was good!  My car is such a new model, Kwik Fit didnt even have it on their system, and had to mark it down as an Aygo on the reciept, how dare they compare the IQ to an Aygo!!

Total Cost - £525

First Little Touches...

Well I had an itch to do SOMETHING to the car, all my previous cars have been modified in one way or another so I just couldnt leave the IQ standard for long!

I ordered some official mats for the front and rear of the car, its 5 mats in total. They were from a Toyota Dealer who was selling them on eBay.

I also detangoed the front headlights and the rear lights. I bought the bulbs from an online company, cannot remember the name now as I didnt keep the reciept. We removed the orange bulbs from the indicators and replaced them with clear ones that would still flash orange. Very small and subtle mod, but really prefer the look now.

Front Before

Front During

Front After



Rear Before

Rear After

Grand Arrival

Meet my Toyota IQ. I went for the top spec IQ2 which has the normal IQ spec plus the following...

Climate Control / Air Conditioning
Smart Entry/Smart Start
Rain sensing wipers
LED brake light
Dusk sensing headlights
Electrically retractable and adjustable, heated door mirrors
Chrome rear light clusters
Electro-chromatic rear view mirror
High gloss 15" alloy wheels
Darkened bi-halogen headlamps

I also got the optional extra iSports pack which is rear skirt/valance, a roof spoiler and chrome exhaust pipe.

We got to Toyota and I could see my shiny new car waiting on the forecourt! This was my first ever brand new car, so it was a very new and exciting experience for me. I was greeted by Bryan who proceeded to show me al the features, like the auto headlights and windscreen wipers, and just the general controls.

When we were just going over the last little pieces of paperwork, one of the sales guys ran out holding something and said 'dont forget to give her this!' He then handed me an IQ branded Rubix Cube! So cute!

I was then allowed to take my first spin in my new prized possession! Been out in it for a couple of hours today and got around 59mpg on a mix of roads, and the road tax is free. So much fun and already getting some puzzled looks by people who dont have a clue what it is!