Got Me An Urban Cruiser :-)

[Gordon in Angus]

Hello,

I thought I'd pop in and let you know I've joined the crowd here, by trading my old Discovery in for an Urban Cruiserb D-4D. Car is not new, it's a 1 year old ex demonstrator with 2700 miles on it, so not far off new at least.

Looking forward to seeing how others are finding their cars and sharing info. Now got two cars from Toyota, the other being an iQ we bought new April this year.

Thanks

Gordon :-)

[dave.m]

Welcome to the quietest forum on TOC

Remember to post some photos of your UC in the photos thread.

[Gordon in Angus]

Will do Dave, once I take it out of the garage again and take photos. I put it in the garage at the weekend when we got home with it, but haven't actually driven it back out of it yet :-D (we spend most of the working week running round in the iQ).

Anyone found out any info regards spare wheels. You only get a repair kit with the D-4D. I can live with that sort of thing on the iQ, but would prefer a space saver at least on the Cruiser. It actually mentions it in the owners manual, with some sort of tray assembly that raises the boot floor to hide it, but I can't see anything on the web regards buying one. The iQ's under the back seat tools and emergency kit set up is well thought out. I can't say the same for the cruiser, its all just stuffed all over the place inside the car rather than in one place for easy access in a nice polystyrene retainer like the iQ has.

The overall package for the car is good, but its emergency kit feels like it was forgotten about till they started making them so I'm not all that impressed regards that.

Anyway, next option is a good set of winter tyres, since that's why I bought one. Anyone tried anything yet?

Thanks

Gordon

[dave.m]

Hi mate, I believe the space saver spare is only available for the petrol model. The rear floor area on the

diesel model is different to accomodate the rear diff/4WD system so no space even for a space saver. Only

option is to buy a steel rim and tyre and store in garage for use on longer journeys ? Would take up a lot of

boot space in kept in there all the time. I am sure you can buy a steel rim from Toyota for about £80. Also seen

one come up on e-bay a couple of times.

[Gordon in Angus]

I reckoned that was the case Dave, I just found it odd that the boot floor still has the screw hole for the wheel clamp and it does mention a spare wheel and tray (with picture) for the D-4D in the handbook. Possibly its an option depending on what country you are in, Toyota only offering it as an option or as a requirement depending on local motoring legal requirements etc...

Still find it a bit of an poor afterthought how the rest of what little safety kit you get is scattered randomly under the seats or loose under the boot floor wherever they can hide it, rather than all in a purposely designed secure holder so you can easily find and access it.

Thanks anyway :-)

PS, why cant I add smilies icons here? I can only type them, bit odd, might be my browser I wonder :-(

[Manxrav]

Regarding winter tyres Gordon, I have run my AWD U/C on Bridgestone Blizzads last winter and although we had no snow, they coped very well with the frost and rain. Well worth the outlay, the only problem I find with the U/C tyres is the wierd size that Toyota have for this model (195x60x16) your,e choice is very limited and expensive.

As for the spare I agree the repair kit is badly placed in the car (an after thought), but I do know that Pentagon Toyota in Sheffield sell a spare wheel on E/Bay. I,m fortunate that if I come across to the UK, I can borrow the spare wheel out of our petrol version.

One thing to be warry of with your Black U/C ( same colour as mine) is stone chips on the front of the car, it has been designed with a "deep" leading edge to the bonnet and it,s a so and so for getting caught with stone chips on that area.

Anyway welcome to the U/C section on the Forum and hope you enoy your U/C experience, I do.Diesel AWD good car, petrol version waste of time that will be going next year for a Yaris HSD,

Regards Clare

[Gordon in Angus]

Thanks Clare, I'll have a look at the Bridgestones and see what sort of price they come in at...

On a separate subject, have all you folks got small lights under the dash shining down at the cup-holders and cigarette lighters? never seen that in a car before :D

Also, not that I smoke, but did your cars come with an ashtray that fits into the cup-holder as well, handbook mentioned it but not got one in my car, just wondering if its gone AWOL at the dealers before i got the car or something

Cheers

[Manxrav]

Gordon , about £120 a corner, not cheap but they are for Winter only so will serve you for at least 3 to 4 winters dependent on mileage.

Not got down lighters, but some one has half inched your ashtray

Regards Clare

[hector46]

Hello gordon, I have a spacesaver from the petrol version in the boot all the time. The boot is tiny anyway so the spare doesn't make that much difference. I have the downlit underdash which I thought they all had. I've also got the paint made from cheese which chips far too easily. I was polishing a person from works kia bonnet the other day (scratched by fitting those eye lash things- fitted for a charity event), although the eyelashes had marked the paint it appeared to better quality than my UC with a better gloss.

So don't go fitting eyelashes to your car, they scratch your paint to say nothing to what they would do for your credability :-)

[dave.m]

I also have the downlight shining below the dashboard, you should have the got the lighter and ashtray

with your UC.The ashtray actually makes for a good temporary location for the satnav till in my case I

sorted something else out.

[Gordon in Angus]

Thanks for the tips folks, I'll chase the dealer re the ashtray. I need to take the car back for some tweaks anyway. The handbrake seems to have far too much travel to hold the car and the steering is not centred right, car isn't pulling, but when traveling straight the steering wheel sits off the level, down on the right. The passenger front alloy appears to have been kerbed slightly at some point possibly related to the steering issue. Very anoyed we missed it all when checking the car over :-(

[Manxrav]

Gordon, make sure you get a satisfactory outcome on your U/C wheel as I was told by a "Wheel refurb" person that the colour on the U/C wheels is one of the hardeast to match. If you got it from a Toyota main dealer insist on a replacement!!!

HTH Regards Clare

[parky68]

PS, why cant I add smilies icons here? I can only type them, bit odd, might be my browser I wonder :-(

Try missing the nose ( - ) part of the emoticon!! ;) I had the same issue on iPad til I dropped the nose!! :)

PS good luck trying to get an ashtray from the dealer - they'll probably throw the "It was a used car...not a new car" line at you - but don't ask, don't get!! :D

[Gordon in Angus]

Thanks for the tip, giving it a try, though I suspect it's because I'm using the iPad rather than a PC instead :)

[Gordon in Angus]

Yup, it's the nose that does it on the iPad :(