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So sometime this morning, I noticed the website for My Toyota and the App updated to "Arrived At Retailer" - car now shows with a VIN under "owned" on My Toyota website, no Reg number yet and no service history. Guessing service history might update tonight if it really has been PDI'd to show that and likely number plate too....no message yet from dealer, I will likely wait a day or two - hoping I can arrange next week as Mon/Tues works for me any week. Curretn car is waxed and cleaned up nicely inside, so trying to keep it clean for handover!

My RAV was the run-out Design and I was lucky that they threw stuff at it just to clear stock of material. I 'won' elec. adjustable seats, heated seats, leather/Alcantara interior and Pitlane alloys. I also saved a hill of money as dealers wanted to make space for the 4.5 😁. Previous 2 Yetis had full leather and must admit I prefer the leather/Alcantara combo. The key fob action to open and close all windows was a feature I remember that Audi had on their vehicles in the late eighties and (of course) no customisable features then. Sometimes Toyota are in the dark ages though - why aren't all their vehicles fitted with w/washer reservoir warning? Bizarre! And don't get me started on their poor website!

I asked the dealer to enable it for me before I picked the car up. Daft you can't set it yourself really.

Does anyone else get a little wind noise from the b pillar area both driver and passenger side at high speeds ? Is it normal? Sounds like if the window is not completely closed, it's not that loud and is quite faint but just wondering If it's normal.

Partners Yaris definitely goes into EV Mode...moved it across the car park the other day like that. When are you trying? If when moving, speed is pretty low (20 mph?) Any higher it won't go into EV. From start, press EV before the engine starts...you get about 5 seconds after turning ignition on. Once engine started wont go into EV until warm up complete

Does the App actually enable rear window defrosting specifically? As I understand - having only an 'umble HEV rather than a posh PHEV - you have an "Air conditioning system with heat pump" that you can operate remotely. I can well imaging that being run off the traction battery, as Ernie says, to warm, cool and specifically dry the cabin. That will certainly help defog the windows. I can't see why they would necessarily run the 12V rear window de-icer while doing that. Ernie has previously suggested that the 12V battery is not recharged via the mains - which seems a shame but that's how it is. And you probably could power everything directly from the traction battery in a PHEV - if you really left the lights on for too long you could always recharge via the mains. But if you did that with a HEV you'd be totally stuck because the only way to charge the traction battery is via the engine; and with a flat traction battery you'd never get the engine started. So there remains 'commonality' between the HEV and PHEV in that respect.

Re placements of buttons, with so many features in today’s cars plied with all the goodies we want. (Or don’t want) it must be very difficult to find a reasonable position to place them. It seems they trying to put as many of these buttons within reach of fingers without too much movement. In time there is a good chance your brain will know where buttons are and the common ones an individual uses will come to mind easily.

I thought the mixing up of media controls with cruise controls was particularly stupid.

And I would like to give a slap to the designer that put the audio source steering wheel button down among the cruise buttons.. lost count the number of times ended up listening to Medium wave static by accident and have to cycle through things back to what I was enjoying.. Grr

or if you move the transmission lever to S (Shift) Mode. I've sometimes tried to hit Plus or Minus without looking and turned it off (something I never did accidentally which the CC controller was a stalk)

Sometimes I (brain on auto pilot) think I have set radar cruise then get surprised its not doing anything, and then find I have accidentally pressed the Trail mode button whilst raiding sweets/drinks in the cupholders. Radar cruise doesn't work in trail mode.

Hi, if unsure about the problem clutch or something else best to take the car to a garage for diagnosing the issue and price for replacement. If the clutch is so bad to not even move the car it will smell burning like when you cut through metal with angle grinder.

Yup, the hammock is very useful 👍

Congratulations, Ian. In my case, I think 'in transit' means they're waiting for a Ford van to deliver the parts required for assembly!

@PeteB, agree, he’s very much the American but I do like his videos, some of the ones that talk about customers and the things they complain about are brilliant. He appears to be very knowledgeable and well informed.

