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In 56 years of car ownership I have NEVER had a black car (and only 1 black motorcycle). For sure they look brilliant on a Sunday morning after they been cleaned, but all the other times it’s a downer. Majority of my cars have been silver or grey. Road dirt does grey, unless you have parked on a wet grass verge that has been cut up and then you are going to have brown. So grey dirt blends in with silver or grey cars. I have had a couple of white cars, and they are ok - much better then black any day. My current Prius Excel is Hypersonic Red - that was a conscious decision, the Prius looks so good on Hyp red, and actually not too bad to keep clean, though to be fair if used by a travelling rep it would not be a good choice. Cars need washing fairly regularly, and with quality liquids formulated specifically for cars - no good having a squirt of fairy liquid (other brands need to be avoided too). I use Williams or Renault car wash/wax bought off Ideal World tv shopping channel (£20 could get you 5 litre with spray bottle). These contain Carnauba wax that encapsulates dirt, prevents swirls, which are paint damage. It coats the car in a wax which won’t last forever, in fact not too long, say four weeks before it needs washing/waxing again. But now I add a coat of Carplan No1, a clear coating on top of a clean car (the cleaner the better) which is said to last 6 months or so. Got a bottle from Wilco (I believe also available elsewhere) £8 per bottle - should do a Corolla hatch about 6 times, a little goes a long way.

Black is notorious for this kind of problem. It's just about the worst colour you can pick for a car. I watch car restoration/upgrading programmes and they've all at one time or another expressed concern about dealing with black paint jobs. https://www.best-auto-detailing-tips.com/car-paint-colors.html " And by going back, I mean to black. Ask anyone who has ever owned, or currently owns a black car and they will tell you of the frustration a black car represents. So for most people, I recommend you stay away from black despite what your emotions are screaming at you the next time you happen to see a very shiny black car. Among the most dramatic colors visually when detailed correctly. The hottest color; literally. Not only will the paint heat up to the temperature of the sun, but will cause the interior to heat up proportionately along with it. Black shows every nuance of paint flaws. Black car paint is the hardest color to keep clean. Will show dust from the moment you stop cleaning, until the moment you start cleaning once again! Black interiors hide actual dirt the best, but enhance the superficial dirt like dust, debris, and lint. Experience has shown that unless you have an excess of time and money, the love/hater relationship between your black car will reside mostly on the hate. "

We had two cars with black paint - a metallic Nissan and a pearlescent Honda. Both showed every mark, nick and scratch, no matter how slight, and we said we would never have another black car.

Hello, i recently moved from the VW ownership stable to a brand new Toyota Yaris Design Hybrid. I've not been able to use it as much as i like (due to Covid) but have gone for several local journies. Here's my thoughts : Firstly, economy. It's superb! Most of my journies have been around town, and i'm dissapointed if i get less than an indicated 70 mpg. Before lockdown i managed to have a cruise on the motoway and still averaged 56 mpg. And these figures are achieved in cold weather with heater and aircon on. Secondly, comfort. Again, it's superb, rides smoothly, super smooth CVT transmission. It's a quiet place to be too. Thirdly, Features. It doesn't have heated seats, which my last couple of cars have had, but apart from that it's pretty well stocked, the adaptive cruise control is fantastic, the pre collision warning has saved me on once occassion, reversing camera is useful, and i like having auto wipers and lights. Really, on the motorway, it almost drove itself, keeping me in the dead centre of the lane and adjusting speed to match the car in front, really relaxing. The parking hold is brilliant also. On my last car it had a mind of it's own, on the new Yaris it's perfect. Just three negatives so far, expensive 0w-8 oil. I have purchased one litre just in case i need to top up. I'm really hoping the car doesn't prove to be an "oil eater" as it ws very expensive. The next negative is the coolant reservoir. It's very hard to see how much is in there because of where it's situated. You have to dangle a small torch down there to see the level of the liquid. Lastly, the brakes are a bit "erratic". I'm not sure if this is down to regen or not, but i have "overshot" a couple of times, whilst other times it's stopped sharply. It's a bit hard to predict. Overall though, no regrets! I cannot wait for the ban on non essential travel to be lifted as i have a series of days out planned so i can drive it for more than 30 minutes or so like now. I'd recommend the car based on my ownership so far.

