ianlinux

Once mine has had its MOT on the 19th of April its going up for sale

Good choice and get rid soon, they're already coming down in price. Look at this for 63-plate 2014 with only 1500 miles on the clock:

http://www.motorpoint.co.uk/VehicleSearch/TOYOTA/IQ/1.0%20VVT-I%203DR

It looks to me like used IQ prices are about to tumble ? Now in my view that's a good price for a new IQ less than £8,000, for a new 2014 IQ, with only 1,500 miles on the clock, and five years Toyota warranty ! Perhaps I should sell mine QUICK ! that has already done 40,000 miles and just buy a cheap new one ?

Why not get something that you can carry things in and which attains decent mpg figures and that will be even cheaper to buy?

Once mine has had its MOT on the 19th of April its going up for sale

Good choice and get rid soon, they're already coming down in price. Look at this for a 63-plate 2014 with only 1500 miles on the clock - a mere 8 Grandioses:

http://www.motorpoint.co.uk/VehicleSearch/TOYOTA/IQ/1.0%20VVT-I%203DR

And there they go again with that fictitious mpg figure

"And just a word to the wise if you have a CVT, extend your warranty......the cost of replacement.............are you ready for this........£5400"

The above was a quote from the original poster.

In the UK, Toyota GB offered the 5 year/100,000 mile warranty on new vehicles from June 2010.

As regards the UK Toyota Extended Warranty, the manual gearbox is mentioned in what is covered, but there is no mention of the MMT or CVT. See: http://www.toyota.co.uk/insurance-and-warranty/extended-warranty

...whilst the CVT is not discussed in the "What's not covered?The principal exclusions are:" list either.

As usual, scour the small print and then some - including a direct question to Toyota HQ.

Harlia contacted me yesterday to say she has booked her car into her Toyota dealer.

Ha ha.....and I thought you were being sar-caustic ;)

Fair enough. Hope she gets good treatment

Or alternatively, this is the way I would think, "Hmmm, that bloke's not having a good time with his low mpg and looking back through his posts, it seems he's been fobbed off by the main Toyota dealers. Let me have a think about taking my car in for a service with them"

Perhaps the OP now thinks the same or at least is better informed to make a call than she was at the start of the thread?

I find it hard to believe you are only getting 30MPG with 1.0ltr IQ I know you have CVT which will lower MPG but 30 MPG sounds like there is something wrong with your car ? I have a 1.0ltr Manual and get 60 MPG average ! that's double yours. I dont know what the experts on this forum think but that's my view !

Yep agree, I'm supposed to lose a few mpg on the manual, but not much more than that.

It's building up to a fight with Toyota HQ, the Toyota Dealership who sold us the car down south and the Toyota people up here.

Anyway, don't want to hijack Harlia's thread, so will leave it at that. As I say, watch this space. Will keep you informed.

I was going to go the satnav/music console option until I found out I had a lemon of a vehicle. That's a point, instead of "Orange Fire" on my Fuelly.com account, perhaps instead I should rename it "Orange Lemon". In fact I will....

I imagine people think I'm bitter. You're right, I'm Bitter Lemon

I'm putting very little back into a "frugal" car that only does 30mpg in town (take note Toyota HQ), so have opted for the "navfree" app on my android phone. Works brilliantly and cost me about £1.50 for an otherwise free app but without the adverts.

Yeah, and you can also go to a main dealer and tell them about the problems you're having regarding ridiculously low MPG for 1.0L CVT, and they'll go....."Yeah, normal sir"

Back down from the heady heights of 33.5mpg to 30.6mpg this weekend (see my Fuelly below - don't be fooled by the average, 37.1mpg, which gets mugged by a few long distance drives)

Wooooow, 30.6mpg, what a great return I'm getting for a car with tons of downsides you'd expect from a car with high mpg

WATCH THIS SPACE - for my interaction with Toyota HQ coming up soon on a messageboard near you

If you want to know your water temp and other data on the go, buy a scan gauge, I run two of them (Scan gauge II & Scan gauge E) both perminiantly connected to the OBD Port with splitter cable.

Lots of info available via these gauges !

Saves drilling holes and fitting new gauges !

See:

https://www.scangauge.com/

Trouble is, whilst most are making savings on their fuel costs by owning an iQ, some of us are not. I just see any non-essential additions to the vehicle now as potential fuel money and a scanguage is three fill-ups for me whereas for most others it's only two.

So, not for me unfortunately.

Won't be losing any sleep.

It was September 2013 when I married into the Eastern iQ bride scheme! I'd read all the courting pamphlets and Internet dating sites where they told me she was frugal, reliable and well supported by parental guarantees. After all, most of her siblings and friends were happy in their marriages. I have to say though, I was enticed and smitten by her extreme good looks and cracking little figure. Of course, I should never have judged this little book by its cover. Turns out she was a right cheating gas guzzling beeatch. Stole my money at the pump when I wasn't looking even though I fed her fuel, pumped her tyres, wiped her brow once a week with warm soapy water and a chamois, and checked her oil regularly as per her own pre-marital requirement. I even bought her a new set of shoes to change into right from the outset in case the ones she arrived in ever got scuffed. I was upset by this selfishness and so we had a bit of a separation and I got her air filter changed and took her back to her parents to get some TLC. They're traditional types who get a bit embarrassed by marital failure so refer to a daughter's return as a holiday or "annual service" rather than accept the reality of conflict. But I didn't blame them for that at the time.