I've found his videos very informative. There are some interesting ones on the lubrication and cooling of the latest RAV4 2.5 litre engine.

This weekend I had time to touch up some stone chips and scratches and polish out some scratch with T Cut scratch remover, I also did the headlights, came up really well...

On the Avensis T27 and from my experience, the EPB makes it critical that the piston cut outs are horizontal, to aid fitting the caliper over the protruding pin on the back of the inner brake pad. This can also affect the EPB operation and cause the inner pads to wear at an angle faster than the outer pad. Obviously the Auris having a conventional handbrake is not as affected, though I did repair a Vauxhall Corsa VXR which has a normal handbrake, with the same problem my Avensis suffered from. I fuelled from Morrison's well over a month ago, and the pumps already had E10 on them. I enquired at the time, and it was done in preparation. The fuel was still E5. Wait for a while because the petrol pump tanks will still have remnants of E5 diluting the new E10. By October, both the car and fuel station should be E10. Then we can say how the car is performing. With the hybrid engine the difference could more telling or less.

I’m not really sure but the whole heating/cooling system is an separate and very complex piece of kit there is no doubt some inverter or the like but for efficiency I’d assume that it would be a higher voltage. The heat pump works to about -10oC then turns on the ICE that should not worry most of us in the UK much, having said that it will probably be the coldest winter on record? There are some interesting videos on YouTube and I found the best to be “the car nut channel” part 1 is the Prius, then part 2 the RAV4. It’s located in the front right hand side of the car.

... presumably via the 12V? I'm assuming that the heating element operates at 12V rather than traction battery voltage ... just curious! 🙂

Traction.

^ yep never a bad thing to change it a bit early

I changed mine every 5000-6500 miles. Some people might call this excessive, but to my defence: 1. The place I lived is quite dusty (Car's exhaust / soil / plants). 2. I do a lot of short trips (food delivery). 3. A lot of start / stop (drop off food, then back to the shop etc). All of which shortens the life span's of the engine oil. Besides, oil is cheap (£47.49 for 20 Litres of Mannol 5w30 C3, Filter £4 each from GSF / EuroCarParts with PROMOTION CODE). Each oil change is less than £15.

The 1.5 replaced the 1.33 at the start of 2017. So the 1.5 would be your best choice in terms of economy and power. A hybrid would be out as that is automatic.

5/30 also gives you a better choice of products and is cheaper , thats what id run and then go thicker if /when it starts to use it its a old design crude engine , some people go on like its a high tech racing car , the most important thing to do is change it on or before time an check the level often..too many get left to run dry

I don’t mind cloth in a runaround car but my main ride has to have a premium feel for me which means leather. I park mine in garage anyway so never get issues like overheating in summer. In fact that’s never even crossed my mind when it comes to leather.

Yeah this sounds like a fault to me. On radar if it detects a car to follow you see a car symbol above the bars. And on 3 bars it stays a long way behind, and plus and minus should change the speed. A long press on cruise gives you normal cruise with no radar and you can still adjust the speed. Might be worth seeing If that works, help to pinpoint the issue.

Both sound like faults to me. Just occasionally, if I activate or 'resume' ACC when close to a car the radar doesn't always 'see' the car in front straight away and starts accelerating towards it. But this is very infrequent and it works really well almost all the time (and I use mine a lot). Have you checked there's no dirt or anything blocking the front radar sensor (it's behind the Toyota symbol on the grille). Or could it have been damaged? When ACC is working correctly: Using Plus/Minus should always work in 5 mph increments when ACC is active, and as others have said when you press 'set' it locks in the speed you're currently doing. RSA is only used if there's a green box around the set speed on your dash display, with either an arrow pointing up at the top or down at the bottom. This happens when RSA has detected a speed limit that's different to what your CC is set to. If the box is showing with an up arrow and you press and hold the Plus button, it sets the ACC to the speed limit displayed, same with down arrow and Minus if the displayed limit is lower than the current set speed. For example, if your CC is set to 40 mph and that is also the limit displayed by RSA, there's no green box. If you then enter a 60 limit and RSA correctly changes to this, there'll be a green box with an 'up' arrow. If you press and hold the Plus button, your ACC set speed goes straight too 60 mph. Sorry that's a bit long winded, hope it helps a little.