Sorry can't help. Only got 16" wheels.

thanks tony... i didnt want to have the pistons pushed out by the system as you said very similar to a conventional system bar a couple of extra steps.

Hi all, Ive done an Intro in new members section but thought Id say hi here too as its here Ill probably tend to stay around. Collected my new Icon Tech 1.8 TS yesterday from Motorline Cardiff, shout out to Peter the Fleet guy, a fellow biker too, who made the hand over as painless as possible in this weird time. Bit of a culture shock with all the Tech but Im pleasantly surprised so far, some said I would find the 1.8 a bit flat compared to my previous Astra CDi but actually it aint bad at all and from the lights I dont think there is much in it, overtaking at higher speeds does seem to require a bit more thought but I dont find it slow, but then compared to my KTM 1290 an M4 BMW is slow. I can confirm my 21 Model came with LED Fog lights which when I ordered the Dealer wasnt sure if it would come with or not, so a bonus. Im an IT Engineer who for my sins is involved, albeit in a small way compared to the Nurses/Doctors etc, with the Covid Response, so Im still out on the road a fair bit so its nice to have what appears to be a really relaxing place to sit and feel safe. Cheers all and stay safe Tim PS: Included a pic taken 20 miles after pick up yesterday as I think its mandatory

The MyT app on my phone says it's been built. I did end up emailing the dealer who confirmed it's built and think they should get it by the end of the week. Fingers crossed eh? 🙂

Hi Anshul, and welcome to the Toyota Owners Club. How many miles has your Rav 4 done????? Is the car starting ok other times of the day after its been started first time of the day? I dont understand what you saying in Pbrim 1 - you say "Ive tried waiting for the car to "heat" up by turning all the electronics on and high heating"? Can you clrify what you mean? You probably know petrol cars have spark plugs to ognite the fuel, diesel cars depend on compression of the fuel to make it explode. In cold weather this can be a problem, so its common to find diesel engines have a glow plug in the engine cylinders which warm up the cylinder to help the compression heat explode the fuel. One or more of these glow plugs (one per cyclinder) maybe dodgy, they tend to wear in time - thats why I asked how many miles has the Rav 4 done. They not particularly expensive to replace and make a big difference in starting. Maybe something else, but thats my first pointer.

No, I don't mean the drainage plugs, I mean plastic flaps which are probably around 150mm wide x 30mm and which pivot from their top edge. They pivot open to allow airflow from the cabin to outside. If either is jammed open, or missing, they could let water into the cavity beneath the storage box. I think they are located in the panel in front of the rear bumper (but have never looked for them myself).

Its just cost saving on parts it's cheaper to order in bulk

I wouldn't like to see the new tsí being driven hard. I know one lad that threw back a new diesel octavia. Wasnt happy with it. The boss man has a 5 series. Reckons the Avensis was a better car and if the Camry was available in diesel he'd have one. No more than Nissan VAG aren't what they used to be.

Are you a new driver ? Did you learn in a diesel car ?

My current oil of choice right now. I have Petronas 7000 fully synthetic. I got two x 5 litres, and used some for my last oil change, in addition to what i had remaining before. I always check who the sellers are, and only go to their details and if they are proper whole sellers like Euro Car Parts. Same for the spark plugs.

Was it the boot opening aperture you had issues with or the shape of the boot floor? The seats are folding in Camry but its surrounded by the rear seat mouldings all round.

RAV4 can be had with a good discount via a few online brokers, around the price of the one year old car at the dealers. I like mine very much, very comfortable and tons of space for family and can load it with other things when needed. I drove the new Camry and it drives very similar to RAV4 (same drivetrain), but it is very long and boot did not work for me.

