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Overall first feelings of the car are that I like it. It's cute, it's slightly odd, but in a good way.
It is a compact, a simple and efficient economy car. When I sit in it with a passenger, I wish there was a little more room or an arm-rest between the two front seats.
I like how the back seats fold flat.
It's a tad odd that the charging port is on the back right. That's sort off opposite of where you would want it for driver's convenience. Considering that it's based on a Japanese right-hand drive car, position makes sense for Japan. (Battery service disconnect is also under the driver-seat, which would be the passenger seat in the Japanese version...)
It's surprisingly easy to walk back to the charge port, realize I hadn't popped it, then walk back to the cab, release it, THEN go back and plug it in. I've also been driving at least TWICE so far when I found out I hadn't CLOSED the charge port.
I blame most of that on the fact that I'm doing this at night in my dark garage, with my EVSE on the "wrong" side, and having to close the port with my non-dominant hand.
I think I have it all figured out now, and none of that should be an issue anymore. It really is just a matter of taking a few days to get used to something new.
The car maneuvers really well. Great for city driving and parking. Very easy to pull a U-turn. It is short wheel-base, and doesn't feel as stable at high speeds as a longer car, like our Prius. It's about 2 feet shorter than our Prius. When I park it in the garage, I can still walk around the front of the car. With the Prius, the car barely fits in the space available, and it's difficult to get to the rest of the garage, inching my way around it.
I like the upgraded radio. I figured out how to get the bluetooth to work with my smart phone. I was able to use voice commands to call home. I can also steam music to my phone over cellular and connect it to the radio through the blue-tooth. It sounded really good! There's also a hard-drive built in to the radio, allowing you so rip CDs to an internal hard-drive. Nice feature!
The hatch is nice and light, and pops right open when you press the button. Very easy to lift.
Overall, there's not a whole lot to say. It's a simple car. It rolls well and doesn't use gasoline.
Range has been perfectly acceptable so far. One of the main trips I see this car being used for is to a certain store about 15 miles away. That's 30 miles round-trip, and in the winter would have the heat going the whole time. That trip can be made with 10 miles to spare.
I also checked to see what the real-world recharge time is. I plugged in to 240V power, and checked my "Range Remaining" meter. After an hour it had increased 15 miles, another hour later, it was up to 30 miles total increase. Looks like I get a real 15 miles of range per hour of charge.
That means pretty much a 4 hour recharge! So, having a trip in the morning, recharging, and having another long trip in the afternoon sounds very reasonable. (It also sounds like a reason to NOT get on a "time-of-day" electric billing plan...)
I haven't yet had a chance or a need for CHAdeMO charging since driving the car home. I will have to get the car to an authorized iMiEV service center for recall work. The nearest one is 67 miles away, with no CHAdeMO stations between here and there. That will be interesting to get the car there and back.
I do still have the flood-damaged car. There hasn't been much of a market yet for people wanting to buy parts off of it. If anyone is interested in a project car, feel free to make me an offer!
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