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The IQ is quite a new and "groundbreaking" design that is quite a "bold step" taken by Toyota to create something different and very appealing to a "specific market segment" of todays motoring buyers however this challenge in itself does come with some risk if not approached very carefully and carried out in a specific manner. Perhaps some of the problems in my view with the Design of the IQ car is as follows: Very lightweight materials have been used that can be more suspetable to wear / breakage and possibly early failure. Small and very compact design of some parts that break some of the standard traditional more proven engineering design trends in order to reduce size of many parts. Cheaper materials are perhaps sometimes used to reduce manufacturing costs to a minimum. All new design concepts will always be at a slightly higher risk of problems in a mass produced manufacturing environment. Possibly a lack of enough "testing to failure" after the new design has been created, in order to reveal and show up any possible weakness up front, and then implement further design modifications and changes to create quite close to zero defect that matches more traditional / proven design of some parts and thus make the IQ comparable to other car reliability standards that we have come to expect from a modern motor car. The above issues could (if it is the case ?) lead to the customers (that's us) becoming the test bed for design changes and improvements over time, and suffering some problems that could have been avoided if a different and much greater focussed testing to failure approach had been taken by Toyota. As Toyota now offer a 5 year warranty as a selling point on new IQ's we (as end customers) are "lead to believe" that reliability will be very good, this is not always the case. Some manufacturers are now offering 7 year warranties ! Toyota have perhaps been more "up front" regarding recalls and this is of course a "double edged sword" that can put some people off Toyota, however I believe that "up front" honesty will win over the customer rather than hiding the problem, this has been proven to be the case as I understand that Toyota sales have not suffered because of it. The above is my view at the moment after owning a second hand IQ now for 5 months and reading this forum almost every day, plus some time taken to research on the internet the IQ design and its new concepts. All comments regarding my above views are welcomed. Positive Regards, Bob.

Frankly, in these EU-jobsworth-health & safety days, you're bound to have done something illegal with your car without even noticing. I find it laughable that my driver's floor mat ends up in the boot at every MOT in case it should obstruct the pedals - despite the fact that you'd have to roll it up, secure it with cable ties and forceably jam it under the brake in order to have that effect. Liz's solution is neat, tidy and emminently practical. Good for her, I say, E-marks not withstanding!

Still a nice idea Liz. It might not be legal but it is dead practical.

I don't think they are meant to be comfortable as they are head restraints, designed to stop your head snapping back in a collision, rather than "headrests"

i personally think long service intervals are B.S. my company vehicles 1st service was due at 22500 but it actually needed a service at 18000, due to the condition of the oil the dashboard was like a Christmas tree, but it is french so..... with the way modern diesels are, with all this euro-hippy-green-eco nonsense they need servicing more often due to all the soot they retain, if we ditched egr's and dpf's we'd be getting better mpg.

Yes there wasn't any companies making a kit for Auris, so I contacted guys at Goodridge and they promised to make a set for Auris if I'd send the original hoses to them. The day I will confirm that they fit allright, you'll be all able to order them from Goodridge! I don't have any experience with the braided hoses yet, so I'm very curious to test this set out and see how the car feels with them installed.

In reality I think very few designs are actually 'all new'. Carry over of engines being one example. Motoring history has a few examples where manufacturers have been caught out by lack of testing, misjudgements, etc of cars with a high level of new design - two examples being the Hillman Imp and NSU Ro80, As far as I'm aware, in Europe the Toyota 5 year warranty is peculiar to the UK - introduced by Toyota GB to counter the effects of the accelerator pedal recall. Germany, France, Eire, etc retain the 3 year warranty.

Be careful doing this. Any mistakes might leave you regretting it for the rest of your life. You either need to get a seat that is compatible with your current seat belts, get a very proffessional job done or change the car. Any car with ISOfix anchors will have had load testings done on the fixing AND the catches that let the seat tilt. I'm not sure how to go about valuing the life of a baby but I would start at priceless and come way down to the cost of a brand new car.. If I was broke and couldn't do it right I would walk.

The issues over which oils are used is caused by a European law called "Block exemption" the same law that states that manufacturers can't insist on main dealer servicing, also stops Toyota from insisting what oils are used by anyone wishing to service a car including their own dealer network. All Toyota are allowed to do is list a set of specifications that the oil used must meet they can also list a "preferred" oil. For example I have listed below the requirements Toyota have for the mkiii Prius, a car that has caused a lot of posts over the oils that have been used during servicing. This info is taken from Toyota's Service data sheet for European Prius mkiii only! Preferred option: 0w20 Other listed options: 5w20 5w30 10w30 15w40 20w50 These grades above are listed by Toyota as they meet the following required specifications: API grade SL or SM multigrade engine oil API grade SL “Energy-Conserving”. SM “Energy-Conserving” or ILSAC* multigrade engine oil. Toyota can only require the oils used meet the minimum specifications above. So long a the oil used meets the above the oil grade is not enforceable. At present Toyota have "asked" but cannot enforce the dealer network to use the following, MK3 Prius, Prius plug-in, Prius +, Mk1 Auris HSD, Mk2 Auris HSD & Yaris HSD 0w20 MK1 & MK2 Prius 5w30 Optimal drive petrol models 0w20 or 5w30 Other petrol engines 5w30 Diesel engines incl Optimal drive 5w30 Diesel engines with DPF including optimal drive 0w30 or 5w30 meeting C2 low ash specifications

Is it something we said??