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It’s my first long distance road trip in my new Yaris, a 4 day break in Cornwall travelling from Herefordshire. The 240 mile trip down to St Erth was a breeze, impressive on the motorway, the adaptive cruise with lane control made driving extremely relaxed. Averaging 61.9mpg cruising at 70mph was impressive. We eventually arrived at Land’s End this evening in time to watch the sunset and whilst there was plenty of time to take some pictures of the sea views I couldn’t help taking a few of the Yaris. After 7 weeks of ownership I can’t fault it, it’s economical, fun to drive and effortless and comfortable on long drives.

Hope everyone are doing well :) I finally managed to send back the car to the dealer. They agreed to refund me for the car as well as the delivery fee, so I need to only bear the cost for the return delivery. Not too bad an L after all. In the meantime, I also managed to find a car through the local Toyota dealer. This time around, made sure everything is rust-free or at least has minimal rust. Checked everything else too and did a test drive before buying the car. It's a 2018 Yaris but hopefully not as bad as the one I bought previously. Thank you everyone for sharing lots of advice and experiences. Definitely helped me when viewing this second car. And looking forward to LK-99 solving the EV car problems soon

Sorry everyone for the delay to get back here. My daughter fell sick so had to put everything else down the list of priorities. However, I have been able to speak to the dealer again and they seem to dodge the rust issue as expected. They have apparently talked to Toyota about this and been told that the warranty does not cover surface rust. Tell me something I already didn't know lol. Anyway, I took everyone's advice here and told them that I will be returning the car. Might need to take the loss for the delivery to and fro as a result, but don't want to be stuck with a car that's going to cause a lot of problems in the near future. I will update you once I hear back from the dealer. Now onto the things that need to be done for the car return and possibly start looking for another car soon.

£0 monthly payments since 2018 and couldn’t be happier 👌 No matter what car you have or in what house you live, there are only two different types , your really own - paid off and the financing ones- rent, mortgage. There is nothing better than owning something without need to pay someone every month. The best of Toyota ownership comes after you finish paying for your new car and keep it for many more years afterwards. You will enjoy relatively recent car 3-5 years old, owned and taken care by yourself, same car, same power, efficiency, reliability, drivability but no monthly payments. Plus after the manufacturer warranty expires, if you understand cars and have a driveway you can easily maintain the car by yourself and save tons of ££££ without worry about visiting dealer or other garages, like older days. 🏁👍

With great sadness we have parted with our lovely bZ4X after only six months of use. We have suffered a substantial five figure loss. It is a great shame, as the car was brilliant in so many ways. Quiet, comfortable, super good road holding, a great infotainment system, and more... The entertainer Rowan Atkinson says he feels duped by electric cars : https://cardealermagazine.co.uk/publish/rowan-atkinson-feels-duped-by-electric-cars-and-believes-used-cars-are-the-future/285057 Whatever Rowan's reasons are , here is our reasoning : 1. Absolutely unviable charging infrastructure broken chargers that just do not work chargers located where there is no phone signal major motorway service stations with only two chargers for 1000 plus cars chargers that only work with certain cars, and more... 2. Range: we NEVER achieved anything close the claimed range, even in warm weather, ECO mode, no AC etc. and very careful driving. Our best was about 180 miles vs WLTP of 285. 3. Energy costs: these have risen hugely, the cost of charging an EV at public chargers, if you can find a working one, is now considerably more expensive than petrol. 4. Car Tax: despite offering incentives with zero road tax, this will now end in about 18 months and the car will be liable for road tax To be honest we could live with the range, in practice with care and planning, it was workable. The car tax was always going to happen and is perhaps only fair to other ICE owners. Even with massive increase in energy costs since we ordered the car in early 2022, the hope would be they would reduce again over time. But the deal breaker was not being able to reliably know you could get the car charged on the move. A car is for convenience, safety, reliability and of course driving pleasure. When is becomes nothing but stress and worry, and not being able to reliably know you can safely reach your destination, then you have to admit defeat, and a lesson ( expensive lesson ) learned. The silver lining is our new RAV4 PHEV is amazing !!

I’ve only ever driven an auto once or twice, it was my ex brother in laws triumph stag, complete with overheating engine, that was back in the 80s, of course it’s all modern and high tech now so with that in mind, I think I’ve got this right…. D…….select this to drive in the daytime N…….this is for driving at night..obviously R……..race mode, can’t wait to see the looks on the faces of the drivers behind me P…….performance mode, obviously lowers the suspension and gives an extra 300 bhp, I wonder if it’s optional to wear a baseball cap back to front B……for going backwards, of course yes I’m going to look forward to my Yaris cross auto,

