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If you have bought a brand new battery then I would definitely fit it in place of what you have. Otherwise it will just deteriorate. One dead easy check you could do on the old battery would be a simple discharge test for a few minutes. If you measure the voltage on the resting battery (after it has stood for a few hours) you should see at least 12.3 volts. Now turn on your headlights and heated rear screen without the engine running. That will draw around 30 amps. A new and fully charged battery would support that for at least a couple of hours and it should not fall below 12 volts in the first hour. For your old battery its just a quick check on seeing whether the voltage holds up over say 10 minutes under those conditions. If the voltage starts falling quickly then the battery is faulty and not holding sufficient charge. When you start the car from cold you should see the voltage across the battery rise to perhaps as high as 15 volts (or even slightly more under extreme cold conditions) and then see it fall back a little. When the engine (alternator) is really hot then the voltage could be as low as 13.5.

Been a while since I last posted but haven't had much done until today. Initially I got these parts

Just a bit of general maintenance. Over the last few weeks each mounting point for the heat shield has let go in turn. The problem is the shield is made from thin aluminium, the nuts and washers that hold it in place are just plain steel ones. Where the steel washer is in contact, the heat shield just corrodes around it and it drops causing a horrible rattle that sounds worse than it is. Fortunately the studs the shield fixes to are plenty long enough, and you don't have to try and remove the rusted on nut. Luckily there is a quick and cheap fix. All you need is: 38mm dia x 8mm repair washers 6mm nuts rubber washers I placed a couple of rubber washers behind the heat shield to stop it rattling and fretting against its mount/bracket, place another rubber washer against the outside of the shield then the repair washer followed by the nut.

I would carry a battery around in the load area of an estate for long periods for safety reasons! For emergencies I would carry booster cables/jump leads, or one of those power banks (if they are that good).

Don't know if they changed how it works in 2018 model. Push lever away from you when switch in auto position, and press on automatic high beam switch. Automatic high beam indicator at top of dash should come on green. Does not work under 25 mph or if tail lights turned on by car in front.

Have you looked at the Suzuki Grand Vitara? It came in a 3 door version as well as a 5.

Don't forget to check the voltage of your spare battery every now and then to make sure it doesn't get discharged to a critical level. Good luck!

My 2015 is fine, the Yaris is definitely noisier than the Auris though.

Quick and easy to try is air conditioning sanitiser, you just spray in the vents with the system running.

Why would they? From their viewpoint the car is a write off. As regards the settlement amount, I've done some searching and 2004 Rav4's seem to be selling for anywhere from £2,000. As I said earlier the settlement should be between market value and retail value. You won't get full retail value for the car, as cars advertised by dealers include their profit margin, and insurers won't pay the profit.