Then they returned her back to me and things seemed okay for a bit until Fred Fuelly and a few other good friends told me she was cheating on me again and I caught her red-handed on February 4th returning only 27mpg of the 50 she'd promised during our courtship. But even her parents disowned her this time and refused to take her back (they'd repainted her old bedroom and got in a lodger to help pay the bills) and refused to repay her dowry. The last straw came when she started demanding more money - even suggesting that a friend's parents wanted a new designer handbag (by that prima donna outfit CVT) for £5600, hinting, in other words, that she might have to have a new one too. "Stuff that" I thought....

So now I'm applying for a divorce and no amount of marriage guidance will convince me otherwise. But even her friends have recently started to disown her and I'm worried that come the start of all the acrimony her own wealth will quickly start to diminish and I'm left with a parasite sponging off my estate. Might have to take her parents to court. But I'll certainly be writing to her Daddy's wedding organiser who now resides in Portsmouth.

So actually then, I might be losing loads of sleep! <gulps into his coffee>

Thanks Fred Fuelly, you were a good friend to me when I needed you.

Very "steam punk" juxtaposed in a modern setting. I like it :D.

I suppose they [kerb feelers] are simply seen as hazards, but then, in reality they're probably as benign as mudguards. Who knows. Perhaps someone had the back of their calves scraped by an early adopter of these flying off but despite improvements in design have somehow remained on the "list of dangerous additions". But are they good at wind resistance? Trying to get my iQ down to 21mpg fuel efficiency after applying the Morris Minor wind breakers LOL :D

Did you know that "kerb feelers" are illegal in the UK, I have no idea why, but they are.

Is it because the lawmakers want us to "kerb" our nice shinies in order to keep the refurbishers financially replete? ;)

Plenty for sale though on UK ebay. Can't even get on govt website to check ATM.

Agree though Craig, will be nice when done - even when I am having a downer on my very own miniHummer :D. So good luck for some nice wheels

Do you remember these fine accessories from the 60s and 70s?

I think I should add a pair to my iQ and see if I can increase drag enough to reduce fuel inefficiency down to 22mpg. After that, next stop will be to see if I can compete with a Hummer (by dragging bricks, stray anchors, carpet baggers and witches) for worst fuel consumption on Planet Earth

That is why I prefer a gauge. You can tell if it starts to run hotter than normal and get it looked at or stop driving before it boils over ;)

Exactly Mark! Making better use of that waste of space they call a console would be a great place to put the trip computer, clock and other jiggery-pokery - including some options to allow passengers to change volume and other parameters on the radio/CD/aux etc, whilst the trip computer area could instead hold a temperature and oil gauge. IMO, an LCD mileometer should be placed permanently inside the speedo instead of searching for it in a little crowded box according to an option button.

Hi Craig,

You said, "or you are driving it like you stole it all the time" I like that!

1) Charging - I've worked it out that it'll cost me about £20-£30 per month on a 96V/25A intelligent charging system, and I'd like to combine that with a 100W Tesla Radiant energy collector and possibly some solar panel options. Those with solar panels on their roofs might even be able to hook those into the car charging system.

2) Agree, batteries are the Achilles heel which is why I'm looking into a renting system initially. But Lithium technology is getting better all the time, so the returns are also getting better. But if I'm looking to replace the batteries every 5 years (at £1000-£2000 max), as is my current estimate, then I'll still have an old classic of value that I like to drive and it's still better than perpetually buying into the car manufacturers' scam.

3) The cost of the equipment can be high, but again, £3000 for a NetGain motor or equivalent, and some people use stripped down fork lift motors for a few hundred secondhand, can't be any worse than £2500 for Citroen's AL4 or £6500 for Toyota's CVT, and you don't really need a gearbox in an EV, that only acts as a connection between the motor and driveshafts. And of course you have to add the controller and a few other components - like a bespoke adaptor plate, Battery relay, 12V accessory circuit, monitoring devices etc. As long as there are decent warranties covering the components, and that's also improving, then I'd rather give this a go.

4) I also think EV in the UK is a 3-season affair, or for extended use in mild winters, and there will have to be some advances in cab insulation and warm air circulation.

But apart from (4) and the initial work involved, I'm fairly undaunted and can't wait to progress. I have a mothballed VW Type 1, 1965 and I might just start on that.

EDIT: And some great space to put batteries http://r.ebay.com/Tz7WsK

Hi Aaron, I don't always wait until I'm almost out of fuel to fill up. Sometimes it can be half or quarter tank depending on what my week holds.

But the on-board computer tallies pretty well. For instance, at last fill up, Fuelly calculation came to 33.5mpg, whilst the trip computer gave me 33.2mpg. I always check the two and they've never been out by much.

I mean it's just rubbish. I've got friends and relatives with much bigger cars getting better mileage - even my own Citroen C5 is better, and I'd keep that if it wasn't for the AL4 gearbox about to go. Frugality was the main reason why we got the iQ.