So here is my new Toyota yaris, got to say lovely to drive

This is a bit of a long post, so for the TL:DR folk (not that I blame you one bit) the summary is that I changed the 18-inch wheels on my YC Excel, to 3rd-party 16-inch wheels with all-season tyres. Result is significant reduction in road noise, better cushioning against our local abysmal roads and thus better bump absorption Right.... For reasons of no interest to anyone else, I need to have winter or all-season tyres available for the car. Various solutions - extra set of wheels (steel or alloy) with appropriate tyres, swap with original wheels when required. Or fit winter tyres to existing wheels and get local tyre place to store summer tyres and do the swap twice a year. Or fit all-season tyres to existing wheels, keep or sell the factory-fit Falken tyres. Lots of options, various costs, taking into account need to transfer the TPMS valves or buy another set, convenience to me etc etc. Your circumstances are likely different to mine, so what follows is my solution, may not be best for you. I'm just telling you what I did and hope that the information might be of some use/interest. My choice also reflects the truly atrocious roads where I live: council has pretty much given up repairs outside the cities and big towns, so it's not going to improve any time soon.... I looked at the cost of all-season tyres for the varying possible wheel sizes. For the 16-inch wheels, the 'official' size is 205/65, but it's perfectly legal to fit 215/65, which is a much more common size (205/65 is basically a van tyre) and hence cheaper tyres/more choice. I confirmed this change with insurance company, my dealer and the wheel manufacturer - see also https://www.willtheyfit.com/. A deciding factor was that for all-season tyres 215/65-16 vs 215/50-18, the former were about £50-70 cheaper (these prices may vary according to time of year, availability etc). Another factor is that 3rd-party wheels are hugely cheaper (~£100 each) than Toyota's (~£450). If you hit a pothole and wreck a wheel, good luck getting any £££ from the council I opted for 5-spoke Alutec Grip 16-inch 6.5J (ie matching official Toyota size) from Performance Alloys https://www.performancealloys.com/ who were extremely helpful in ensuring that the wheels did indeed fit (including the offset, the 'ET' value), their prices are good and tech support was rapid and helpful. Either they or Alutec also included the correct wheels bolts (as well as centering rings): Toyota use flat washer type nuts, most alloys have 60-degree head angle nuts, so reusing Toyota nuts isn't possible. Also meant that I needed to buy a set of locking wheel nuts, my local Halfords sold me McGard 24212SU nuts (Performance Alloys also sell them) Since I was visiting Reading, I got the work done there (JustTyres). They were happy to swap the TPMS valves to the new rims, I opted for Goodyear Vector 4-seasons Gen3 based on price, availability, reviews. I can confirm that with a bit of care, the original wheels/tyres will indeed fit in the back of the YC, seats down of course. Re-tracing my route home, the difference in ride was very, very noticeable - the 'balloon' tyres really take the edge off the scarred roads. Bonus is the (expected) significant reduction in road noise and the filtering out of the 'buzz' from the road texture - even SWMBO noticed the change (!). No discernible fuel economy penalty, stats so far suggest a slight improvement, but that could be spurious. Really very pleased with the outcome The original wheels/tyres are now happy and warm in my garage. As with a previous car, when I sell, I'll put the originals back on (of course) and sell the 3rd-party wheels/tyres, that was very successful last time and someone in the wilds of Scotland is the proud owner of some Borbet wheels with Michelin CC+ on them Here are some photos: if you think the new wheels/tyres are fugly, I respect that, but I don't care - I have the aesthetic sensitivity of a !Removed! stormtrooper (and also the appearance, according to SWMBO, harsh but fair). When I took the car to the dealer to have a Noco lead attached to the 12V battery, both the salesperson and technician nodded approvingly, the latter said "Yeah mate, roads round here, you need all the rubber you can get". Indeed My time in the EU and elsewhere tells me that big wheels with low-profile tyres are a much more common affectation in the UK, despite their roads (generally) being in a lot better condition than ours

This is 'Celia' Loving her so far, she's had a run up to my parents and then came home through my local town.

Almost all 12v car batteries are lead acid; Even AGM ones are and can also give off hydrogen gas if they are e.g. overcharged, which is why Toyota put vent tube in ones that live inside the car, to vent it outside (Which seems a bit overkill, as the battery would have to be charged so hard it's practically on fire to generate enough hydrogen to be even a slight danger to passengers, but people do seem to get very paranoid about such things!) The only reason AGM is used is it's safer to handle - They don't mind being upside down and won't leak sulphuric acid everywhere, unlike normal flooded batteries. Even if the casing is breached, there is so little acid it will just smoke a bit rather than spill its guts out on everything. (This probably goes without saying but if you do see a smoking lead acid battery, get away from it - That 'smoke' is probably sulphuric acid reacting with the water in the air, and you really don't want to breathe that in! )

Finally, have mine. 11 months after order at dealer.

It was finally delivered yesterday afternoon, then looking for an excuse to drive it I popped out to pick up some horse feed only to bump into and have a catchup with Richard Johnson the famous jockey. While he could boast around 20 bags into his enormous Audi Q8, I realised I had brought the wrong car 😂 squeezing only 2 bags into the tiny boot of the Yaris. But who cares, I didn’t buy it for load lugging. I enjoyed the short 4.8 mile journey, drives better than I can remember and according to the app was doing 82.9mpg. It’s filthy dirty already, perhaps white wasn’t the best colour 😊

It's finally here! And well worth the wait. I'm really impressed. Was a bit worried as to how it would be on the motorway after the last couple of cars I've had being big diesel Mercs, but it's absolutely fine. It almost drives itself with adaptive cruise and lane trace switched on. Averages 55-60 mpg without even trying. Great purchase 🤑

Since joining the forum and collecting my Yaris Cross Design in December 2022, I promised that I would submit a 6 month review on my ownership experiences in June 2023. Well, for various reasons I have not had the chance to do so and now that I’m confined to the house over the next few days on doctors orders, this would be an opportune time to do so. As my loyalty to VW/Audi came to an end because neither company had a smallish self charging hybrid in their range that would suit my individual needs, I was drawn to the Yaris Cross Design with it’s good looks and having the famous Toyota reliability badge of honour and excellent customer reviews. Here’s what I found. The Design model was my choice as it had a range of features and equipment that I was generally looking for. The car’s appearance and exterior design is very sleek, modern and has a real purposeful look about it. The interior is well thought out and the ergonomics of the dash area really impresses me. The cabin is light, spacious for the driver and front seat passengers but it can get a little cramped for rear seat passengers on the odd occasion that I have transported them. For me, the drivers seat lacks sufficient support on the left lateral cushion but my wife has no problems with it. Other than that, the interior is a very pleasant environment with excellent all round vision and it’s as good as any car that I’ve driven. Boot space is more than sufficient for my needs and there’s nothing more than I can add to this. I thought that moving from cars with DSG gearboxes to an ECVT system might be a bit of a challenge never really arose. The Yaris box really is good but I know some people who poo poo it as they still compare it to the old 70s Daf cars with the big rubber bands in the engine bay. One of my neighbours has now been enlightened and ordered a Yaris Cross Design model over the weekend. The 1.5 engine has plenty of oomph and I’ve never felt it lacking in power or stamina over the very hilly area where I reside. It’s not the quietist of engines but the radio has a handy little volume button to address this phenomenon. Surprisingly, despite it’s relatively tall stance, the Yaris is more than capable of remaining stable and sure footed with very little body roll over the country roads surrounding me. Some folk on the forum have raised issues relating to the battery losing it’s charge but I’ve never experienced this. In fact, I left my car exposed to the horrible Scottish weather for a six week period in January/February while I was visiting my daughter in Australia. Despite strict instructions to my youngest son to put the car into READY mode every week, he felt that a one off “boost” would be sufficient. Turns out he was correct as the car started first time on my return. However, the brake discs were covered in rust which required a slow drive with my left foot on the brake pedal while accelerating on a quiet road nearby. Worked a treat and brought the discs back to showroom condition. I’m off to Australia again in November but this time I’ll be there for 3 months and I’m a little more apprehensive and doubtful whether my previous actions will be sufficient to keep the battery in a useable condition. I’d be more than happy to receive any advice on this matter. My Yaris is parked in a residents car park which is nearly always in shadow. Where this car really excels is it’s incredible fuel consumption. My last 3 fuel top ups have shown over 70 mpg on every occasion. It really is amazing when you consider that most of my journeys are quite short in a semi rural environment. On the odd occasion that I’ve ventured onto motorways fuel consumption does suffer once you reach the 70mph limit so I’m wondering if it’s the best car for this type of driving. Nevertheless, the Yaris Cross has been an excellent purchase for me and I now nominate it as the best car I’ve owned so far.