Yeah, never really liked leather seats - Stick to them painfully if you wear shorts and horrible temperature reactions (Lava in summer, ice in winter!). Only good thing about them is they are easier to clean than fabric seats! The nicest seats I've ever sat in were in an old Pump Duse VW Passat - It was kind of a thick plushy material like the stuff soft toys are made out of. Very insulating so didn't feel hot in summer or cold in winter, and was sooooo soft and comfy! It was more comfy than some sofa's I've sat on!! And unlike leather seats you didn't slide around the seat on corners Seemed surprisingly hard-wearing too, but was probably hell to clean - Wish more manufacturers would offer that; Never been in another car that had it. Having experienced it I'd deffo pay extra if that kind of seat was an option!

Yay! All of a sudden it's working fine. Tried the app just before and everything is back. Didn't need to sit in the car and switch on. They've clearly sorted something. Fast turn around. Also just updated the App. All still working. Shane about the door lock unlock and window warnings being missing though. Especially as it shows them on the preview screenshots for the PHEV under the padlock icon. Perhaps next month!

the rear parking sensors & a head unit certainly. the cc may depend upon exactly which car you end up with & how much you are prepared to pay for it. On some Toyotas it is as easy as simply adding the control, others not so easy or not supported at all.

25 Nm correct, same torque settings are for the oil filter, which is just as it’s stops spinning and you are done. Hope previous mechanics didn’t over tighten it because this is often the case, once I had to use 80cm breaker bar to undo my filter, even I broke the special tool for that job. 🤭

Update: from what I've read it seems that the compressor won't engage if the refrigerant gas level has fallen too low. I expect this is the case so, I'll just get it recharged. Well, at least I've learn a lot from the service manual and various forums today. That said, if anyone does know the location of the relay, I'd still like to know and, it may help others! Thanks!

See the pic, red circle is where is the stud was resting, left a gap hence the dirt and grease on the face of the piston, all cleaned up now.

The only other thing you might be able to do is get one from a wrecked T-Sport in a breaker's yard, but you'd probably have to ring round a few and get lucky as they don't usually salvage the actual carpets before crushing the cars...! Even if you do it will likely need a real good clean...

In the book it will say that 0W-20 is the preferred oil. 5W-30 may be used, but should be replaced with 0W-20 at the next service.

Oddly enough, they were even on both sides, in/out, plenty of meat on it, probably done about 5k on them. One side, its had the rubber backing peeled of and the stud made a dent mark on the piston face, not too bad but visible. I only fill up at Shell, on the last fill end of august, I saw E10 on the pump, I enquired with the guy, I thought E10 was from September, he said they had for almost a year. It very clearly says E10 on the nozzle, never noticed it before, so he could be telling me fibs? Not sure what to think of it, done a round trip London to Cardiff, think 300miles? still got 1/4 left even with some "not so eco speeds" 😉

due to age the seals will have perished unless it's a cheap car, leave well alone you can't get the rubber from Toyota any more and to do it properly the headlining needs to come out As you can see here the rubber is part of the glass https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/265246359007 If you can open the roof then you dont know if it works or if there is any rust in the rails/roof

Hi, a popular torque settings for Toyota engines spark plugs are 25Nm., this is for the hybrid version but these two engines are very similar and use the same spark plugs.

