Bought One!

[richardthe675th]

After a good look round at the alternatives, we've settled on a diesel all wheel drive Urban Cruiser. We held off to have a look at the newly released Mini Countryman, but its too large and expensive for our needs.

The cost was £16100 from Western Toyota, Edinburgh and includes blue metallic paint. We started off thinking this was wildly expensive (compared to the Yaris its based on) but hunting round for alternative deals and alternative cars convinced us this was the way to go.

Pros:

Its a Yaris with a decent boot and the ability to get up icy hill roads.

It has state of the art electronic car control, a real improvement on older cars

Useable on slightly dodgy tracks and grass

Fun and slightly different

Cons:

No spare wheel

Engine power marginal

Not very imaginative interior (black; scratchy plastic; limited options are very expensive)

No nice tan leather trim option, with exterior colour to suit.

Couldnt get DAB radio, reversing sensors and additional exterior trim without buying unwanted (and expensive) add on packs.

No doubt more will become apparent when it arrives (10 day delivery). Will report back any surprises.

Richard

[Parts-King]

You can buy DAB radio, JBL premium sound kit, Front OR rear parking sensors, paintable side mouldings WITHOUT having to buy them in packs, you can get everything individually. If your dealer is an rrr's and only wants to sell them in pack form then buy them off me

I ran an UC for a good 6 months or more and found it a good car, not the quickest car around but suprisingly powerful when fully loaded up if you were to rev the engine a bit ;)

Kingo

[claresdad]

Hi Richard, I bought a 6 month U/C AWD in June,it is a ex-demo model and had 6000 miles on the clock.I bought off Island as we could not get a used one overhere. It came with the urban pack and f/r mudflaps and I feel I got a crackin deal as the U/C has not taken off as well ( my opinion) as Toyota thought it would do. I do believe though that Toyota will feel the benefit of Nissan (Juke) and BMW(mini countryman) coming into this sector of the market, which is mainly un-taped.

So far driving on island I am averaging well over 60 to the gallon, and after driving many 4X4 diesels ( Xtrails,X3,Rav4) I don,t feel the U/C is underpowered.

You can buy virtually any of the dealer-fitted options from Parts-King and the best place to get an idea on price is to type urban cruiser into E/Bay and you get to see what they look like as well. Let us know what you think of your U/C when you get it

Regards Tony

[richardthe675th]

Thanks for those quick and positive replies. Ill be looking into those extra goodies as soon as the 'newness' wears off.

Richard

[richardthe675th]

An update on the UC experience:

We did have trouble getting to grips with the keyless starting. It seemed to work sometimes but not others, especially if you stalled it. Frenzied jabbing of the start button was not well received by the engine management unit, which has obviously not been programmed to recognise a 'for gods sake start you bustard' command. The solution: press the clutch pedal right down into the floor mat (not supplied as standard) to get the green light on the start button. Will get it adjusted at the first service.

Fitted the chrome wear plate extra to the rear bumper, as otherwise lugging stuff in and out of the boot will inevitably damage the paintwork. Another item (along with the floor mats) that you might expect to be fitted as standard.

The car is great on Scottish roads, although you need to be a keen gearchanger to get the best out of it. Its a pity it doesnt complain more when time to change up to encourage some people (no names mentioned) to change gear.

Now that we have heavy snow a warm, smug feeling rises up when you drive it. Its coped extremely well with snow above axle height, often without snowchains. Although it doesnt have great ground clearance, it is light enough to be rocked and pushed when stuck and doesnt seem to object to some careful sliding along on its tum (I'm talking 10mph for short distances). Pressing the traction control buttons to get different behaviour is great fun, and the state of the art antiskid control is very reassuring.

The snowchains are size 80 from Halfords (labelled 'Iceblok') cost £68 a set and are no better than £30 offerings on eBay, except you can have them NOW. They are slightly small, and I'm sure size 90 would also fit (tyre size 195/60/16). I bought 2 sets (just before Halfords ran out) but have only used them on the front so far. They are very effective (essential really) but need considerable practice to put on confidently in the snow and the dark, especially when the instructions are a) on unlaminated paper and b] apparently translated from Chinese. Having wire hooks that can fall off into the snow doesnt help either (can be fixed with pliers, if not already lost).

So all in all, very pleased, and recovering from the fantastic cost of a new car. When we bought our new Yaris five years ago, it was slightly less than half the price.

Hope to hear from others. This is a very quiet forum.

Have fun in the snow,

Richard

[Manxrav]

Hi Richard,

Glad to see you eventually got your Urbancruiser.My dad has had his now for 5 months and is as happy as a sandboy with it. We two have had a fair covering of snow but not as much as the UK, I drove it into to Douglas last Sunday and on my return journey boy did it snow. The U/C performed absoutly top knotch, I previously had a couple of Rav4,s the last being a T180 and the U/C is as good as them in snow.

I had two occasions this week when I borrowed it to go to Douglas early doors (5am) and it was really icy, but it was as solid as a rock.

My Dad,s came with the protection pack on it so he has the rear protetion plate on it, but for what you get you can buy else where a lot cheaper. My Dad,s is having some Phillips DRL,s put on it next week (I think he,s got too much time on his hands) so when the weather gets better I,ll post some pictures of before and after!!!!!

Regards Clare

[TARDISGAL]

I've just gone and ordered one, too! managed to fit a test drive aqnd purchase in a lunch hour the other week when it was all heavy snow. Looking forward to it arriving mid jan. Traded in a yaris D4D just over a year ago and regretted it soon after so can't wait to go back to a toyota diesel car

[Manxrav]

Good to see we,ve got another convert to U/C clan. Tell you what you,ve done well on the delivery front, last time I inquired the lead time was 12 weeks (probably due to shippment from Japan). Have you got any packs on it?

The 1.4D4D engine is a quality little engine, and I think with the ever incresing price of fuel is an absolute godsend. Can,t wait for mine to come in 2 months time!!!! (ex demmo).

Just a question on price will you have to pay the vat increase, with it coming after the 4th Jan?

Regards Clare

[TARDISGAL]

Apparently to avoid the VAT increase the car would have to be invoiced and registered before 4th jan so haven't managed to dodge that one but it isn't actually that much. I did at least get a test drive in the snow albeit just round the back of the dealer garages as the demo was sold. Wish I had mine just now since a petrol tigra just doesn't cut it in this weather and looking forward to the D4D engine and decent fuel economy again. Never again will I impulse buy a car!!!!!