Just picked it up but cannot drive it because I have a back problem at the moment like the seats drive s well and smooth

Most on here in ten years will have an EV of sorts 😉 I can see the small EV market is going to be swamped in 5-10 years there are only a few on the market that are mainly all based on the PSA platform

Whether it’s a factory fault or transit damage, it’s completely unacceptable to hand this over to a customer as a finished product.

Hi Bob, I was thinking of posting "1 month in with my new YC" so your Q has prompted this My car is a YC Excel AWD. On the supplied 18-inch wheels and summer tyres, I did find the road noise a bit excessive and the car thumped badly over the local appalling roads' potholes and other imperfections. I changed the 18-inch wheels to 16-inch with all-season tyres and now the bump absorption is much improved, with a significant reduction in road noise as an (expected) bonus -see The overall ride (ie a function of the suspension, not tyres/wheels) is on the firmer side but is pretty good considering the size of the car and it's adequately comfortable even on our appalling roads. It also handles very well, and has light steering and is easy to manoeuvre in towns and car parks. The engine is a bit loud and vibratory when cold at certain rpm, but once cruising it's pretty quiet, acceptably smooth, no complaints: like many cars, wind and road noise dominate at higher speeds anyway. Sound from the standard infotainment system is decent, I've heard better but also far worse. DAB reception is surprisingly good - I sometimes drive in areas where the signal strength is weak, and the YC copes very well Economy - pointless for me to quote mpg because where, when and how I drive might be very different to you. But so far I'm seriously impressed, oh yes Interior storage could be better, but there are worse cars. I like the shelf under the infotainment screen, perfect for my phone, with a suitably short USB lead to connect to car I totally love the CVT gearbox - a previous car was a Skoda with VW's 'famed' DSG box, and it was lumpy at low speed, especially when cold, and at times unpredictable. The seamless, smooth CVT YC box is lovely, given my driving style and where I drive Seats - totally fine for me, but seat comfort is hugely personal. Love the overall driving position and SWMBO is very appreciative of the height-adjustable passenger seat (are you listening Honda?). The variable lumbar support also works well. Seat heating is easy, and wonderful dials for climate control! (unlike my VW 'main car' which is a BEV). Easy to fold mirrors in when required, indeed, mostly very intuitive controls Boot size is good, and lordy, wonderful, a 12V socket in the boot! Easy(ish) to remove the load cover, not yet tried the folding trick. Headlights are excellent, not up to matrix lights on our BEV, but a nice sharp cutoff and level beam, so looks like beam deflectors won't be needed for driving in the wonderful, prosperous EU I need a towbar for my bike carrier, and the YC's factory fitted one is, so far, proving to be very good (a separate review coming 'soon', I'll post photos) Niggles? The auto main beam switch...er.... what substances were they taking when they decided to put it down by the driver's right knee? Next to the switch for the heated steering wheel? Really? Auto dim-dip works as well as any car I've tried, ie better than most inattentive drivers, not as well as someone who's paying attention So, overall, yes, car meets our needs, refinement is up to expectation for the size and cost of vehicle. Acid test: if it got stolen or written off.... I'd almost certainly have another one

Perhaps best to do to find out how Honda hybrids drive is to book a test drive and see if you like it or not, you can do your comparison in person and you can share with us later. Auto journalists already started to like Honda more , but they never liked Toyota hybrids anyway. 👍 For me Honda hybrids are fake cars. If you want a simulator car then they are ok. I like Toyota hybrids for what they are and how they drive. I don’t want something that is a modern car but actually faked the old technology and produce fake noises and simulated gear changes. Why would you take that over something completely different, smooth, quiet, relaxed and reliable. Also any other hybrids to date including latest from all manufacturers are more complex than their petrol or diesel equivalents , so full stop for me. Toyota hybrids and the Electric cars are taking over because of simplicity, reliability, comfort, ease of drive, minimal maintenance etc. You want some gears and f..rts there are golf R, Audi s3 , bmw s plenty, and they will do much better job for what they had been made. 👌

I've just installed a small bear trap type device. Used for large rodents. Have put two under each wheel arch screwed down and one behind each headlight. I've added a paste made from Death Cap mushrooms and giant centipede venom. Seems like a reasonable quid pro quo.

No its a Hybrid, it uses petrol and batteries as a power source 🙃

Little update here. The car has successfully reached 250000 miles with very few parts replaced over than the regular service. However since last week there are faults discovered - front L stabiliser bar link is shoot and rubber bushes are ready for replacement, the front L wheel bearing also developed bad rumbling noise and most likely both hubs will go together with all fluids and oils sometimes next week or week after. It will be a big job, either a day in a garage or two days on the driveway, we will see what I can do first myself. Nothing last forever, but this car did exceptionally well. No Toyota stickers for the mileage this time, next reward sticker is at 300000 miles and this is what I am after.

No we don't. The Club is largely managed/moderated by volunteers - currently a team of two, including myself. As we have other parts of our lives to lead, we certainly don't have the time or inclination to change how the Club operates, or devote more resource to managing media contacts, etc. I also don't think the vast majority of members want the Club to move away from a quite informal place, where members can seek and give advice to others.

