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We bought an 04 1.3 T Spirit Yaris 3 years ago for my wife to drive as she finds the Avensis a bit bigger than she is comfortable with in tight car parks. Anyway I bought it in a rush but it looked good, the engine was immaculate and only 41k miles. It seemed very good until I took it for the MOT after 6 months. It failed on the back brakes and handbrake (needed new cylinders and shoes etc which |I did myself) but the tester said there were so many Advisories that it was not worth spending any money on. These advisories were all to do with rust :- Back crossbeam, suspension arms both sides, rear floor both sides, scills both sides, front floors both sides, rear shock absorbers both sides, all front and rear suspension springs.... In preparation for the second test a year later I set about the rear underside with a finger power sander and wire brushes and descaled everthing and used Bitumin brushed underseal and Bitumin Spray for the difficult bits. Replaced the shocks and springs. MOT then said only front floors rusty as advisories. For the MOT last week I did the underside floors etc at the front. MOT with no advisories. Total cost parts, underseal etc under £300 and about 2 weeks total work. Despite the original testers doom & gloom there was no structural rust when I was close to scrapping it! It is now a lovely little car and perfect as a town car in hospital and supermarket car parks.

These have just arrived, the pads should be here later today so, guess what I'm going to be doing.

Hi Adam, My driving pattern (Corolla 2.0) seems very similar to yours. In winter, on winter tires (16 inches), I get around 47-50 British mpg, if I push it a bit. That means ok quick accelerations and around 70-81 mph (the Danish speed limits) on the highway. However, since Xmas I have been conduction a little experiment, trying to push the mpg as high as possible. That means keeping at around 53 mph together with the trucks at very constant speeds. That sucks a bit (a lot actually), but for the last 2000 miles my average mpg has been 59 mpg. It's impossible for me to get above that, at least given the circumstances (winter tires, constant rain and wind, 4-8 degr. C). All mpg are measured, not read from the info screen.

Good job! So much greener keeping an old car on the road than just buying a new one every 3 years!

That is how every thermostat works.

Hi, I use Kenu airframe since 2013 in various cars and for me those are the best one and the one that last longer, I am a heavy user, every day at least 6-10 times on and off the holder. I can see Kenu now offer more modern solutions like magnetic holders or with wireless charging too. You can check them out on amazon. Regards

If the slats on the air vent are horizontal which in the centre I think they are then there are plenty on ebay that will fit. I bought one for the wifes 2010 Auris and those centre vents are at an angle but fitted ok. Don't think it wil say "fits a 2017 Auris" if that is what you are looking for.

My 2011 Auris with 79k miles broke down last week. The AA were very prompt to arrive and diagnosed a failed Inverter/Converter & towed the car to the nearest Toyota dealer. Fortunately I have an extended warranty so it was repaired at no cost to myself. The labour time was just over 2 hours. I believe I could have faced a bill approaching £2k. I'm reporting this in case anyone else suffers the same fate to their Mk 1 Auris as the interesting thing is that the dealer put in new unit which is listed as belonging to a Mk2 Auris. You can pick these up used on ebay for circa £250. The part number on the new Inverter/Converter is G9200-47190 or 22JTE47190A19F030065. The 2 digits after the A in the latter number I believe indicates the year of manufacture (so 2019 in my case).

I picked up one of these from Homebargains a couple of weeks back. Great for the money. Just clips onto air vent so should be fine for any car I'd have thought. Takes up very little space when not in use too. https://www.homebargains.co.uk/products/18258-grundig-magnetic-phone-holder.aspx

I have them listed for both France and Japan but that maybe an aftermarket error, the Japanese built cars have a few odd quirks batteries being one of them

This could give people the hump

Main dealers are all shut but some independent still open plus black circles are open and deliver tyres. For the cars, now is the time to get our hands dirty, parts and tools can be ordered from euro car parts or eBay and towards the end of the week weather will get better so perfect for outdoor exercise. Shame I had done so much hard work on my car in freezing cold winds and rain in February and now only few easy jobs left to do, but how could I know that this lockdown is coming. I love working on my car and can’t wait for sunny days to spend outside around her. 🚙🇬🇧👍

I had one of those, it was as much good as a concrete parachute. Don't waste your money on it.

Due to coved-19 you may find your dealership shut as well.

