Drive Quality

[butlerbill]

HI all, I've had my new YarisX for 3 months and the Sat Nav has not worked for most of the time, freezing. However, when driving at speeds up to 30MPH I feel every bump and even the rode surface.  It's not like you just feel it it's like driving through a pot hole. They say they can't find anything.  Anyone had similar problems.  They disconected the Battery and the Sat Nav worked!

Steve

[Benzowner]

3 hours ago, butlerbill said:

 However, when driving at speeds up to 30MPH I feel every bump and even the rode surface.  It's not like you just feel it it's like driving through a pot hole. They say they can't find anything.  Anyone had similar problems.  They disconected the battery and the Sat Nav worked!

Steve

Have you got 17" or even 18" wheels? If so, that could be the problem. I am very new to the Yaris cross scene in fact wont be getting mine till next week, but I have had a number of smallish cars and the 2 main problems with them is Sport suspension and big wheels. I had a Mercedes B Class 17" wheels and sport suspension it was so firm hitting pot holes sometimes undid the central locking on the car. Great on good roads, unfortunately UK roads are far from good,

[TonyHSD]

Yaris cross has very well set up suspension and it’s on the sifter side imo.
I often watch those cars driving next to me and how their wheels are bouncing up and down cushioning the road bumps, better than my Auris hybrid. The problem is likely over inflated tyres, something that is just business as usual when buying a new car. Check pressure on cold first thing in the morning with quality gauge and adjust accordingly to be exact or close numbers to the door shut labels. 
Another thing common to most Toyota cars are the shocks, in some colder temperatures 10C° and below the shocks can harden to the point that they become almost solid and prevent this cushioning, I mentioned above, from happening smoothly and the driver can feel unnecessary harsh drive. This is one of the most common complaints from Prius owners. 👍

[APS]

5 hours ago, butlerbill said:

They say they can't find anything.  Anyone had similar problems.  They disconected the battery and the Sat Nav worked!

Nice fix for the satnav! There's some truth to the old default tech support response: have you tried rebooting?

With regards to drive quality, it's a really subjective matter. I'd suggest you test drive another Yaris Cross at you dealer to get some kind of reference. Maybe it's just how they are? The shock absorbers in a car suspension do require some force to work. Especially when it's cold. This means that at low speeds it will feel more 'bouncy' but then smooth out as speed increases. 

[bathtub tom]

Have you checked the tyre pressures? New cars often have them over inflated and the dealer's supposed to adjust them.

New cars also have 'delivery blocks' in the suspension that limit movement. It's not unknown for dealers to omit removing them.

[SinglePointSafety]

As others have said, check the tyre pressures - my car was (supposedly) PDI'd by the dealer but the pressures were about 40 psi

As per my posts on this thread, I've garaged the original 18-inch wheels and tyres, and fitted some 3rd-party 16-inch wheels with lovely soft absorbent 65-profile all-season tyres. This has made a very significant improvement in ride when traversing the abysmal roads where I live, littered with potholes and other defects, getting worse by the day since our county council is bankrupt and seems to have given up doing road repairs. Other bonus is reduced road noise, especially on the rougher-texture surfaces

I have the YC Excel AWD and I find the suspension overall pretty good when encountering the longer-wavelength road imperfections. It does well for a small, lightweight vehicle

[SB1500]

Even with low profile tyres often leading to a ride quality that can shake out your fillings,  I'd say the eco-oriented models of tyre that the factories use these days could be to blame - putting comfort and handling off at the cost of achieving slightly better MPG (in lab tests).  It'll be a while before you can experiment with this though...

Tell the dealer you'd like an extended test drive of a like-for-like demo car at the dealership just to rule out 'an issue', then you can write it off to being just how this car handles and decided over a rejection or exchange from there?  Otherwise, they have to keep looking until they figure it out. 