I can't wait to get started on my EV. I was considering a two-year old Prius to replace the C5, but not now.

I'll let you know how my contact with Toyota HQ transpires in the next few weeks.

Ian - Perhaps you could consider:

http://www.dragonelectricsportscars.co.uk/tags/road-cars

Or

http://www.e-volks.com/

Or

http://www.autotua.net/electric-automobiles/homemade-green-car-electric-car-conversion-kit/

????

Thanks Bob,

Ditto experience re Bob's first post above

And can we guarantee the output reading on these fuel pumps is accurate and we're not getting swindled? I use to see Trading Standards stickers on pumps all the time, now I hardly see any.

I suppose with people like us "Fuellying" everything, along with on-board computers checking, petrol meisters will be foolish to try swindling people. But then....

Anyway, I'm going off grid. Buying an old simple car that I can maintain mechanically and turning it into an EV. Have had enough of these manufacturers and their exaggerated fuel claims that they then deny when you approach them.

End of the road for my iQ shortly. Approaching original garage for a full refund. They will of course deny me, but I'm going to make the point directly with Toyota HQ in Portsmouth. And then when they've probably denied me, will sell.

I don't blame you for "Going Off Grid" and buying an old car you can maintain yourself. I am considering the same approach, problem is my current property does not have a garage so my car is parked on the driveway now and I would need a garage to use, I am not planning to move house so that is holding me off buying an old car and rebuilding it myself with a few mods that will lead me towards 100mpg. Anyway I am also fed up with most motor manufacturers poor quality and product life, and their lie's about there products.

Could you get one of those temporary garages Bob? I'm not putting up with this institutionalised car scam much longer. I know they have us over the barrel in many other aspects of ownership, but the more I don't have to play ball the better.

To go 100% EV, I'm looking at an easy car with a good parts supply, no fancy suspension, no power steering and very basic . If a really old car with no anti-corrosion measures, then get the body dipped, repaired/welded and electrophoretically coated like modern cars to stop rust and then work on EV conversion. Might try and look into renting the lithium Battery technology if available.

Plenty of complete DIY kits in the US as usual, but over here it's a case of buying stuff in separately. Would want a good warranty on the engine like the Netgain Warp engines

And can we guarantee the output reading on these fuel pumps is accurate and we're not getting swindled? I use to see Trading Standards stickers on pumps all the time, now I hardly see any.

I suppose with people like us "Fuellying" everything, along with on-board computers checking, petrol meisters will be foolish to try swindling people. But then....

Anyway, I'm going off grid. Buying an old simple car that I can maintain mechanically and turning it into an EV. Have had enough of these manufacturers and their exaggerated fuel claims that they then deny when you approach them.

End of the road for my iQ shortly. Approaching original garage for a full refund. They will of course deny me, but I'm going to make the point directly with Toyota HQ in Portsmouth. And then when they've probably denied me, will sell.

Edited

Perhaps that's what happens when a "generally affordable" car manufacturer allies a particular model to a luxury sports car manufacturer. Up the kudos, up any associated price tags.

Probably not, but I just wanted to say that :) ;)

Re Auto Gearbox failure, just my personal view:

All Auto boxes should be covered for at least 100,000 miles by the manufacturer,

Assuming normal use and correct maintenance, this is what we as "customers" should expect as a minimum.

My next car just might well be a Kia with a full 7 year warranty.

Completely agree Bob,

We pay enough for these cars and have to put up with often false or exaggerated claims, and with ever diminishing resources they should encourage us to hold onto them for longer. Not only that, manufacturers should find a way of branching out so they're not reliant on rapacious consumerism to keep themselves going.

With 7.5Bn plus consumers on Planet Earth all wanting to keep up with the car-owning Joneses, we're going to have to recycle or re-adapt old technology more than we do - and I doubt even that's frugal enough in the end.

If my Citroen C5 AL4 auto-gearbox goes, and it's starting to go after only 60k, then the cost to replace it (unless I go secondhand and DIY, whereby I could still inherit the same problem) will be at least 5-6 times the resale value of the car, or 25 times the scrap value. By the end of the month, those figures will probably shift to 8-9 and 30 times respectively.

I drove around California in 1998 in a mid-70s Mercedes sedan (of this ilk) with 1000s of miles on the clock, and the 3-speed auto gearbox on that was original and totally serviceable. Not like this "sealed-for-life-don't-touch-it-or-it'll-explode-in-your-face" nonsense of the AL4.

Ridiculous paradigm we live in.

My CVT does 45mpg total urban

About 55 motorway. Only I up no passenger

David

I must have a bogey then and as long as there is no actual fault registered, Toyota are simply going to ignore it. I'm not getting anywhere near the 45 you're getting David.

We've tried driving it in a multitude of styles both hard and frugally, in D or S and combinations of the two and find, it's slightly better driven hard.

I was going to invest in all sorts for this motor, i.e. manuals, wiring diagrams, extras etc and try to keep it on the road for 10 years or so ;) but am not going to bother now. I might even try and sell on after a year of ownership while the warranty is longish.