08 Nov 04
The 10,000-mile mark was breached in our Prius this month, so it was time to book its first service. I booked a while-you-wait service at my local dealership Octagon Toyota in Reading with just a couple of days' notice. The work took a touch over an hour and a half - a little longer than expected - but the car was given a full valet too.
From past experience waiting whilst a car's being serviced involves sitting in a dirty, draughty reception area whilst reading a three-year-old well-thumbed copy of Professional Mechanic magazine. Coffee is usually bland, dispensed in plastic cups and not free. Thankfully, Octagon's warm and bright reception area offered plenty of comfortable seating, copies of that day's newspapers and china cups of java. There was even a PlayStation, internet access point and a separate area for kids to play and watch DVDs.
The cost of the service was £95.23 -not too extravagant for a main dealer, considering the complex technology sitting under the Prius's bonnet. Although we asked them to check, the workshop couldn't fault the brakes. That means they still sound like a London cab's at low speeds.
