Wanted. Small car.

[Bonefishblues]

Yes, I agree, it's difficult. It's unsatisfactory and widely discredited as it is though!

[Vorpal]

Yes, I agree, it's difficult. It's unsatisfactory and widely discredited as it is though!

I'm not convinced that a new test regime would get any better than just taking 10 - 20 % off the current published mpg and adjust it according to personal driving conditions.

[Bonefishblues]

Yes, I agree, it's difficult. It's unsatisfactory and widely discredited as it is though!

I'm not convinced that a new test regime would get any better than just taking 10 - 20 % of the current published mpg and adjust it according to personal driving conditions.

I suppose my thoughts are fuelled (arf!) by Mick's previous car, and others, which ostensibly produce stratospheric economy, but which are known to be way off in the real world.

I think the public understands that it's very unlikely you'll match the EU numbers, but when there's a delta of near as darn it 30 mpg between the twin air's EU combined and his actual measured mpg, then those rogues need to be called out, as it were.

[Vorpal]

I suppose my thoughts are fuelled (arf!) by Mick's previous car, and others, which ostensibly produce stratospheric economy, but which are known to be way off in the real world.

I think the public understands that it's very unlikely you'll match the EU numbers, but when there's a delta of near as darn it 30 mpg between the twin air's EU combined and his actual measured mpg, then those rogues need to be called out, as it were.

That's entirely fair. I suspect that relatively small tweaks to the test criteria could improve things somewhat. And that sort of thing is often fairly simple to implement (get through committee).

[iandriver]

Think the part of the world you live in is a big factor. My old petrol Mondeo was not so bad in the flat lands around here, with most the miles being steady away in top. Went on holiday to Cornwall with its narrow, twisty lanes and hills and the extra fuel I got through was extraordinary. Literally half my normal MPG.

[Bonefishblues]

Think the part of the world you live in is a big factor. My old petrol Mondeo was not so bad in the flat lands around here, with most the miles being steady away in top. Went on holiday to Cornwall with its narrow, twisty lanes and hills and the extra fuel I got through was extraordinary. Literally half my normal MPG.

It has an impact, for sure, as does driving style and journey profile, but some cars like Mick's ex are simply notorious, because nobody can extract decent mpg from them.

OTOH I always exceed the EU Combined in my car, for some reason.

[Mick F]

Think the part of the world you live in is a big factor. My old petrol Mondeo was not so bad in the flat lands around here, with most the miles being steady away in top. Went on holiday to Cornwall with its narrow, twisty lanes and hills and the extra fuel I got through was extraordinary. Literally half my normal MPG.

2001 when we first bought our Clio, we were driving Up North and back maybe once a month.
I tried and tried to keep the fuel consumption down on the long motorway journeys and kept a mental note of the figures recorded on the car's computer trip meter.

Invariably, going north we managed the high 40s mpg, but coming south, we only did the low 40s.
This was always the result over maybe a dozen journeys.

What became obvious that on the way back the reading was (as usual) in the high 40's but steadily dropped as we left the Exeter area on the A30. I reckon that the hill profiles on the A30 between Exeter and this end are longer up hill east to west. This means that going west to east there are long sections of coasting, but coming back, there's long long pulls using more fuel.

Therefore, fuel use is dependent on hill profile. Short up and long down is the best, with the longer the better going down being very best.

Same as being on a bike IMHO. Give me a route with a steep hill one side, and long long long gentle downhill the other side rather than the other way round.

[Mick F]

Update on the Yaris Hybrid.

The smell has still gone.
The car was traded in in late March of this year and remained with the Toyota dealers until we bought it in late August. The car didn't sell - they tell me - because it was at Exeter. It seems that anyone wanting a Toyota in Exeter didn't want a Yaris Hybrid. It eventually got moved via Plymouth to Paignton where we found it. Hence only 68miles from March to August, and the musty damp smell. It had sat on a forecourt for weeks on end right through the summer.

