The Red Baron is home!

[CPN]

Got the new car on Thursday and am loving everything about it so far. What a difference in ride quality from the older model! It just feels so "planted" on the road. What a difference in performance also over the previous Yaris I had and seemingly without badly affecting economy at the same time. (so far anyway)

Having said that, I have a whole slew of questions about it that maybe someone could answer?

I completely get that having Android Auto/Apple Carplay as standard across the range makes for a very easy implementation of SatNav but all the road tests of the new TNGA model that I have watched on YouTube on the continent (in France, Holland, Germany etc) also had the same ability but also included a built-in SatNav? Why was this option not made available to UK customers? The reason that I am asking this is because the head unit appears to have built-in GPS anyway (which it uses to set the time by) so why didn't they just include built-in SatNav?

The other reason that I raise this is because for the last 3 and a half years of owning my Yaris Excel (w/SatNav - Touch 2 etc) I have got used to using my phone for Hybrid Assistant as an augmentation to the existing head unit while it runs SatNav and everything else. I realise that I can use the phone in this fashion now whilst still giving the head unit access to Android Auto (which works great btw) but it would have been nice to have the built-in option also.

Another thing I spotted in those Continental road tests is that the Launch Edition (in particular) also had the built-in wireless charging station in the dashboard upper compartment? I notice from the manual I got with the car that it is shown as an option but it appears to be in the lower compartment in the dashboard instead. Having said that, it would seem that it is not even available to purchase as an option on our models in the UK? Yet again Toyota seem to be treating us as the poor cousins to guys over on the continent! Why did they think that we would not want built-in Wireless Charging?

I would also like to be able to get one of the hard upper boot floors but again, I cannot seem to see that as an option anywhere. I've also still yet to fathom out whether the head unit makes any use of the Internet tethering on my Smartphone that is available to it whilst connected via bluetooth. Apart from these few minor irritations, this new Yaris is awesome! Oh, I nearly forgot. The turning circle of the new TNGA model is amazing and way better than the older Yaris!

[CPN]

I forgot one other thing about the tyres.

My car came fitted with Bridgestone Ecopia EP150 205/45 R17 84W "Left Hand Drive" tyres. I understand everything about asymmetric tread patterns and why they are useful and have to be installed a particular way on the car etc but why call them "Left Hand Drive"? In my motoring parlance, this implies sitting on the left side of a car to drive it (on the right side of a road) and not driving on the left hand side of the road? Or am I just being pedantic? 😀

[dave hendy]

My wife wanted the heated seats as well[emoji22]

It does seem strange on the sat-nav isn’t provided although going by the price to update the maps on my wife’s Aygo I would rather use Wase or google maps.

I didn’t realise we don’t get the wireless charging, that doesn’t make sense [emoji848].

I really don’t understand how they decide on options available on different grades, we wanted the Design version for the 16” wheels but wanted the city pack so had to go for Dynamic [emoji15]

After a week the dealer still can’t say when we might get it [emoji22]

Keep us informed about your car and how good the economy is, we have never had a hybrid?


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

[CPN]

46 minutes ago, dave hendy said:

My wife wanted the heated seats as well

As far as I am aware, you'll only get heated seats with leather. The seats in ours are great and don't need heating even though they are faux leather trimmed.

It does seem strange on the sat-nav isn’t provided although going by the price to update the maps on my wife’s Aygo I would rather use Waze or google maps.

It is true that the maps in previous head units are ridiculously expensive and are usually a year behind anyway... Android Auto & Apple Carplay fix that at a stroke of course.

I didn’t realise we don’t get the wireless charging, that doesn’t make sense .

Totally agree. Makes no sense at all!

I really don’t understand how they decide on options available on different grades, we wanted the Design version for the 16” wheels but wanted the city pack so had to go for Dynamic

Indeed. The packs and options are all over the place! We originally wanted an Excel but it could only be had with the light coloured interior (which would mark easily) so we had to go up to the Launch Edition to get the tech options we wanted with the dark interior.