To understand the principle difference between disc brakes and drum brakes in terms of why they are favoured these days, you need to understand the physics of it. It is about the relationship between friction and output. I could sit and draw it but I’ll try to explain. Due to weight transfer, the front brakes need to take on more work because between 60 and 70% of the work is done by the front. You can do it with drum brakes by having bigger on the front than the back or just piston sizes of the wheel cylinders. Drum brakes have a self servo action, in other words the shoes try to wrap around with the rotating drum and this can be used to advantage and increase output. However, there is a big disadvantage. The variable is the friction level for the brake lining which can be very high when cold or very low when hot because they fade with high temperature (the surfaces get lubricated with the oil based resin they are made from). To summarise, drum brakes are very badly effected by relatively small changes in friction. They do make a good parking brake because a little old lady doesn’t need to pull that hard because they self wrap like throwing a wedge under a door. Now think about disc brakes. They do not have a self servo action, the output is determined purely by the nature of the pad and disc and how hard you push them together. They have a very linear output and they are not effected by the same changes in friction that a drum brake does. Now you have to think about modern car braking requirements - trust me, they are extremely tough and it would take a while to type out a typical test procedure. The drum brakes are no longer capable of meeting front axle braking requirements. They won’t really meet the requirements for rear axles on higher powered, heavier cars - they have discs all round. You could use them all round on milk floats etc but not on the front of even modest cars so Aygo’s etc have discs on the front. Sure (brakes by the way ;-)). If we consider a normal healthy working brake rather than corrosion first. Disc brakes tend to operate in the range of about 100 to 500 degC. They will go much higher and work quite well at about 600 or 700 at which time the discs will glow orange but you start to get problems with the bond layer (the adhesive that glues them to the backplate) and the rubber parts on the slide pins don’t fair well either. So take 100 to about 350 as very typical and at these temperatures the pads work well with the disc. The pad is made from abrasives like silica and lubricants like carbon and together they provide stable friction through that temperature range. The pad is fitted together with a fibre - usually steel in all our cars but higher end might use ceramics. Ceramic probably isn’t what you think - they extrude fibres and then make the equivalent of the steel wool in our common or garden pads. You can do the same with carbon fibre and kevlar but while these posh fibres are strong when hot, they are very expensive. All pads are moulded together by some sort of oil based resin - that’s what stinks and smokes when hot. Under normal operation, the step based pads we use get hot enough to burn away the resin and constantly present the abrasives to the disc, as they wear they regenerate. Now come your bit. If they don’t get much use as in light braking or very low duty, they won’t wear away that resin and they stop wearing out. The resin no longer gets worn away and the abrasives tend to get lost in a polished surface that gets clogged with wear debris. You hear it called glazing but that is the next very extreme stage where the surface literally gets polished like a glass surface. That is the “ordinary” low use effect. Now a disc brake or a drum brake for that matter is like any other machine, if you put it in grubby environment with little use it will size up just like an old farm gate that never gets opened. On top of that you get a lot of corrosion if moisture is present and now you can get a compounded effect of low friction, corroded surfaces and seizing up moving parts. The end result is inevitable. The bottom line is, you design it to work for the majority at 100 to 350 and if you take it high you burn away that resin and wear them out quick. If you use them very light duty they shut down. If you use them as intended they work fine, the surfaces remain bright and the parts don’t seize.

Today was the day for an oil change. At 236859 almost 9000 miles traveled since the last service and the oil look ok but also a bit on the darker side, there is an engine flush in too. I will use this in every oil service from now on as the car is older and on higher side of the odometer. Pretty much everything else spot on, suspension rock solid including all bushes, shocks, ball joints , apart from been covered in nasty salt from the roads nothing else to report. Brake discs are obviously rusty, they will get attention next month with tyre rotating. There is some rust on other metal parts including lower radiator hose clips, but they still hold fine., in general very good 👍 Tyres tread measured is 7mm on all 4 after 11000 miles done, so average tyre wear 1mm per 10k miles👌

He should have taken the money and run. I’d rather have an illness than an Evoque.

To be fair £645 for a RR is not enough, it will be on the back of a recovery truck on a daily basis

Collected ours this morning. 🙂 Super happy with it. It's a great looking thing and drives better than I remember.

Have you asked the baboons for thier insurance details?

Today Toyota confirmed MY22 production is now fully allocated and as such order books for MY22 are closed with immediate affect. Order books & Pricing for MY23 go live 18th August. 2 new colours, Juniper blue & Decuma grey New line up looses Icon Tech however Icon now uplifts in spec: Icon: New design 16 " Alloy wheels Led headlights ( low ) Front fog lights Dual auto AC Reverse camera Heated wing mirrors Heated fabric seats with lumbar New for MY23 12.3" Digital combi meter ( Instrument cluster ) MM21 T2 Smart connect navigation with 10.5" screen with Over the air updates Wireless phone charger TSS3 Fr & Rear parking sensors with ICS Upgraded remote MYT services including Climate control, lock/unlock. Hazard light control & over the air updates Design: in addition to Icon 17" machined face alloys LED headlights ( High ) Rear privacy glass Mid+ Trim updates ( your guess is as good as mine ) Auto fold mirrors & Auto wipers Smart entry & Ambient lighting Electro chromatic rear view mirror Optional panoramic roof New for MY23 12.3" Digital combi meter ( Instrument cluster ) MM21 T2 Smart connect navigation with 10.5" screen with Over the air updates Wireless phone charger TSS3 Upgraded remote MYT services including Climate control, lock/unlock. Hazard light control & over the air updates Excel: in addition to Design 18" machined face alloy wheels Heated leather sports seats Power lumbar support Rear AC ( I suspect this is just additional vents not 3 zone AC ) Power back door TS only Optional Pano roof & Bitone New for MY23 12.3" Digital combi meter ( Instrument cluster ) Heads up display Blind spot monitor & rear cross traffic alert Adaptive head lights MM21 T2 Smart connect navigation with 10.5" screen with Over the air updates Wireless phone charger TSS3 Upgraded remote MYT services including Climate control, lock/unlock. Hazard light control & over the air updates GR Sport: in addition to Design 18" GR sport alloy wheels GR sport interior & exterior styling GR sports seats with part leather bolsters Optional Bitone New for MY23 12.3" Digital combi meter ( Instrument cluster ) MM21 T2 Smart connect navigation with 10.5" screen with Over the air updates Wireless phone charger TSS3 Upgraded remote MYT services including Climate control, lock/unlock. Hazard light control & over the air updates note Toyota have just altered their bulletin to show GR sport is based from Design not Excel 23/08/2022 Another note as it is based on Design trim GR Sport looses Heads up display for MY23

The problem is now that a new tailgate is only as good as the paintwork and the person that fits it. I’ve seen ballsups like that before on a new car and most of them would go unnoticed which is annoying too. That’s the problem in getting cheap semi skilled people to do the mundane jobs. You pay peanuts, you get monkeys. Inspect your new hatch very carefully. It should be rust treated on the inside and the paint should not just match in colour but finish. To be honest I’d keep that one but treat those holes with paint or rust preventative. You want your first three services free.