[SinglePointSafety]

Agree with Shane - the tyre choice, even in the same size, can have a detectable effect on the ride quality and road noise. My experience (others may differ) is that, for example, changing to all-season tyres even on the same size filtered out much of the road-texture vibration and also reduced road noise

Incidentally...Regarding fuel economy, my before/after figures for the tyre/wheel change show no statistically-significant change

[RonYarisX]

I have 18" tyres on GR Sport and was expecting ride to be harsher. Not in the least.

As others have said, I'd check the tyre pressures. Also what tyres do you have? Eco orientated tyres are by nature much stiffer than normal tyres. That'd acount for noise and a slightly harsher ride but wouldn't explain 'crashing' thru potholes.

No way could I ever describe our 18" tyres as 'crashing'.

[butlerbill]

Thanks for your advice. checked the tyre pressure and redused it by 1 psi.  I tried to work out why the ride quality had got worse and the only thing I do regularly is to take off the Lane Tracing Assist so decided to leave it on and see if it was any better.  Surprisingly it did, a softer feel over bumps.

Just in case it's wishfull thinking on my part, some feed back from othe Yaris x owners would be much appreciated.

[chazbri]

Hi RonYarisX Ive ordered a X GR Sport to replace a 2 year old X Excel and was wondering how you found it. With regard to drive quality in my Excel with 18" wheels its been fine but some road surfaces are so poor I think you'd feel bumps in any vehicle.

[RonYarisX]

5 hours ago, chazbri said:

Hi RonYarisX Ive ordered a X GR Sport to replace a 2 year old X Excel and was wondering how you found it. With regard to drive quality in my Excel with 18" wheels its been fine but some road surfaces are so poor I think you'd feel bumps in any vehicle.

As above. I'm not the main driver, I don't drive it that often but I'm always very surprised how soft / quiet the ride is compared to what my expectations were. I'm not convinced folk who speak of the car as if it's some sort of sports orientated model have ever experienced a sports orientated model 🤣  The GR sport is sport in name and Halfords add-on bling only. ( Which is a good thing given it's intended use ) 

The only major difference between the GR and the Excel, and the reason we opted for it, are the seats. Everyone will have their own preferences, but to me the GR seats make a huge difference to the overall ambiance of the interior. Given the option again, I'd choose GR Sport trim without hesitation.

Hope that answers your question. 

[Bob66]

6 hours ago, RonYarisX said:

As above. I'm not the main driver, I don't drive it that often but I'm always very surprised how soft / quiet the ride is compared to what my expectations were. I'm not convinced folk who speak of the car as if it's some sort of sports orientated model have ever experienced a sports orientated model 🤣  The GR sport is sport in name and Halfords add-on bling only. ( Which is a good thing given it's intended use ) 

The only major difference between the GR and the Excel, and the reason we opted for it, are the seats. Everyone will have their own preferences, but to me the GR seats make a huge difference to the overall ambiance of the interior. Given the option again, I'd choose GR Sport trim without hesitation.

Hope that answers your question. 

You are right the GR seats are far superior to that of my Excel, if only the GR was available in Efour...I'd have went for it...the Efour has the better rear suspension, which has a better ride quality.

[TonyHSD]

GR seats are actually exactly the same design like excel but has the best materials and that makes a huge difference. My favourite Toyota seats after gr4 Yaris. 👌

[YarisHybrid2016]

On 10/19/2023 at 10:53 PM, RonYarisX said:

I have 18" tyres on GR Sport and was expecting ride to be harsher. Not in the least.

This is also my experience. Rides better and is quieter than my Gen.3 Yaris on 16"!

As for the Cross, ours is Excel with 17" alloys, and it rides better than my GR Sport, which I already consider very good. It's not all about wheel diameter.

Maybe it is just different to what you're used to? As suggested above, go have a test drive in a different (but same spec) Cross and do a comparison. Hopefully they are the same (to you), meaning there is no problem with yours.

Assuming there isn't a problem, then I hope you can adapt to it, as it is a great car.

[Dezzer21]

2 hours ago, YarisHybrid2016 said:

As for the Cross, ours is Excel with 17" alloys, and it rides better than my GR Sport, which I already consider very good. It's not all about

Are you sure about the above as I thought all excel’s were fitted with 18” wheels as are mine unfortunately with Falken tyres.

