and i thought the Corolla was bad...

[Cyker]

It's a bit weird to use at first, but once you start using it just makes more sense than the linear slider, but I get Toyota don't want to scare new people off so went with the objectively worse but more familiar type of selector.

They do seem to have quite conservative thinking sometimes - They got rid of the fantastic dash in the Mk1 and Mk2 and put in a regular lame same-as-every-other-car analogue dial dash in the Mk3, because they thought the collimated digital dash was putting people off it, despite most (Or at least a lot of) Yaris owners thinking it was one of the best things about the car.

It just made so much more sense than a normal dashboard - Wasn't obscured by the steering wheel, and had that focussed-ahead effect so you didn't need to switch distance focus with your eyes at much, greatly reducing eyestrain (At least for people who actually check their speed regularly... so just me then...?  )

It also freed up a load of space in front of the driver for storage - I do miss being able to put my shades in there!

The dash in the Mk4 is better - The displays are nice and big, but it's still obscured by the wheel and you have to look 'close' - I'm really glad I got the HUD before they discontinued it as, after having the high collimated dash for so long in the older ones, I just can't go back to normal close-in dashboards anymore!

 

12 hours ago, taxidriver50005 said:

Not coming to uk either as the 4 was never a big seller,  apparently only 500 sold last year... People prefer the corolla looks wise at least. 

Me and a lot of others feel that is a big mistake on their part - I think the Prius 5, HEV, PHEV or AWD form, would sell very well here.

The problem is they're using the sales performance of the Mk4, and they shouldn't - All the reasons people didn't buy the Mk4 were fixed in the new Mk5, so much that it's getting rave reviews from the automotive press!

I never thought I'd live to see the day where the usually very anti-Toyota press were gushing about a *Prius*  

And it's *this*, after trying to sell the previous models to people who didn't want them, they decide not to sell the one that everybody wants! I do despair at their decision making sometimes - I often wonder if their decision making process just involves lots of alcohol and a dartboard...

 

The worst thing is, knowing them, they'll probably do a U-Turn and bring it to market well after the hype has gone and Hyundai/Kia have one-upped them, missing the boat entirely.

 

[taxidriver50005]

55 minutes ago, Cyker said:

It's a bit weird to use at first, but once you start using it just makes more sense than the linear slider, but I get Toyota don't want to scare new people off so went with the objectively worse but more familiar type of selector.

They do seem to have quite conservative thinking sometimes - They got rid of the fantastic dash in the Mk1 and Mk2 and put in a regular lame same-as-every-other-car analogue dial dash in the Mk3, because they thought the collimated digital dash was putting people off it, despite most (Or at least a lot of) Yaris owners thinking it was one of the best things about the car.

It just made so much more sense than a normal dashboard - Wasn't obscured by the steering wheel, and had that focussed-ahead effect so you didn't need to switch distance focus with your eyes at much, greatly reducing eyestrain (At least for people who actually check their speed regularly... so just me then...?  )

It also freed up a load of space in front of the driver for storage - I do miss being able to put my shades in there!

The dash in the Mk4 is better - The displays are nice and big, but it's still obscured by the wheel and you have to look 'close' - I'm really glad I got the HUD before they discontinued it as, after having the high collimated dash for so long in the older ones, I just can't go back to normal close-in dashboards anymore!

 

Me and a lot of others feel that is a big mistake on their part - I think the Prius 5, HEV, PHEV or AWD form, would sell very well here.

The problem is they're using the sales performance of the Mk4, and they shouldn't - All the reasons people didn't buy the Mk4 were fixed in the new Mk5, so much that it's getting rave reviews from the automotive press!

I never thought I'd live to see the day where the usually very anti-Toyota press were gushing about a *Prius*  

And it's *this*, after trying to sell the previous models to people who didn't want them, they decide not to sell the one that everybody wants! I do despair at their decision making sometimes - I often wonder if their decision making process just involves lots of alcohol and a dartboard...

 

The worst thing is, knowing them, they'll probably do a U-Turn and bring it to market well after the hype has gone and Hyundai/Kia have one-upped them, missing the boat entirely.

 

I personally would by the gen 5..wasn't so fussed on gen 4 and still own gen 3... Bought corolla as best option as gen 5 wasn't on the cards for uk but I do think it would sell well. 