Glad to say that I got the refund + delivery fee for the car this week. Big relief and also the other car that I bought has been good so far. Hope everyone are having a good week :)

I always quite liked the Mk1 too. Started off my Yaris obsession as it had so many things that no other car did that just made sense to me. I had a diesel one and it was one of the funnest cars I've had - Only the japanese could make a high-revving variable turbo diesel engine with a short-shift gearbox - All that torque in a car that weighed less than a ton made it hilarious to drive anywhere The Mk1s will be tricky to find in good condition now, as they are very prone to rusting in their old age, esp. the front and rear subframes. I do see some good ones around, but most have dents, odd wheels etc. They just don't command enough money to be worth repairing for most people. The exception is maybe T-Sports that are owned by enthusiasts who actually look after them, but they usually hang onto them so they're very rare and you have to have very good luck and timing to catch one when it goes on sale! The Mk2 isn't too bad but it has this squashed been-in-a-front-end-collision look to it that I didn't like, but I have to say it easily has the best interior of the 4 generations of Yaris - The amount of internal storage bins is just ludicrous, and despite being the 2nd smallest Yaris it has the most interior passenger space, in no small thanks to the awesome rear seats, which have the most flexible setup of any of the 4 - 40/60 folding and independent sliding, tilt and fold down with a cantilever mechanism that moves the base down and forward too - The only cars with seats anywhere near that flexible are usually only in MPVs! The Mk3 was the 'safest' - I never liked it much because it threw out all the things that drew me to the Yaris (Digital dashboard, sliding seats, excessive internal storage etc. - All gone ), as Toyota tried to make it appeal to a wider audience. I think they succeeded there, as it doesn't have any weird stuff like having a floating dashboard in the middle of the dash, which put some people off the Mk1 and Mk2, but in doing so it lost a lot of Yarisy character. While it is definitely the most generic of the four, it's still a solid and dependable car, and the cheapest way to get a hybrid one. It also has a fixed version of the 1.33L engine, and later ones even get the 1.5L engine which is, I think, one of the first engines they put into mass production that could switch between the Atkinson/Miller-cycle used in the hybrids, and the Otto-cycle used in all normal petrol cars. In a way, it's a precursor to the one in the Mk4 hybrid... Now, the new Mk4 is a big departure from previous Toyota design and just has the most incredibly angry-looking front of any of their cars that I can think of. I think it looks pretty badass, and am surprised most of the drivers I see in them are still the same old granny-types the other 3 had. You'd think they'd have flocked to the Jazz Hybrid and more hooligans would be driving this, but it might be because it's so ungody expensive and the hooligans can't afford them... The interior is... okay; More storage than the Mk3 but far less than the Mk1 and 2. Has the most cramped and awkward to get into rear passenger space of the four, but if you'rein the front you're fine. They've tried to make the materials seem more premium, but you can tell they are just your normal hardwearing jappy car plastics and board; They'll last but they'll never feel quality like e.g. german cars. The visibility is easily the worst of the 4 - The low roof line means the mirror is in the way, the A-pillars are in the way so spotting pedestrians and even on-coming trucks on roundabouts is not always guaranteed, and thanks smeg the reversing camera comes as standard as the rear visibility is so bad you'll wonder why they bothered putting in a rear window - There is literally more B and C pillar visible than there is glass, from the driver's seat! So it has a lot of compromises and shortcomings. But once you're driving you won't care about any of that - There are two things that makes the Mk4 shine. One is the new platform it's built on; The previous ones were known for their roly poly handling which, while hilarious, was not very confidence inspiring. They tried to fix it in earlier Mk3s with stiffer springs and ARBs, but that just made the ride horrible so they softened it again in later ones (Or so the Mk3 owners tell me!). In the Mk4 tho', they designed handling into it from the ground up - The car is an absolute joy to drive and just feels so much more fun compared to the others and I can't articulate why. You can feel what the car is doing through the seat, as the chassis is much stiffer than in the previous models, and you can chuck it round corners like you can an Aygo, laughing your head off at how stupidly fun to drive it is (It's a Yaris forsmegssake!), but it's still somehow well damped and does a pretty good job of absorbing bumps without being all roly poly. Clearly they got some better suspension engineers in this time to balance everything, and they did a good job! The other thing is the drive train - They fixed everything that was wrong with their hybrid drive train, and now it absolutely *hauls*. It has near-instant response to the accelerator pedal and will just go whenever you demand beans from it. Very few cars will beat it off the line, it's so responsive, and while e.g. the Aygo has surprisingly good launch, it tops out pretty quickly, while the new drivetrain in the Mk4 will just keep hauling until you let go of the accelerator. It's still noisy as heck if you pin the accelerator, but now you get some action to go with the noise. Won't be for everyone, as it's a lot more raucous than the buttery-smooth 4-cylinders, but as a former diesel person I feel right at home The absolute best thing is it's genuinely efficient - You don't have to drive efficiently to get good mpg, it just *is* efficient. I can drive like a jackass and still get a tank average mpg in the mid-high 70's with no effort. If I'm being more disciplined, I can get it into the low 80's! (Indicated; My calculated figures are around 7% down on average, but that's still darn good!) It's by no means a perfect car as it has a lot of... questionable... design choices (Like, would it have killed them to make the rear doors open wider??), but it feels like they stuffed almost all the R&D money into the chassis and drivetrain, and that suits me just fine What? You didn't want a dissertation on the history of Yarisuesisueuees, just want to know what one was reliable? Err... well TBH they're all pretty reliable, esp. if they're looked after and get regular servicing (The achilles heel of most Toyotas is oil changes - Skimp on those and the engine won't be long for this world, but give them regular quality oil changes and the engine will likely outlive the rest of the car!) The ones to avoid are mainly the Mk2s with the 1.33L engine - The 1.3L engine was the same bulletproof unit from the Mk1, but in 2009 they put in a new engine. Sounded great on paper - 0.03 extra displacement (Wooow so much powerrr), £30 to tax (Over £100 less than the old one!), dual VVTi (Now the Exhaust gets VVTi too!), 100HP (30+ over the old one!), but it has a terminal flaw - They used weaker piston rings to reduce friction losses, but this also reduced their ability to do what they were for, and as they aged allowed combustion gasses past and didn't wipe the oil off the bores, so they were prone to burning increasingly large amounts of oil - I experienced this first hand, with it needing a litre a month before I PX'd it, and would advise against a 1.33 Mk2 from 2009 onward unless the paperwork shows it had the dealer fixes done. The other engines are fine (Even the 1.8SR if you can find one ), and the 2008 and earlier ones with the old 1.3L engine were generally fine too. The Mk1s were the rustiest ones, the Mk2s less so, although as always check underneath. The Mk3 seems to have done quite well as I don't hear many rust complaints about that. The Mk4's too new, although there are 2 semi-common gripes that have popped up on this forum - Early ones can get a Hybrid System Malfunction, which apparently is due to them not tightening the damper plate enough and it slipping under specific conditions. It's scary but not actually a big problem - Mine's done this once, and I was still able to drive at 70mph with no noticeable issues. Annoyingly, despite my best efforts I haven't been able to make it do it again (I kinda want to, as there is a fix for it under warranty, but they won't do it unless they see the error! OTOH I'm kinda glad, as it's a very invasive fix, and engines are never the same again when they get taken apart like that, so if I never see it again, even better!). The other is the 12v battery draining out; I still don't really understand why the Mk4 hybrid seems more prone to this than other Toyotas; It seems to be a mix of a bad batch of batteries (Possibly due to being left to drain during the pandemic - This causes permanent capacity loss with car batteries, and just draining to 0% a few times and left there for a bit is enough to wreck most car batteries), and people not using the car enough (Hybrids don't have alternators, so you can't take them on a run to charge the battery; They just need to be left on for long enough so the DC-DC converter has enough time to stuff power into it. Toyota advise 30 minutes minimum.). I drive mine a lot so I haven't experienced this problem, and I don't expect to until the battery reaches the end of its normal service life. If you made it this far, congratulations! Hopefully your eyes aren't bleeding too much.

