"Darling," I said to my co-driver at the Cape launch of the Toyota Yaris. No, he just wanted to know where we should head to put the car through its paces.
We were near Saldhana Bay and a stone's throw from Darling, the town Pieter-Dirk Uys put on the map with his quaint theatre/restaurant/museum in the old station building.
Darling was divine. As was the car, which blew us away with its performance on the long straights and over the rough.
This, sisters, is the best thing Toyota's done in years. And interestingly, women engineers had considerable input into this car in Tokyo, from where some of the world's finest cars come these days.
The Yaris is a delightful, spunky, fun, gutsy little number that'll appeal not only to brand-loyal Toyota fans but also to anybody in search of a compact, affordable, good-looking, economical and reliable runaround.
It's also been awarded five stars in EuroNCAP crash-testing and that means you and your live cargo will be very safe in it. There are driver and front passenger crash bags, side curtain bags and a knee bag (in the range-topping Yaris T3 Spirit).
The knee bag is a first for this segment of the market.
You'll also get a pretty full bag of abbreviations - ABS (anti-lock brakes, EBD (electronic brake force distribution) and BAS (emergency brake assist) - on the top model.
So what will your pay? R108 410 for the base Yaris and R147 320 for the Spirit auto. And what's it really like?
Beautiful. Spacious, despite looking like a small car, great legroom in the rear (Toyota says 25mm more than any rival). My co-driver was a six-footer and he spread out there quite easily for a long stretch of the drive.
There's also an unusual, vertical centre console with an almost 3D look to the gauges, and 12 storage compartments.
Interestingly, the reason you can fit three passengers in the rear is because the Yaris has a virtually flat floorpan, courtesy of intelligent routing of the exhaust plumbing.
The Yaris handles beautifully on tar and dirt and whips up to a respectable speed, its smooth and first-class suspension soaking up bumps and lumps.
Parking, because of the dimensions of the car and its electric power steering, is no problem, no matter how small the slot.
Size-wise, it was perfect for me. It's aimed at the "29-ers", that group aged 24-39 looking for a fresh, exhilarating car to suit their urban lifestyle. It's available in a range of really cool and street-cred colours.
Oh, and it slots between Toyota's Tazz and the RunX.