[taxidriver50005]

22 hours ago, Yugguy1970 said:

All the taxis in Edinburgh are electric.  I like that.  It's a lot cleaner than London that's for sure.

Sounds great except for the drivers. ( you want to go where!!!  Sorry mate not enough charge). Yes this is happening to an electric taxi near you now. 

[Cyker]

Meanwhile down here with KHAAAAAN's ULEZ extension extension on the horizon, we still have diesel busses and taxis for the forseeable future.

I even saw a Euro 5 TX4 a few weeks ago - I thought only Euro 6 ones were allowed! I guess it really is one rule for them and one rule for us...

 

[TonyHSD]

London is full with electric ph cars and taxis and this is a good sign. I really like these cars and this is something that should have been the norm since long ago. Towns and cities needs clean and quiet vehicles. Anything that can do 150 miles on one charge is ok for the trade especially the ones who drive mainly in towns, for the airport transfers hybrids or phev are better option. 

[Cyker]

I would feel less bad about being forced to drop my old D4D if public transport also had to, so it really irks me when I still see loads of diesel busses and taxis all over the place.

The worst thing is the busses, as we know from how clear the air was during previous bus strikes that they are one of the biggest polluters in London, but so many of them still seem to be the same old stinking Enviro 400 diesel lumps they had since I was at secondary school!

At least with the black cabs, most of them are the new TXEs, but there are still a lot of Euro6 and the odd Euro5 TX4's floating around.

[taxidriver50005]

For me I need minimum 220 winter miles available, and knowing how batteries degrade they would need to be doing 300 winter miles when new otherwise by the time the car was 2 yrs old it would be useless to me.

Brother has just got a e niro... Nice car.. Company car but even that only manages 210 miles winter if he does any slow motorway driving... We ain't there yet with ev's.... He also tells me as he has no access to home charging it cost him more to tun the e-niro than his Auris hybrid. 

11 hours ago, TonyHSD said:

London is full with electric ph cars and taxis and this is a good sign. I really like these cars and this is something that should have been the norm since long ago. Towns and cities needs clean and quiet vehicles. Anything that can do 150 miles on one charge is ok for the trade especially the ones who drive mainly in towns, for the airport transfers hybrids or phev are better option. 

 

[DC_Ms]

15 hours ago, Cyker said:

I would feel less bad about being forced to drop my old D4D if public transport also had to, so it really irks me when I still see loads of diesel busses and taxis all over the place.

The worst thing is the busses, as we know from how clear the air was during previous bus strikes that they are one of the biggest polluters in London, but so many of them still seem to be the same old stinking Enviro 400 diesel lumps they had since I was at secondary school!

At least with the black cabs, most of them are the new TXEs, but there are still a lot of Euro6 and the odd Euro5 TX4's floating around.

Much easier to force taxi drivers to change to electric cars rather than actually invest in ev public transport 🤷‍♂️

[taxidriver50005]

5 hours ago, DC_Ms said:

Much easier to force taxi drivers to change to electric cars rather than actually invest in ev public transport 🤷‍♂️

In Ireland they get a 25,000 pound grant to covert to ev for cabbies, all you need is your car has already done 200,000 miles... No such luck here

[Cyker]

I want at minimum 300 miles of range. At 70mph. In winter. In a car with the footprint of a Yaris.

We've got a ways to go yet...

The annoying thing is, every part of an EV we can build and it's all great, except for the batteries. That one thing is holding it all back.

If someone can crack that in the real world, and not all the big promises that deliver little that we're currently getting, that's when EVs will start to take off.

 

[Don Mac]

1 hour ago, Cyker said:

I want at minimum 300 miles of range. At 70mph. In winter. In a car with the footprint of a Yaris.

We've got a ways to go yet...

The annoying thing is, every part of an EV we can build and it's all great, except for the batteries. That one thing is holding it all back.

If someone can crack that in the real world, and not all the big promises that deliver little that we're currently getting, that's when EVs will start to take off.

 

 

Maybe there is some hope...?

[Cyker]

Solid state batteries do have potential, but also a lot of problems which is why nobody bothered with them until now.

The biggest problem is their energy density sucks compared to normal cells, in part because of the poorer surface area for reactions compared to liquid cells, although you can pack them in with less safety margin to make up for it.