Just completed a 1400-mile trip in the EU in the Yaris Cross Excel AWD, visiting France, Germany and Belgium. For the TL:DR folk, my fuel consumption averaged 71 mpg and I remain very impressed with the car The journey was a (kind of) circular route, including Amiens, Evreux, Paris, Dijon, Strasbourg, Cologne and Leuven, using motorways when possible (toll and free, I have a toll tag to make life even easier at the French toll booths). The roads encountered in the EU were pretty much pristine, except for a very few imperfections in the some of the smaller Belgian villages/towns. The very smooth surfaces pretty much eliminated road noise, so one discovery was that the YC - at the speeds I was driving, 95-100 km/hr on the motorways - doesn't have too much wind noise: what I thought was wind noise in the UK was actually the higher harmonics of road noise.... With essentially no road noise, it was far easier to judge engine noise - or lack of. Sure, on some of the steeper gradients, the engine is vocal and a bit vibratory (wonder what difference the balancer shaft would make, as fitted to the new Lexus equivalent?) but that was rare: even when the engine is working, it's pretty quiet, and indeed on the flat and cruising at, say, 50-80 km/hr, the engine is barely audible. Driving on the EU 'back roads' is a very pleasant experience, with their super-smooth surfaces and low traffic density. So the suspension - for small-bump absorption - didn't get much of a test The temperature was fairly brutal for the trip, 31-32C, and the YC's air-con coped OK (previous Yaris Mk3 really struggled above 25C) although the central vent placement isn't ideal and takes some experimentation to get the best 'aim'. Got to really appreciate the electric boot open/close, more than I thought I would, especially the 'close and lock' button. The boot's 12V socket, a 'must have' for us, was used every driving day for a travel fridge. Since there were not going to be any rear-seat passengers, I removed the rear headrests prior to the journey, which improves rear visibility noticeably. The overall visibility, especially with the lovely large door mirrors, is very good, and the tight turning circle and car's compact dimensions proved invaluable in some of the older car parks with tight access Fuel consumption: 71 mpg for the entire 1400-mile trip. The trip was kind of an experiment - we need 2 cars in the family and the other car is an EV, charged at home. Yes, the EV is overall quieter, but once up to speed, the difference isn't huge. And with rapid chargers typically 70p per kWh, the YC was about half the 'fuel cost' of the EV. Charging in the EU though is generally much less problematic than the UK's unregulated pile of poo charging infrastructure, which is especially lacking on motorway services Whilst in the EU I tried some E5 petrol (not much of a price increase) to see if I could tell the difference. I might try and convince myself that the engine was slightly smoother and quieter, but it might be placebo effect, and can't comment on any fuel consumption change, since I don't have a valid control experiment Yes, overall, was very pleased with the car and although we'll probably revert to the EV on the next EU trip, if for any reason we had to use the YC, it wouldn't be a problem

Road trip to Edinburgh - Conclusions Conclusions, what have we learned: The bZ4X is a fantastic car, the seats are by far the most relaxing on a long drive we've ever done. It is quiet, and the road holding is superb. The mirrors give brilliant visibility on the motorway. You feel instinctively safe driving this car during day and night. The range is absolutely fine, we stopped more times than we needed to charge ! Just be careful when estimated range is low, it seems to drop faster then, no idea why. Other EV drivers are very nice people and will often help you ! BUT the infrastructure for charging seems to us dreadful. We consider ourselves very lucky, it could have been a lot worse, we almost got stranded ! This is no fault of the bZ4X. We have this crazy situation were certain chargers will only work with an app, other take a normal payment card. Chargers located where there is no phone signal , insane ! Many are broken, we saw loads of chargers on Zap Map with a status if 'out of service' in RED, some for weeks at a time. Others it seems have NEVER worked ever, you can't make this stuff up. Right now we EV drivers are by far the small monority of vehicles on the road. You really notice that when you get out of town. A major motorway service station having two chargers is surely ludicrous ? Even a modest increase in EV's on the road and the exisiting charging network will absolutely not be able to cope, 2030 realistic ? Not a chance at it stands now. If anyone asked us about getting an EV, the answer, for now, is yes but only, and only if you have a home charger.