 

[Roy124]

On 10/18/2023 at 10:47 PM, bathtub tom said:

Have you checked the tyre pressures? New cars often have them over inflated and the dealer's supposed to adjust them.

Spot on.  Mine were very high at over 3 Bar.

Having reset them you have the pain of resetting the TPWS. If you find they are much too high, take it to the garage and get them to fix it.

A question, does the steering feel very light?  If it does that might point to overpressure. 

[SinglePointSafety]

On 10/24/2023 at 4:35 PM, Dezzer21 said:

Are you sure about the above as I thought all excel’s were fitted with 18” wheels as are mine unfortunately with Falken tyres.

AFAIK all UK-supplied Excel YCs are delivered with 18-inch wheels and thus 50-profile tyres, which is far from ideal for the atrocious roads (which are actually getting worse, a real achievement) where I live, hence my wheel/tyre change. My car also had Falken tyres, but I have no reference point for same-size other tyres comparison. Falken is at least a well-known and not budget brand

[Roy124]

SSP, it's raining so I am not about to check sizes but I have Goodyear and no issues.  That said, I do drive to avoid potholes and fine they are as good as the others.

My wife, OTOH,  seems 'blind' to road imperfections and does not avoid them.  Tuesday was like driving across a rutted field at speed. 

I think few wheels would cope with that.

[Stobie]

On 10/18/2023 at 10:47 PM, bathtub tom said:

Have you checked the tyre pressures? New cars often have them over inflated and the dealer's supposed to adjust them.

New cars also have 'delivery blocks' in the suspension that limit movement. It's not unknown for dealers to omit removing them.

My tyre pressures the day after collection were  FNS 45 FOS 42 ROS 37 and RNS 34.

It makes you wonder just what they do for that day in the workshop prior to collection.

[Roy124]

Stobie, quite.  Next time I will take my pressure gauge. It was a PITA sorting out the TPMS after deflating mine last time.

[Benzowner]

2 hours ago, Roy124 said:

 That said, I do drive to avoid potholes .....

Go careful, the police may think you're on something with that sort of driving🤣😂

[SB1500]

On 10/24/2023 at 4:35 PM, Dezzer21 said:

unfortunately with Falken tyres

A relative of mine has a Corolla GR Sport, 2020 that came with these. They wanted to fit the same when they got replaced this year but I think they were a bit harder to source and seemingly not worth the hassle to order in... I'm guessing with the 'unfortunately' that this isn't a great brand?  (They were new to me, but I assumed if Toyota factories fit them they must be quality enough)

[Roy124]

6 hours ago, Benzowner said:

Go careful, the police may think you're on something with that sort of driving🤣😂

I am just waiting for the question "have you been drinking "

"Yes, tea?"

I did get stopped very late at night in deepest, darkest,  rural Lincolnshire.

"Where have you come from?"

"Izmir"

It was not the answer he expected but was true. 

[Cyker]

8 hours ago, SB1500 said:

A relative of mine has a Corolla GR Sport, 2020 that came with these. They wanted to fit the same when they got replaced this year but I think they were a bit harder to source and seemingly not worth the hassle to order in... I'm guessing with the 'unfortunately' that this isn't a great brand?  (They were new to me, but I assumed if Toyota factories fit them they must be quality enough)

I assume they have some sort of deal rather than any specific expectation of quality.

I'm not sure why they use Falkens, but Bridgestone used to be their standard tyre supplier (My Mk4 came with Bridgestones on the 17" rims).

I think they were using Continentals back in the Aygo/Early Mk3 Yaris era.

 

The current darlings are Michelin Pilot Sport 4s for hooning, Michelin Primacy 4 if you have a lot of money or an ATS Euromaster nearby, Goodyear Efficient Grip Performance 2 if you don't, and Michelin Crossclimates or Goodyear Vector4Seasons if you need all-season tyres.

I'm running Hankook's at the moment because I'm a cheapskate and they're the least awful tyres I could find without paying premium brand tyre prices.