The price of the RAV and the Camry is just a bit out of range. Not sure what the second hand market is like. But I would have to agree with Tony HSD. In terms of spec, reliability, resale,price and everything else it is hard to beat the Corolla. Just a tiny bit more interior room. I compared against Skoda and Seat and they dont come close in terms of spec and price Cant comment on the room part. Not sure about the whole 1.0 tsí. Socks and dead man comes to mind

Agree with the majority here, black paint is the worse for showing up damage. Silver, White and Grey are boring, but tend to not show up damage so much. They also get dirty, but don't seem to get super dirty if you know what i mean

The RAV is much more spacious inside - and the boot is comparable with the TS also. I really wanted one instead of the Corolla, but couldn’t quite stretch to it, and I’m not sure it will be as good to drive as the Corolla. I think the lack of headroom is the ‘shooting brake’ styling, rather than the boxy estate styling like a Golf.

I’m quite into my detailing, after owning a Lapiz blue golf R for 5 years which had the softest paint I’d ever seen. modern paints are generally soft and chip & marr easily. Black just makes it stand out more. if you have time to fix the swirling yourself, I’d thoroughly recommend the DAS6 Pro DA polisher, with Menzerna polishes & pads. I bought mine from ‘cleanyourcar’ website. Washing with a sponge is a sure-fire way to encourage swirls as there is no where for any surface grit to go, so it sits on the surface of the sponge and scratches the soft paint. I’d recommend a Meguiars Lambswool washmitt, with a bucket grit guard. as for coatings, you can get ceramic coatings which will help - if you use a careful washing technique. You may be best getting a professional detailer to do that though.

I also have the same black paint on my 2019 Corolla TS The argument that the problems you have seen are caused by water based paint is incorrect as systems used in factory applied paint use solvent based top coats. Basecoats etc. For sure can use waterborne but not top coats as they aren’t resilient enough. The problem with most paint these days is that the drive to lower solvent content (VOC) has forced manufacturers to use lower molecular weight polymers which are compromised in terms of chemical and physical resistance properties, and by the way, lead to poor flow and levelling causing the orange peel also mentioned above. Nevertheless all parameters are tested to destruction by the paint producer- including stone chip resistance using the well named gravelometer equipment, scratch resistance and bird lime, tree sap and other chemical resistance. The problem with black (and dark colours) is that the marks/scratches show up more easily. The marks are there on other colours but just don’t show as much. A tip for minor blemishes is to use Super Resin Polish by Autoglym which can remove/fill the scratches.

Wouldn't be surprised if it's anything to do with making the car more fuel efficient by using lighter or thinner paints & laquer etc

A just had 5 mins to look it all up this is from a later car but the same series of gearbox EA62 destruct.pdf hope that is of some use,

Hi, I have been using Petronas 0w20 since 2015 and over 100k miles in temperatures from -5° In winter to up to 40C° on euro trip once back in 2017, no problems at all, no oil consumption. Price was even cheaper before but even now is not too bad. https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/323898171325 You can buy Toyota oem 0w20 but only from Toyota dealers directly or through eBay , private sellers sells fake Toyota parts and fluids very often. 👍 £40 for 5 ltr oil is cheap enough IMO. Oil filter I recommend genuine too.

Whilst I can't say I have noticed the issue on power drop myself, something I have always been able to "feel" is when travelling at a constant speed, I know when the ICE starts to charge the battery, without looking at the instruments. The speed does not drop but the car feels more "laboured" . And when the ICE is no longer charging, you can feel the car being "released". I notice it when driving at 50 mph, the limit on many local roads around here.

I got my car back from the dealer today and whilst nobody confirmed what they had done I'm pretty much certain the unit has been swapped out with that from another car because all of my radio station presets and sat nav settings had been cleared but the sat nav now has records of several locations I haven't been to.

By the power of my fingers and a search on Toyota tech owners manual........................ https://www.toyota-tech.eu/aimuploads/0f03d3af-2670-4a54-bea2-031bd7118316/06DE4632A_User-Tilt-Sensor_Toyota.pdf