Hi everyone, I had some work done on the car over the last two days. I gave the lady a good wash including the door shuts and engine bay. It wasn’t that dirty, however I do like to do that once a year to clean the salt and grit accumulated during the winter months. Nothing fancy really, just simple cleaning with tfr, pre wash snow foam and car shampoo, jet wash and dry. With the car nice and clean now there are a lots of visual signs of being on the older side. There are tons of stone chips all over, rust here and there , paint peeling off even on the rear hatch door shut, that was a surprise to me to discover. I had a quote for re spray the doors both for £500 and probably would have done it but after cleaning and seen it all the paint issues I don’t think is viable to spend money on paint. Will carry on with vinyl wrap and save for a new car in near future. Now update on the tyres: after 17500 miles I rotated them as per the book diagonally, measured fronts were at 6mm where rears at 7mm. Wheels are still ok with some stone chips too, but not bad for 100k miles covered. The car also had received its new rear brake discs and pads, new slider pins , fronts are still good , just got them cleaned and lubed. Well that’s pretty much all the work I have done. Egr system will be next, hopefully in the upcoming weeks. Here some photos.

The threads for battery problems and rusty brake discs for the Yaris Cross have generated a lot of interest with forum members and some of the exchanges have been quite lively and robust. I have a very basic understanding of how cars work but the hybrid system is completely new to me and now wish to share my experiences and observations on the subjects. Some of you may be aware that I spent the last 5 weeks in Australia while my Yaris Cross was parked outside my home exposed to snow, sleet, rain, wind and sub zero temperatures. Prior to going on holiday I arranged for my son to put the car into ready mode a couple of weeks apart but he only managed to do it on one occasion. On my return home I did a walk round the car and carried out a visual check to see if there were any problems. Immediately my attention was drawn to the amount of surface rust which had accumulated on all four brake discs. My previous 2 cars were prone to surface rust on the discs but this was the heaviest deposit I have ever seen. However, this the longest time I have ever left a car exposed to extreme weather. On starting the car, the engine went immediately into ready mode and there were no warning lights illuminated or any problems identified. Moving off, there was a loud rasping noise but the brakes weren’t seized or causing any issues. Once I got onto a very quiet country road I increased the speed and very lightly applied my left foot to the brake at the same time. I continued to do this for some time and eventually the rasping noise disappeared. Continued to drive for over 20 miles with occasionally applying my left foot to the foot brake while still accelerating. I find this is the best way to remove any rust rather than slamming on the anchors at speed. Wish I had taken some before and after photos of the discs as they were nice and shiny again on returning home. When I bought my Yaris Cross, nobody at the dealership gave me any information about the need to put the car into ready mode if it was going to be left for extended periods. It is only through this excellent forum that I found out about the procedure and I thank all the members who have contributed on the subject. Hope my comments help others who have doubts about about battery reliability and rusty brake discs but I can only say that in my case, the Yaris Cross is an excellent car and have complete confidence in it’s reliability. Cheers

Indeed. One of the the reasons to keep my current old car for as long as possible was to see and test how far can it survive. We own the car since 2015 , bought just before became 5 years old at 42k miles. First 3 years of ownership was in little use as a second car, mostly short school runs. Then I took over in 2018 at 60k miles. I thought, if I keep driving it until reaches 10 years old and been trouble free will mean that if I buy a brand new one afterwards even with my daily crazy mileage it will be good for at least 10 years. Mission accomplished. The car has reached successfully the set target of 10 years of service pretty much trouble free even past this threshold and continue to serve me well to date. So far been the best car for me. The longest I owned, the highest miles on a single car, and last but not least the most reliable. Well done Toyota. Built in UK, tested around the world 🌎 🛣👌

Apparently Paul those mechanics went on to become senior advisors to the government for the last 12 years on how to run a efficient health service, low cost energy, low food prices, and an efficient and low cost transport system.😂

Footwell light is genuinely useful and ambient lighting is 'nice'. However, unless it's factory installed / option, I would not bother. You really want it to be just right, not too bright, not flicker, adjust the colour, and fully automatic. For this to work, it needs to be connected so you can adjust it from the onboard screen, automatically adjust to lighting conditions, sync with interior ceiling lights, instrument lighting and so on. Maybe I show my age, and maybe if you are young, like programming, have plenty of time on your hands, and up for a good challenge. I'm afraid I've passed that stage, it should just work and look good... now, where are my slippers?

Here you are then - the 1966 Toyota Corolla:

While walking from the car to the supermarket yesterday I passed the 4 charging stations that they have. All 4 were in use and it made me wonder... If I had an electrickery car and had turned up wanting or expecting to be able to charge up, just how long would I have to wait? The owners could be in the supermarket doing a full weekly shop. They could then pop into the coffee shop for some refreshment and may even decide to have a look in the adjacent M&S. It could easily be a couple of hours, plus my own charge time. I have better things to do with my life than spend it waiting for chargers to become free.

For more accurate and more precise check and adjust you can use bars and stay within the spec shown on the door label with very little discrepancy up or down. For your car is 2.2 bar front and 2.1 bar rear. Please note that these are numbers on cold tyres and at ambient air temperature (15-24C°). Anything outside those temperatures will off set the pressures and you will need to adjust accordingly. For example in the summer when is hot over 18+C° You can add a bit more air like 2.25 / 2.15 bar. However in cold weather like at the moment best to stick to max shown on the door label or just a bit below or bit above like 2.18 / 2.08 bar or 2.21 / 2.11 bar., all that to accommodate the harder rubber due to the low temperatures. Also try each way and see how the car drives, if too hard, lower the pressures a bit , if too soft pump up a bit. All adjustments needs to be done at least 30-60min after initial drive and not immediately afterwards as tyres warms up and pressure can be very different. https://www.wheel-size.com/size/toyota/corolla/2020/ Regards

We have a method of avoiding this type of theft in our house. When my wife gets a new car she quickly sets about ensuring that all of the trim, bumpers and panels are covered in an increasing number of scratches, dings and scrapes. I then add to the mix with my ham-fisted attempts with touchup paint, thereby guaranteeing that no thief in their right mind would ever take any parts off our cars..