Hi Guys, Thanks for all the responses! I certainly will take heed of what Tony has said. As a matter of fact, last July when my car was re-called for some window thing, the dealership (or whatever they are called ) inspected the rest of the car at the time and mentioned something about the brake fluid. Thing about the dust is that ever since my Dad replaced the discs and the pads for me (both Blueprint stuff) it has been since then that it has kept producing this dust. Maybe he didn't put something back correctly? Either way I need to take the car to the garage soon to get new Hancook tyres on it as they are reaching the tread depth - so will also look at having the entire brake system inspected at the same time. And indeed, now is a good time to have that work done considering I am working from home due to covid-19 pandemic 🙂

Is having your Aircon fixed by Kwik Fit, getting it done by the professionals?

Cars can sometimes suffer from what's called a parasitic draw, basically its equivalent to leaving a light on when you lock and leave the car. A common one was in a boot or trunk as americans call it, light comes on when open, its supposed to go out when shut but how do you know. Look on YouTube, a good source for problem solving. But in your case, at 4 years, the battery is at the end of its life. Although it may not be the specific problem here, changing for a new one is something you're going to need to do soon and it may be the problem. I get mine from Halfords, think I paid last year, £64 with a 4 year warranty.

Every car battery has a finite lifespan, which is on average, 4 years, after which most are on borrowed time, and after 5 - 6 years will be at the point of being unreliable. At 5 years old, your Yaris will probably still have the original factory fit Varta battery (I say this as my mother has a Dec 2014 Yaris 1.33) and this will be in need of replacement, especially if the car is now not being driven very much so it can recharge sufficiently. All cars these days use battery power even when they are not running to keep the ancilliary electronics functioning, such as the ecu, remote central locking etc, so if you have an old battery, it cannot take much time before it loses enough charge to drop below the point needed to start the car. If the car is being kept in a garage, I would firstly replace the battery (about £100) and then use a battery charger / maintainer to keep the battery topped up during the time the car is not being used. If the car is on a driveway, you can just take the charger out to it once a week and leave it on for about 10 hours to keep the battery charge up. Its important that even a new battery is kept top up charged every week if the car is not being used, as a period of a month or so of the car not being started can often discharge a fully charged battery.

If the battery voltage falls to low then a point will be reached where the ECU (the engine management system) does what is effectively a 'global reset'... a bit like pulling the mains plug out on a piece of equipment and then reconnecting. When this happens the engine needs to relearn all the optimal parameters for correct running which is all done automatically but does take a little time. This also happens when you replace the battery. Ideally and following a reset you should do a cold start (engine cold) and let it idle for two or three minutes and then just drive for a decent distance in mixed speed conditions. It may take a couple of days to get fully 'optimised' so that it is idling correctly. If your battery is suspect then it needs checking/replacing but first check that the terminals are tight and the clamps not loose. A good battery should hold decent charge even with relatively little actual use (driving).

Hi, as per your description all those strange for you events are actually what happens to a car when not been in use for some time. Your battery was discharged and all of the engine oil was completely drained into the oil sump leaving engine top without lubrication. My recommendation is to keep going to your car on weekly basis and start the engine and let it running for 30-40 min with radio off, ac off and heating fun set at position 1, just to keep it spinning but not consuming much of electricity. Before you do this you can check oil level, and general look under the bonnet. If you have a tyre pressure gage and compressor you can check your tyres pressure and correct them just to keep everything in order, ready for once the ban is over. If you have space on the street or driveway drive the car forward and reverse few times to make the brakes move a bit. Stay safe Regards

We have a very different attitude to the use of the military. The Italians have the Carabinieri who are, effectively a military police force, in the same way of the French Gendarmerie and the Dutch Marechausee, so they’ll much more readily accept seeing troops on the streets for law and order purposes. The advent of a professional police force in 1829 meant that policing didn’t need the army to play its part, though the Civil Contingencies Act of 2004 does have provision for Military Aid to the Civil Power, so it is possible for the military to be used but highly unlikely following the lessons of Operation Banner, the deployment to Northern Ireland in 1969. It’s just not the British way and a government would be in dire straights before this were to happen. Instead, the military will be, and is being used, transport, building and casevac. Yesterday, Puma helicopters deployed to Kinloss in Moray, Chinooks and Wildcats to Leeming in N Yorkshire, along with operating from their usual bases at Odiham (Hants), Benson (Oxon), and Yeovilton (Somerset).

Excellent folks, worked a treat. Thanks. Cheers, Trev.

Got my excel AWD this week with sunroof and JBL system. Unintentionally ordered the wrong interior (beige instead of grey) but so happy I did! Love the colour against the blue exterior! Took about 5 months ordering time but easily the best car I’ve driven ...love love love it! First Toyota I’ve had coming off a Mercedes CLA and so glad I made the change. Hope you don’t all have to wait too long!

Hi, How would a camera get 12 volts, if the dashboard switch is off? This is during the situation where reverse gear signal is used.

Moved to the Yaris club.