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Hi one way to check clutch is to put car in gear 3, put up handbrake and try accelerating. Car should stall instantly, if the car moves then it means that clutch is slipping (you will also get a burning smell as a result).

I think it's still worth a look, you can get them for less then the Prius now. I never take much notice of motoring reviews, nobody would drive anything other then German cars if we listened to reviews, I'm sure you would be impressed if you drove a CT.

Honestjohn's realmpg suggests 33.6. http://www.honestjohn.co.uk/realmpg/toyota/rav4-2006 manual/auto, winter/summer, length & style of drive will all make a difference.

I also have the Auris with the stop start. Car fires up in less than a second. There is no delay, if you push down the clutch when the light is amber it will be ready to go by green light.

OP can you post a video?

I dunno, it depends on your goal and point of view I suppose. I reckon a similarly advanced 1.4 D4D could match the new Atkinson 1.0 for economy, but it would be a hell of a lot more pleasant to drive! An economical petrol engine rarely develops a decent amount of torque, atkinson cycles even less so, but a diesel engine can be both economical and deliver a strong torque at the same time as the diesel cycle is inherently better at extracting energy from fuel. I think anyone who's driven a 1.0VVTi and a 1.4D4D on the same car would agree the 1.4D4D is far more enjoyable to drive because of the massive torque difference, even tho' the horsepower is similar.

Hi Derek, We had a new 57-reg 120-series LC4 auto which we ran for 3 years and 30K miles. It performed faultlessly; absolutely nothing went wrong and it only needed normal servicing. At that time, the top of the range was the LC5 (became Invincible) but I didn't feel the need for that model - to be honest the only extra of any use, in my mind, was the steering wheel mounted controls for the infotainment and phone. The steering wheel itself was wooden - fake wood at that - which looked & felt awful. I'd heartily recommend the 120 LC4 auto. We now have a 150 LC4 which we're more than happy with.

not quite sure I'd agree with "insignificant" - depends on how much it is driven. My 2nd Prius, that I owned from 2002-2011 consumed over £13,000 worth of unleaded. Had I kept my previous 1.8 auto Volvo V40 for that mileage it would have drunk nearer to £30k worth, and even the 1.0 Micra auto my partner had at the time would have consumed an extra £4,000 or so. Over the 160,000 miles or so, the depreciation, maintenance and other running costs were also tiny compared to very other car I've owned (adjusting for inflation), whether viewing it by mile or month.

Hoovie, most car parts are thermoplastic these days, probably as a result of environmental legislation which says that they should be recyclable. Bumpers are a similar material to the spare wheel cover and they are weld-repaired on a regular basis by a body shop with the right equipment. It would be worth a trawl around locally to find a specialist bumper repair company who would be able to do the whole job including filling and spraying. They are generally small, low-overheads organisations who sub-contract work from larger body shops, so not too expensive. Bumpers come up as good as new when repaired this way. If this is not possible then araldite and glass is probably as good as it gets. It's a terrible feeling, that cracking sound when it happens. But definitely worth a try