While I was away, the wife and I both acquired new cars.
Just thought id mention it.
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Care to elaborate a bit further?
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Sure.
I am back in a Charade '05 example this time, I always get on well with them and you cant get much cheaper to run or more reliable at that age. Ive put on 9k since January and it hasn't needed so much as a bulb and is returning north of 60 mpg every week, which is more than my sister gets from her hybrid 'eco' Yaris...
The misses had a minor knock in the Matrix and felt she wanted something smaller, so on seeing that the local Toyota dealer had a very cheap finance offer on used cars, we went for a browse.
We started off looking at an Auris hybrid hatch, but the boot is stupidly small, barely any difference from a Yaris hybrid, so rather pointless. We then looked at a Yaris hybrid, which ticked all the boxes but we then spotted a non-hybrid Yaris auto, a 1.3 CVT '14 plate car, top spec, with 10k on the clock. It was about £2k cheaper than the hybrid but still promising upwards of 50 mpg, for the 8k a year my misses does, it made more sense than to spend the extra for the Duracell version.
My wife drove it, absolutely loved the way it drives and was sold on it. After some haggling, she got the finance payments down to just a smidge under £200 a month over 4.5 years with three years service plan included, which she felt was very manageable and compared favourably with what other dealers were offering.
She especially likes the reversing camera ( I don't tend to use it myself, seems like a gimmick mostly ) and I like the cruise control which makes a long run a bit nicer.
The 1.3 CVT Yaris seems to be the lesser spotted engine/gearbox combination as I assume everyone jumps for the hybrid, but as HJ comments, the CVT box is really very good indeed, far better than CVTs of old, although the 'manual' gear selection is rather redundant IMO.
It is returning high 40's mpg mostly around town and on a run to Devon was doing mid 50's, so more than acceptable.
My only complaint would be the seats are somewhat firm on longer journeys, but apart from that it is a very capable car and after 4000 miles, no problems as yet. It seems like a worthwhile expense over keeping the ageing Matrix, especially as after fuel, road tax and insurance cost savings, the net extra cost was only about £120 a month. We even got £800 back on the Matrix which sold in a few days.
I also had a go with Kwik Fit mobile tyre fitting, which was excellent mostly, except not replacing cable tie resulted in losing a wheel trim, but credit where its due, they compensated me for that so their customer relations dept get a big thumbs up for looking after the customer.
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I'm often advising used car buyers on the HJ forum to go Japanese and petrol-powered. Good to see someone as knowledgeable as you providing living proof that that's the way to go.
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I have had a few diesels over the years, but I often find petrol to be more reliable at the age of cars I buy and if you buy the right car, pretty economical.
I also sense that government will soon turn on diesel on air quality grounds.
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>>I also sense that government will soon turn on diesel on air quality grounds.
In about five years' time, by which time you will have changed your car fifteen times.
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>>She especially likes the reversing camera
Very useful until the roads are wet, when it gets covered in muck and can become unusable.
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>> Very useful until the roads are wet, when it gets covered in muck and can become unusable.
The VW cars with a reversing camera typically hide it in the badge which pops out for the camera. Should keep it clean.
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I still use the door mirrors on the Yaris, I find if you look too closely at the screen, you don't get the peripheral awareness that you do when using the mirrors, esp when reversing into a residential street etc.
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Think I'd still prefer to look out of the back window! ;-)
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The camera is most useful for backing right up to things, for example maximising usable space when parking/manoeuvring, and for seeing those invisible armco barriers in multi-story car parks - the ones I tend to hit while backing up to the wall 18" behind them.
Muck is rarely a problem and if it is I get out and clean the lens.
I would never actually try and steer by looking at the screen. Bound to hit something I should think.
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When I test drove a car with one of these I didn't particularly like it. I am sure you'd get used to how it relayed information but I'd choose to look at it because I'd be looking out of the windows and using mirrors.... so a pointless extra if paid for.
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.....my new X1 came with one as one of the "unspecified, unpaid for" extras.