There is a lot of BS floating about solid-state batteries like it's going to immediately make normal cells obsolete, but it's mostly marketting hype - They're advertising the future end produce, not the current state of art. Maybe they will in 20-30 years time, but right now they're hard to manufacture in bulk, which makes them expensive, and they haven't gotten them anywhere near the energy density of cutting edge normal cells, so they're only even used in low-power applications at the moment.

Toyota knew this, which is why they've been trying to force the EV cut-off date back to 2040 where it was originally, instead of jumping on the bandwagon of substandard Battery systems like everyone else has, to give their R&D people the time they'd originally planned.

Maybe they've had an early breakthrough, but I've already been fooled once by claims of 'advances' in super and ultra capacitors, which turned out to be a huge fraud (Notice how *nobody* talks about them for EVs now), so I'll believe it when I see it.

This stuff takes a lot of time and effort to develop, and really, we've only just started, so I'm not expecting solid (haha) results any time soon - Heck, we haven't even figured out Fusion yet, and we were supposed to have had that 20 years ago according to my old science books predictions!  

[taxidriver50005]

Oh and there's always that small issue of bursting into flames which isn't always desirable. 

[Cyker]

Thankfully that's something solid cells should be immune to; In fact companies have been quietly switching to LiFePO chemistry cells, even tho' it performs worse than e.g. NMC, because it's far less flammable.

 

[taxidriver50005]

Funny watching some videos on the new blade batteries from  BYD which manufacturers claimed how safe they are.. Turn out they are bursting into flames too.. BUT. Seam to be getting much less publicity almost as if it's being covered up. 

[Yugguy1970]

We had a 2009 Yaris and yes, loved the floating dash that meant you didn't have to refocus every time you looked at it.

[Mick13]

On 5/15/2023 at 8:36 PM, Yugguy1970 said:

All the taxis in Edinburgh are electric.  I like that.  It's a lot cleaner than London that's for sure.

Not sure where you got this info from, there are very few electric taxis in Edinburgh. .  My friend has a 22 plate diesel, they'll be around for a long time yet.

[TonyHSD]

2 minutes ago, Mick13 said:

Not sure where you got this info from, there are very few electric taxis in Edinburgh. .  My friend has a 22 plate diesel, they'll be around for a long time yet.

And what car is it ? If 7+ seater mpv or mini bus ok but for anything else a Toyota hybrid will be much better than any diesel. In London there are ph cars start from Corolla, and goes up to rav4 and Lexus hybrids. 

[Yugguy1970]

2 hours ago, Mick13 said:

Not sure where you got this info from, there are very few electric taxis in Edinburgh. .  My friend has a 22 plate diesel, they'll be around for a long time yet.

From when we spent a week on holiday there a couple of years back and was chatting to the taxi drivers.  He told us they were all being moved over.  In the centre where we were we only saw electric ones.

My profile pic there is me on Grassmarket.

[Mick13]

5 hours ago, TonyHSD said:

And what car is it ? If 7+ seater mpv or mini bus ok but for anything else a Toyota hybrid will be much better than any diesel. In London there are ph cars start from Corolla, and goes up to rav4 and Lexus hybrids. 

It's a diesel black cab

[Mick13]

I see the Grassmarket now you mention it, it's going to take years for the council to phase out diesel cabs, my brother in law has the electric one, I'm sure it was £60,000 or thereabouts. 

Used to be a money maker having a black cab here in Edinburgh, no longer the case, private hire cars have taken a large chunk of the work.

[TonyHSD]

5 minutes ago, Mick13 said:

I see the Grassmarket now you mention it, it's going to take years for the council to phase out diesel cabs, my brother in law has the electric one, I'm sure it was £60,000 or thereabouts. 

Used to be a money maker having a black cab here in Edinburgh, no longer the case, private hire cars have taken a large chunk of the work.

Same all around the world, Uber and th the other apps. 

[Mick13]

34 minutes ago, TonyHSD said:

Same all around the world, Uber and th the other apps. 

I can't complain Tony, I like to holiday in USA, use an app called LYFT, cars always appear clean and the fare is agreed beforehand, no money changes hands as a card is attached to your account, although I still give a tip through the app.

[Cyker]

If it's the same as the London TXE electric cabs (Really plugin series hybrids), yeah they are monsterously expensive; They start around 60k but a specced out one can breach 70k!

I suspect most cabbies rent/lease them as I can't see how they could afford to buy one of those outright (Unless cabbies make a lot more money than I thought...!)