I haven't owned the last model, but I have driven it. And I have done some miles in a hybrid Auris. Whilst you wait for owner's responses, here's my thoughts from a short drive 2 weeks ago (when cold and damp) of a Design level trim model on 16 inch wheels and a panoramic roof fitted. In no particular order, these were my impressions: The car is obviously more energetic at low speeds than the older generation Yaris/Auris/Prius hybrids. This is it's most striking feature when driving compared to the last one. It could even bring out the hooligan in you, if you were susceptible. Much more suited to a 'point and squirt' driving technique in the urban situation, if required. This might be exaggerated by a shorter, lighter throttle (?) with a different response curve. (I only drove the car in 'normal' mode.) On he open road, the car has enough electric power to very gently accelerate the car to about 41 mph before the engine finally cuts in, this was on the flat with no wind, but this might improve with familiarity. I was quoting this as a reference point, not as an important feature. The engine was also less inclined to 'rev-out' than the old one when spirited acceleration was used, following the pattern set by all new models. The ride is good, but not quite as big an improvement as I seem to remember the Corolla being over an Auris, especially as the Corolla I tried was on 18 inch wheels, and the Auris I drove in on was on 15 inch ones. The battery is happier to sit in a mid-charge position when the car is being driven when compared to older versions of hybrid, I think, and the hybrid system seemed to be more 'engaged' when driving. It was as if the car's designers were now unconcerned as to what happened to the traction batteries longevity - so they could use the batteries harder and longer. The 'engine braking' on a zero throttle seems significantly more than before, but this just needs getting used to. The car feels more 'planted' than the Yaris or the Auris, the wheels do feel like they are out at the corners of the car. This could be aided by the shape and fit of the seats, which suited me quite well. The digital dash is a mixed bag for me. Some of this is just unfamiliarity, but the previously fine resolution of the old charge meter dial, for instance, is not reproduced by the few 'digital' circular segments that illuminate on the new version, there is less detailed information here. But does this matter to you? Maybe not. The digital dash is not fitted to the base model, on that it is a conventional dial format. That base model also has halogen headlamps - I wonder if these are better than the last model's? I hope so! All other trim levels get LEDs headlamps over here (UK). Apart from the small conventional, temperature control knobs, the heater is managed by small, black push-buttons set against a black dash. Until you become familiar with these, I would judge these as 'style over substance'. All the heater controls are set quite low down, so not so easy to see at a glance. These settings are probably mirrored on the central 'infotainment' display when you adjust them, I didn't notice. The 'gear shift' is nicer feeling and much better looking than the old Yaris (but not Auris and Prius!). The handbrake is electric, which for me, is a solution looking for a problem - I really don't mind using a handbrake. The car has 'hill hold' which worked well when I tried it out, although I wouldn't miss it if it wasn't there. At least in this hybrid application, it's slightly delayed release does not accelerate clutch wear, as it might do on a conventional car. The engine is obviously a 3 cylinder, you can easily hear the distinctive 'thrum'. It's cutting in and out is not as smooth as four cylinder hybrid variants, but it's not a problem. The engine is quite keen to quickly cut in when needed. The car I was in (Design trim) had reverted to a completely conventional ignition key and column lock. It has two windscreen wipers now as well, I didn't need to use them much on my drive. The elbow rest that is sculpted into the driver and passenger's door is completely without any padding at all. I use this arm rest a lot on all the cars I drive. This one was rubbish, and that just for the sake of a simple upholstered pad. This won't bother other people, I'm sure, but my elbow was not remotely comfortable on it. Shame. When the mpg tally was deleted from the computer for my test drive, the salesman explained he drove the car enthusiastically with no eye to economy at all. The running total for the car up to then was 50 mpg. On my leisurely jaunt through the lanes with some urban and 60 mph 'A' roads thrown in, I got 73 mpg, but I was driving fairly economically, and the roads were largely clear of traffic, but were damp/wet. I liked it. Apart from the LED headlamps, and the aesthetics of missing front foglamps, then I'd be happy enough with the base model. And I could always cable-tie some foam rubber to my elbow for longer journeys, or just wear a thick coat...

Careful. It’s only a matter of time before The Liberals and Snowflakes decide frequent oil changes are wasteful and impact the environment. Then they will push for higher taxes on it and try to make it illegal. Enjoy this while you can!

It’s a very common thing to do, whether that be via a catch can or a filter. As far as I have researched it’s completely legal, and very common when gaskets begin to leak slightly. As both prevent recirculating oil and fuel entering the intake system.