I certainly wouldn't have specified one, but it is actually quite useful.
As above, it allows you to reverse tight-up against obstacles in a somewhat more reassuring way than simply relying on parking sensors (which I don't much like).
On the BMW, however, it superimposes a set of lines, one of which shows the reversing "arc" that will result from the given steering wheel position (it adjusts with wheel movement). That is surprisingly useful.
(I have fitted a reversing camera to the motorhome motorcaravan campervan, but that is because there is little or no rear visibility without).
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Perhaps it is the graphics Toyota use, but the 'red line' actually leaves you over a foot away from what is behind you, which in tight spaces isn't that useful for backing up to walls etc.
This was especially useless when backing up to the wall on the seafront car park in Lynmouth as since the spaces are stupidly short, it is useful to get the maximum use of the available space.
I find it a fun little toy, but I wouldn't want to rely on it.
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>> Perhaps it is the graphics Toyota use, but the 'red line' actually leaves you over
>> a foot away from what is behind you
I'm trying to imagine what you mean. On the Outlander, the camera lens is a fish-eye job located in the top of the number plate recess and aimed down and backwards. I can see the gap between bumper and wall.
The only time I need to account for parallax is if I reverse up to a line on the ground. It disappears from view behind the bumper before the bumper is actually directly above the line.
I have rear parking sensors too but TBH I don't hear them when I am concentrating on looking where I am going. I can't be the only one:)
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>>I'm trying to imagine what you mean. On the Outlander, the camera lens is a fish-eye job located in the top of the number plate recess and aimed down and backwards. I can see the gap between bumper and wall.<<
You cant see the bumper on the Yaris, it would be more useful if you could.
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Some Toyota systems look like this:
www.toyota.com.au/static/images/16p9k-aurion-exterior-reverse-camera-940x529.jpg
The lines curve as you move the wheel, or not, depending which model and when it was bought. Used to have it on my Prius (liked it), then the curvy feature was removed in later models (cheapskates). Don't know if it's back in the latest one.
Zoe has a curvy line reversing camera, giant screen, wouldn't be without it. Volvo it was a £700 odd optional extra (skipped that thanks) so I put in a tiny homebrew solution. Better than nothing and do use it all the time. Well, at least when going backwards. All cars mentioned in this post had/have parking sensors too, again wouldn't be without. Why make life harder?
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>>Perhaps it is the graphics Toyota use, but the 'red line' actually leaves you over a foot away from what is behind you, which in tight spaces isn't that useful for backing up to walls etc.
When I RTFM it stated the red line is eighteen inches away from the back of the car, It's there to indicate how close you can get to something and still open the tailgate. I can see the rear bumper quite clearly.
Last edited by: bathtub tom on Mon 22 Aug 16 at 14:37
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>>When I RTFM it stated the red line is eighteen inches away from the back of the car, It's there to indicate how close you can get to something and still open the tailgate. I can see the rear bumper quite clearly.<<
Ah I see, I assumed the red line meant something important rather than inconvenience. Deffo cant see the bumper, I just went out and checked, you can just make out the leading edge of the number plate, nothing more.
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The camera on my Lexus gives you 2 lines - a yellow and red - the first is a couple of feet away, and the second is about 4 inches. In the settings you can change which lines etc you see.
For reverse parking there is a curved line which shows, based on where the steering wheel is, where you car will end up in the space. Actually works quite well, but not really needed day to day
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The reversing camera on my CRV is a useful toy...I only mention it in converstion to annoy B i L who has not got one on his Q5 .
Very handy in multi storey car parks and on street to make full use of available space behind but it does not stop me using mirrors , judgement and peripheral vision.
I have not RTFM to work out what all the lines on the camera mean...might go and have a look now.
Last edited by: helicopter on Mon 22 Aug 16 at 15:31
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3 solid lines at 3 ,2 and 1 Metres from camera then a broken line on 0.5 M.
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Updated the fleet - VxFan