After a week the dealer still can’t say when we might get it

I know the feeling. We were informed on the 29th August that the build had started in the factory at Onnaing, France and then again on the 1st September that the build was complete and it had left the factory for shipping. Another email on the 2nd told us it was in transit to Burnaston, Derby having got off the ferry at Grimsby that day. It then took a further 19 days to get to the dealer in Doncaster from Burnaston (not a million miles away!) which is a ridiculous amount of time to process a vehicle for sale (even allowing for all the COVID-19 nonsense going on just now). Just hang in there! I'm sure it'll be with you soon...

Keep us informed about your car and how good the economy is, we have never had a hybrid?

This will be the 3rd Yaris Hybrid I have had and I can't speak highly enough of them. Brilliant concept (the Hybrid drive) and a brilliant car if you want quiet, relaxed, stress-free, economical motoring. As for the economy, here's how our last one looked on Fuelly over the time we had it...

 

[dave hendy]

22 minutes ago, CPN said:

This will be our 10th Toyota since 1993 and by the test ride the most impressive! My wife had a Skoda Citigo for 4 years which had heated seats and she loved them, I never used them and don't see the point.

We are changing to 1 car, moving from my iQ, which I love and get 60 mpg and my wife's Aygo which she has had for 4 years. 

You should beat your economy figures with the new car and I will be happy to beat those of my iQ😎 

 

 

[Guest]

On 9/26/2020 at 9:20 AM, CPN said:

 

Terrible MPG, something wrong with way of driving, or with car, or you just floor your gas pedal all the time? We have 65 mpg uk easily for last 2000 km or 4.2 L/100 km eco mode easy way. In city and outside same consumption. We dont drive highways

[Satsuki]

On 9/26/2020 at 5:22 AM, CPN said:

Got the new car on Thursday and am loving everything about it so far. What a difference in ride quality from the older model! It just feels so "planted" on the road. What a difference in performance also over the previous Yaris I had and seemingly without badly affecting economy at the same time. (so far anyway)

Having said that, I have a whole slew of questions about it that maybe someone could answer?

I completely get that having Android Auto/Apple Carplay as standard across the range makes for a very easy implementation of SatNav but all the road tests of the new TNGA model that I have watched on YouTube on the continent (in France, Holland, Germany etc) also had the same ability but also included a built-in SatNav? Why was this option not made available to UK customers? The reason that I am asking this is because the head unit appears to have built-in GPS anyway (which it uses to set the time by) so why didn't they just include built-in SatNav?

The other reason that I raise this is because for the last 3 and a half years of owning my Yaris Excel (w/SatNav - Touch 2 etc) I have got used to using my phone for Hybrid Assistant as an augmentation to the existing head unit while it runs SatNav and everything else. I realise that I can use the phone in this fashion now whilst still giving the head unit access to Android Auto (which works great btw) but it would have been nice to have the built-in option also.

Another thing I spotted in those continental road tests is that the Launch Edition (in particular) also had the built-in wireless charging station in the dashboard upper compartment? I notice from the manual I got with the car that it is shown as an option but it appears to be in the lower compartment in the dashboard instead. Having said that, it would seem that it is not even available to purchase as an option on our models in the UK? Yet again Toyota seem to be treating us as the poor cousins to guys over on the continent! Why did they think that we would not want built-in Wireless Charging?

I would also like to be able to get one of the hard upper boot floors but again, I cannot seem to see that as an option anywhere. I've also still yet to fathom out whether the head unit makes any use of the Internet tethering on my Smartphone that is available to it whilst connected via Bluetooth. Apart from these few minor irritations, this new Yaris is awesome! Oh, I nearly forgot. The turning circle of the new TNGA model is amazing and way better than the older Yaris!

The same here... I wanted the offline sat nav and seat heater as well as the steering wheel heater and the deck board for the car and the dealer said there is no way that they can include these options for me (apart from the deck board that they can order the part for me). I also assumed the wireless mobile charger is fitted as standard but later on I figured it out that it is not available.

When I commented about this on Toyota Blog, Toyota UK have replied:

Quote

Different markets have different specifications, and we have to balance spec and price in order to make sure that the car is competitive in the UK market.
We do value customer feedback, and we’ll pass your thoughts onto our product team.