We bought a space-saver spare tyre plus jack and wheel-brace via eBay for £60odd. It arrived today, and I've experimented with the jack and temporarily fitted the spare to check it out. All fits and works properly. The spare fits in the boot ok but we haven't got the fittings to hold it down or store the brace. I've made a bolted clamp to screw into the boot floor where a real clamp would go, and I've bagged up the brace to lay it down inside the upturned wheel. The jack has a stowage under the front passenger seat, and it fits in easily. I've also stored inside the spare wheel the cylinder of goo and the electric pump ............. as a belt and braces approach in case of emergency and/or two flat tyres.

Rear seatbelt buckles - I asked the dealer and the technician, but although they are indeed the wrong way round, all Yaris cars are like it. They don't know why, and it can't be sorted due to the electrical connections as they won't reach if you swap the buckles round. Thinking about it, I reckon the technician is well aware of this issue, so was prepared for the question. He was able to stow the centre RH properly ........ he obviously has the knack ........... practice I would think.

[thirdcrank]

AFAIK, checking that seatbelts buckle properly is part of the MOT so they must get some practice.

[Bonefishblues]

And how is the relationship progressing, may I ask

[Mick F]

Funny that you should ask, as I was thinking of updating this thread.

Absolutely gobsmacked by the car. Smooth, powerful, quiet, economical, comfortable, modern ............. I could put more adjectives in there.

Locally, just say going into Tavistock and back shopping, the economy comes out in the mid/low 50s mpg.
I drove down to Camborne for a bike ride last week. Local roads here, and then down the A30 ............ and back of course.
I didn't hammer it, and kept at about 60mph keeping an eye on the Eco gauge.
Round trip gave 69.9mpg.

I've found performance figures on the Yaris Hybrid online, and they seem rather poor, but what they don't say how quick it is off the line up to (say) 40mph, and how well it pulls when overtaking. Do maybe 30mph behind a slow vehicle and floor the throttle to overtake, and it's immediately powerful. Not supercar performance in any way of course, but the kick you get from the electric motor plus the engine is quite surprising. It gives great confidence to overtake.

Done close on 1,000miles now, and it's a sheer pleasure to drive, so I look forward to driving it, and even try to find an excuse to drive.

[Bonefishblues]

It's such a well engineered package, isn't it

[Mick F]

Absolutely.

Couple of issues:

1. The time of day shown on the dash is in 12hr format with no provision for 24h. Personally, I prefer 24hr in digital format. I understand that the metric distance Kilometres dash has it in 24hr.

2. The rear seats are comfy, but there's not much room for your heels. The plastic battery covers at the front of the rear seat base are a bit intrusive.

BTW, I managed to remove the rear seat. I scoured the internet and eventually found a Prius forum and it was explained on there. I guessed that the Prius system would be the same in the Yaris. I wasn't wrong.

I sorted the seatbelts out. Not that I could undo them and move them, but with having the seat right out, I could lay them correctly so they fitted in the correct places.
Very pleased with the result, as the seatbelts look right now, and when you sit on the back seat, the seatbelt buckles are correct for you with no criss-crossing required.

[comfortablynumb]

Glad you like it Mick. Interesting what you say about the performance, although nothing great on paper, overtaking and pulling away from stops is always easy, probably because you are never in the wrong gear I suppose.
Mine turned 16,000 miles today on a trip down to St Ives. If Toyota only got more people to try them instead of listening to the "Clarkson brigade" I think they would be even more popular.
Happy motoring, Steve.

[Mick F]

Yes. Never in the wrong gear.

Having driven normal automatics including Merc Steptronic and Fiat Dualogic, the gears have a hesitation, and sometimes hunt for the correct gear. There's always a pause and a gap in the performance under load as they change ratios.

As far as I understand it, the Toyota Hybrid system uses some sort of sphere gearbox with constant velocity of a sort.

Interestingly, there's no reverse gear. The engine cannot drive the car backwards. To reverse the car, the control circuitry to the electric drive is reversed to drive the motor backwards. I don't know that if you drove backwards for long enough you could be in danger of flattening the battery. If the engine would kick in to charge it, I don't know as every time I've reversed, the engine was stopped.