You might find that, like many Baboons on the road today, they have no insurance 😁

General Impressions One week of commuting. 20 miles each way. Approx. a third highway (60-70mph), a third cross country single lane (40-60mph) and a third city (20-30mph) I average 3.5m per KW for Europeans equates to 17.75 kw / 100km. Which I understand is a very good result. Tuning on the AC (22 degrees) reduces the average to 3.4m per KW Space, space, space. I am 7ft tall (2.12m) and I am sitting and driving very comfortable. Getting in an out is a slight squeeze, getting my inside leg under the steering wheel when there isn’t a lot of space to fully open the door. My wife is 6ft and feels like she is sitting in first class on a plane. And that is with my daughter (6 years old) sitting behind her in a booster seat and she is also loving the space. No feet touching the seat in front at all. Visibility. People have asked whether I am bothered that the car has no rear windshield wiper and short answer is no. I’ve had 2 days of driving in the rain and I never bothered me or noticed it negatively. Its worth saying that the car has very good and large side mirrors which is likely a reason I haven’t noticed. Worth noting that the large mirrors add a bit of noise when driving on the motorway. General visibility is also really good. Instrument cluster / want to be “HUD”, as tall person I had zero issues with the steering wheel blocking my wife. Also works without issues for my wife (6ft), but I think arm length also plays into it. Definitely test drive it and see if it suits you. Its worth noting that when using native navigation the “HUD” also displays direction, but not when using 3rd party like ABRP or Google maps via Android Auto or Apple Car. I got the FWD version and even in this version the available power is silly. Whether is accelerating from standstill or overtaking or moving onto the motorway. The car feels like and moves so much quicker than it size / weight and listed horsepower suggests. Its probably worth noting I am a very chilled driver, a “cruiser” – I cant say it enough this car is an absolute joy to drive, cruising or going fast Software seems to be the weak point compared to competitors. The lack of route charge planning is the obvious one, but does not bother me much. I’ll probably need 1-3 times a year and for those times ill use a 3rd party app. Also needs noting that almost all legacy car manufacturers were or are missing this feature in their software package. But, some obvious functionality seems missing, see below (to note I may simply have NOT found the function). I would expect Toyota to back fill these features in due time. See cold weather management update that was recently released There is no clear digital visualization of the current state of charge. You have the bar in the HUD which is fine, but nothing seems to display the exact value, i.e. 51%. Your phone app will display it, but really? When charging I cant see anywhere in the app or car how fast, how much etc. App tells me current SOC and time to charge to full. But, the app sync can be a bit hit or miss. I would say works correctly 8 out of 10 times. Scheduling works fine, but for I cant seem to set a limit, i.e. charge to 70%. Some dislikes My single biggest issue - the car beeps on the inside every time the car is in reverse and as long as its in reverse. WTF. Apparently, the dealer can change that, ill need to look into that. Android auto is only available via wired connection. In and by itself not an issue, but you can only connect via the USB port in the wireless charging area in the middle console. The phone is not recognized if you use any of the available USB C connectors. Again not an issue, unless your phone is bigger. I have a OnePlus 5T which comes with a 6” screen and even with a cable with angled connectors I cant get the phone in there and close the lid. A bit annoying. Any questions, just "shout"

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For older cars I agree, but once catalytic converter theft is a known issue as it has been for some years now, it seems reasonable to expect car manufacturers would incorporate catalytic converter security measures by default. Are Cat Locs installed by default on all new Toyotas? Yes it is good that Toyota responded, but then Toyota had to respond because at its peak the reports of thefts in the news were so frequent that it starts to affect the brand and saleability of hybrids. You say these issues were fixed but they were only fixed, going forward, for new vehicles, there isn't a fix for all the existing vehicles sold. What's the fix for all of the cars with the unsecure keyless entry system? I thought it was left to the owner, to either use a faraday pouch or switch the system off? Is there a fix out there for that, a keyfob upgrade being offered? I'm unconvinced by this argument, open access does not mean zero security. Why couldn't the car manufacturer apply a password or access control to the system and provide that unique access code with the vehicle documentation to the owner, allowing the owner to take that to any garage? Similar to what was done with car radio unlock codes. Same with the CAN bus attacks, most network systems have segregation and firewalls, you wouldnt expect the CAN bus to the headlight unit to have access to modify the keyfob bindings, or start the vehicle. You'd expect reasonable physical security measures around any canbus connections with this level of access.

Just thought I'd relay some information on a series of warranty claims that I've made recently. Although the outcome has been positive I can't say the process is without its issues. So my car (Yaris Sport 2015) has been under a Toyota Extended warranty for the last couple of years. I took it in for MoT at the main dealer recently and it failed on a broken suspension coil spring and they also noted a leak from the water pump (total running to around £800). When I queried if any of this was covered by the warranty I was told 'no'). So having checked the Toyota Extended warranty wording myself it seemed to me that the water pump was covered. So I phoned the warranty company (who I have to say were very helpful) and they confirmed the water pump and indeed the coil spring were both covered. So then I had to contact the main dealer again and tell them to contact the warranty company to initiate a claim. Collected the car after this work only to find the air conditioning was completely dead. Booked the car in again and had an aircon recharge. Well that lasted for a couple of days before it died again. Booked the car in again and was told the high pressure A/C hose had split (£541). I asked if this was covered under the warranty and was told 'no'. So I contacted the warranty company again and they said it was covered. So eventually this was also fixed under warranty. So why the the mismatch in opinion? Well the Toyota Extended warranty covers more than the Relax warranty (which I also have) so maybe the assumption by the main dealer was that the Relax warranty was in operation here and that wouldn't cover these items? But from looking at the Relax warranty terms and conditions the water pump and springs are covered anyway (not the A/C hose though). So my advice...don't take no for an answer and check with the warranty company. I understand from them that Toyota will not be offering extended warranties any longer. I have to say the warranty has been well worth it!

Ah, what the hell... 2.0 GR-sport TS it is then