 (Original reply: https://blog.toyota.co.uk/new-toyota-yaris-interior-safety )

I still don't understand why they are not offered as option to people who would like to add them.

 

[Guest]

So for what competitive price can people buy Yaris Hybrid in UK? Basic model Icon is £19910 or 22.000 eur and that is not competitive ..Its very expensive. Competitive would be £16.910 eur. 4 sure better then old car but cost £5000 more.

[CPN]

7 hours ago, nasamorpheus said:

Terrible MPG, something wrong with way of driving, or with car, or you just floor your gas pedal all the time? We have 65 mpg uk easily for last 2000 km or 4.2 L/100 km eco mode easy way. In city and outside same consumption. We dont drive highways

Nothing wrong with the driving. That is with a very relaxed and gentle right foot. Being retired, the problem is the length of journeys which are always very short (by comparison with the average working individual) and more mileage during the winter (cooler) months and that is what doesn't help the mpg figures. Also, all of the data was from actual fill up (to the neck) to fill up calculated and not from any (over optimistic usually) readings in the car. 50-51 mpg is fairly typical for a Gen3 Hybrid Yaris when you look at all the real world test results around so my 49.9 over the 15,000 miles isn't far off... I would argue that your statement "Terrible MPG" is a bit severe given the conditions... I would also argue that "65 mpg uk easily" is stretching the truth a little... I recorded 64.5 mpg once for a single journey in that car over a distance of 120 miles but much of it was at between 40-50 mph due to inclement (read appalling!) weather conditions at the time so I would not for one minute count that particular journey as "typical" but at least it showed what the car was capable of.

[Guest]

1 minute ago, CPN said:

Nothing wrong with the driving. That is with a very relaxed and gentle right foot. Being retired, the problem is the length of journeys which are always very short (by comparison with the average working individual) and more mileage during the winter (cooler) months and that is what doesn't help the mpg figures. Also, all of the data was from actual fill up (to the neck) to fill up calculated and not from any (over optimistic usually) readings in the car. 50-51 mpg is fairly typical for a Gen3 Hybrid Yaris when you look at all the real world test results around so my 49.9 over the 15,000 miles isn't far off... I would argue that your statement "Terrible MPG" is a bit severe given the conditions... I would also argue that "65 mpg uk easily" is stretching the truth a little... I recorded 64.5 mpg once for a single journey in that car over a distance of 120 miles but much of it was at between 40-50 mph due to inclement (read appalling!) weather conditions at the time so I would not for one minute count that particular journey as "typical" but at least it showed what the car was capable of.

Yeah maybe terrible isnt the right word but i still have 4.2 L / 100km or 65 mpg and that is most at country driving 50-55 mph and city..

[donkeychomp]

Did you ever discover what on earth 'left hand drive tyres' are? As far as I'm aware there is no such thing!

[CPN]

3 hours ago, donkeychomp said:

Did you ever discover what on earth 'left hand drive tyres' are? As far as I'm aware there is no such thing!

Lifted from elsewhere, sourced from blackcircles.com:

"I can confirm, The LHD fitment is designed to compensate for road camber in left hand drive counties/vehicles and should only be fitted to left hand drive vehicle as this tyre may cause handling issues on a right hand drive vehicle.

I would only recommend to fit the RHD fitment for use on UK roads.

As previously advised, the LHD fitment is only designed for LHD vehicle and if used on UK roads on a RHD vehicle there can be tyre wear issues and also tram lining issues which will cause the vehicle to handle incorrectly. As we supply tyres for all makes and model of vehicles we supply tyres for both right hand drive and left hand drive vehicles.

I am providing technical information which has been provided by Goodyear/Dunlop and if you wish to confirm the information I have given I would recommend speaking to Goodyear/Dunlop directly on 08453 453 453 option 3 to speak to their Technical team who will be more than happy to help."

So, not just asymmetrical & directional are available but tread patterns that take account of road camber too!
 

[donkeychomp]

Every day's a school day lol!