Owner For A Month!

[richy45]

I joined here to gain some valuable information whilst looking for a 4.2 for the dear lady. It just came about from not only quite a few "snow" or ice days lately but also as we live in the sticks the road conditions are generally less than favourable in the cold months.

She has had a Yaris from new in 02 and had absolutely no problems at all, routine servicing, brakes, tyres of course so the replacement had to be a Toyota. I remembered when she purchased the Yaris looking at RAV's but they were just out of reach cost wise.

Spent quite a bit of time understanding the various driv eoptions and decided VSC was the way to go overall. So now the options were a bit limited in 3 door having to be an XTR.

So we decided firmly on an XTR 3 door as her favourite, basically thinking that the VSC as the extra option would help out and give an edge in general poor driving conditions. It took about 6 weeks to find this one, personally I think we paid about £600 - £700 over the book for it but everytime we saw one that was suitable and phoned up it had already gone or got a deposit on it! There didn't seem to be many around?

Now we've run it for a month, fuel avg 29 a bit steeper than we'd like but not complaining, of course nothings gone wrong and wow, using it in both the recent snow and then ice conditions it hasn't moved off line at all, even with the Bridgestone Duellers! It just feels planted and a lot better than I thought it would be.

Never had a chance to drive say an XT3 without VSC in poor conditions so I suppose can't compare if the VSC is doing much. Last Tuesday there was a really light dusitng and then the ice formed so about 10pm I'm out there trying to see or get the VSC on! Managed it once by doing a dragster style start on the ice but it kept a straight line whilst the skiiding car light was on the everything was sorted out for me! Very nice indeed. No doubt we'll have some moderate bling questions so look forward to the forum and all the advice here continuing, a very useful site indeed - Rich

[Mike JD]

Doesn't that look smart! As a fellow newbie, I know what you mean about the handling but out of curiosity how do you find it at motorway speeds? My 5 door one gets to feel a bit light at the front end at 70mph. It may just be the tyres it has.

Mike D

high on a cold and grey Dartmoor

I joined here to gain some valuable information whilst looking for a 4.2 for the dear lady. It just came about from not only quite a few "snow" or ice days lately but also as we live in the sticks the road conditions are generally less than favourable in the cold months.

She has had a Yaris from new in 02 and had absolutely no problems at all, routine servicing, brakes, tyres of course so the replacement had to be a Toyota. I remembered when she purchased the Yaris looking at RAV's but they were just out of reach cost wise.

Spent quite a bit of time understanding the various driv eoptions and decided VSC was the way to go overall. So now the options were a bit limited in 3 door having to be an XTR.

So we decided firmly on an XTR 3 door as her favourite, basically thinking that the VSC as the extra option would help out and give an edge in general poor driving conditions. It took about 6 weeks to find this one, personally I think we paid about £600 - £700 over the book for it but everytime we saw one that was suitable and phoned up it had already gone or got a deposit on it! There didn't seem to be many around?

Now we've run it for a month, fuel avg 29 a bit steeper than we'd like but not complaining, of course nothings gone wrong and wow, using it in both the recent snow and then ice conditions it hasn't moved off line at all, even with the Bridgestone Duellers! It just feels planted and a lot better than I thought it would be.

Never had a chance to drive say an XT3 without VSC in poor conditions so I suppose can't compare if the VSC is doing much. Last Tuesday there was a really light dusitng and then the ice formed so about 10pm I'm out there trying to see or get the VSC on! Managed it once by doing a dragster style start on the ice but it kept a straight line whilst the skiiding car light was on the everything was sorted out for me! Very nice indeed. No doubt we'll have some moderate bling questions so look forward to the forum and all the advice here continuing, a very useful site indeed - Rich

[local hero]

welcome to the club Richy, great looking car, 4.2 3dr is my favourite model, hope you enjoy it + you know where to come for friendly advice + the occasional banter Stew

[richy45]

Many thanks for your kind welcomes, there are a couple of stone chips on the bonnet and a couple of minor scratches around the car etc.. but they do not detract in anyway so I'll leave well alone.

It's done 50K miles 1 owner (A Ms!) and six Toyota stamps all same dealer along with bi monthly valeting bills which I think has made the difference to it's appearance now. It drives perfectly even when you're just within the "spirit of the law" on the motorway etc... and if you rev well it certainly pulls at the upper end of the rev range the feeling is rock solid. You only really notice it's high up when you try to corner a bit rapidly or you're trying a bit hard on a bumpy back road where there's a little pitching going on but for a 4WD high center it's way better than I would of imagined.

I'm a driving instructor by trade and and well into my cars, current fleet being an 6.0 V12 seven series, an Alpina B11 3.5 Seven series, an MX5 for the twisty's, dull Micra (for work!) the RAV, a moggie, Carina estate, corsa van diesel!

To me this feels like the nearest I think I could describe it as is the GTi of the softroaders.

[anchorman]

Welcome to the club Richy, my favourite looking version too.

The VSC is one of those systems that will lie in the background undetected but you may never know what it is really capable of until you get into real trouble and then you will waken the beast! It is astonishingly capable and will virtually take the car off you while it sorts out your mess then give it back only when it is satisfied you are OK. I have some quite good notes from the 4.3 that explain in more detail and if I think on I will add them later.

[richy45]

I gleaned info regarding VSC from several sources so a one stop shop for it in comparison to a vehicle not with it would be a very good idea as it can be confusing regarding LSD's, viscous centres, open diff systems, locking diff's and the limitations / features of each and how VSC reacts with that.

I would have gone for a XT4/5 five door in auto personally but it's her money and now it's here I think it does look rather smart (women have an eye for this type of stuff!) Strange it wasn't offered (VSC) on say an XT4 version 3 door? The XTR at least has a couple of extra bits being not only climate but with sunroof and cruise so it's quite a loaded car overall.

I'm not a novice regarding vehicle systems and personally I like the MX5 style cars purely cause it has no safety features, ABS, Traction, Power steering, Airbags etc... etc... all missing aqllowing me to drive and decide how but that cars for a different reason when driving.

This is my wifes Rav and over the last couple of winters she has lost over 20 odd days work that were due to poor weather and mainly her in experience in such conditions whereby she would not drive and was losing confidence which I think is more common than most people would like to admit to.

To that end she is already really please with the RAV, already suffering bad weather for about three/ four days and has just got in, driven to work obviously the 4wd helping without the VSC coming on but now I know it's there and what it could do for her, and more importantly she just feels safe doing so which is the main point for me.