Worried About Toyota's Quality And Torque Of 1.8 Hybrid

[Ethanedwards]

How do you use EV mode to exhaustion? Believe me I use it a lot and IMO it cannot be done in the Yaris.

In the Yaris EV mode automatically disengages itself once you hit the two bottom bars on the display. Then the engine cuts in to recharge...even if your stationary or not as the case may be. It won't re-engage until the Battery is more charged (again judged by the display). Very smart system - I think you'd have to really work at bamboozling it..

Is that different to the Prius then?

[johalareewi]

well.... driving in Eco mode and keeping in Eco for the whole time, I have seen lots of frustrated people on my back or side. However, press the power button, and off I go with ease :)

You can also go with ease in ECO mode. You just have to press the pedal down further than in PWR mode.

For all modes, if you need max acceleration, just floor the pedal. You will get 100%.

[Nicolai]

Well, what do you know?

Just this morning Toyota has recalled an additional 23,000 cars in Denmark:

• Avensis (august 2002 - august 2008)
  
• Corolla (juli 2001 - marts 2004)
  
• Prius (juni 2003 - marts 2009)
  

Steering problems and the Prius' need a new water pump.

Worldwide, the recall affects 2.7 million cars.

It seems Toyota cares more about volume than quality.

What do you think?

[Ethanedwards]

I think it's a sign of good customer service. Some manufacturers would not have done official recalls just service advisories to their own dealers. If you don't see a Toy dealer you'd never find out about it at all. Ford /Rover have (had) history in this manner.

Remember service advisories are NOT official recalls through VOSA.

Like my neighbour with her Renault Megane 2. Bought second hand drove for a few months took it to her garage found the engine was about to have turbo failure due to the common fault EGR valve and some "blocked oil tubes". Seems her Megane had slipped through the net as Renault had advised fitting a modified part. She got a large repair bill....not a happy bunny.

[Yolina]

Well, what do you know?

Just this morning Toyota has recalled an additional 23,000 cars in Denmark:

• Avensis (august 2002 - august 2008)
  
• Corolla (juli 2001 - marts 2004)
  
• Prius (juni 2003 - marts 2009)
  

Steering problems and the Prius' need a new water pump.

Worldwide, the recall affects 2.7 million cars.

It seems Toyota cares more about volume than quality.

What do you think?

I think it's good :) apparently in the whole of Europe they have had 3 reported instances of the water pump problem on the Prius and 9 of the steering problem on Corolla and Avensis so it's a rather low threshold to initiate a recall.

Edit: no-one's going to force you to buy a specific car anyway, so if you're really not happy about it and as you seem to have many doubts, then maybe it's simply not the right car for you and you might want to look at something else :)

[Opifex]

How do you use EV mode to exhaustion? Believe me I use it a lot and IMO it cannot be done in the Yaris.

In the Yaris EV mode automatically disengages itself once you hit the two bottom bars on the display. Then the engine cuts in to recharge...even if your stationary or not as the case may be. It won't re-engage until the battery is more charged (again judged by the display). Very smart system - I think you'd have to really work at bamboozling it..

Is that different to the Prius then?

Nope, it's exactly the same in the Prius. I admit my wording was a bit misleading. Sorry for the confusion.

I'm intrigued why you use EV "a lot". There has been a lot of discussion about this on the forum and most folk seem to agree that it has it's uses in specific circumstances but in general the car is best left to decide for itself whether to use the Battery or engine.

[Ethanedwards]

OK. The reason why is that I do NOT do a lot of city driving.

I mostly pound up and down the A12. So when I come off and am driving from the A12 to my home through 30mph zones in villages and other end from the A12 to my office. I can use no fuel at all, (other than the leccy) which bumps up my overall MPG.

Works for me.

[CO2SLAVE]

OK. The reason why is that I do NOT do a lot of city driving.

I mostly pound up and down the A12. So when I come off and am driving from the A12 to my home through 30mph zones in villages and other end from the A12 to my office. I can use no fuel at all, (other than the leccy) which bumps up my overall MPG.

Works for me.

Hi ,

as has been said before there is much discussion on this and even Toyota in their manual suggest not using EV mode as it is not as fuel efficient as letting the computer decide.

You are of course right the overall fuel economy will go up when you use the EV mode , but you will pay double for it in the morning run as the computer then realises it needs to replace the Battery charge ( to run the ancillaries on the car AC and heating fan , brake servo , and a dozen other things we don't see )- how does it do this ? by running the engine for longer !

Any energy captured by the Battery is only done at about 50% efficiency

I suggest you try leaving the EV mode for a week or so and comparing your economy before and after , you will find the car will shut off sooner as the Battery charge has not been depleted and you will save some pennies. You can also try "pulse and glide" in those 30mph limits that will save some juice too!

Let us know how it goes eh!

[Glyyde]

I normally run EV when I start my car in the morning seeing that I live up a hill. Going downhill charge the Battery nicely and normally at the bottom of the hill, there is a traffic light, I normally switches off EV when that traffic light goes green. Similarly, I use EV for the last 100-200 yards from home as I know the very next day I will have a fully charge Battery anyway going downhill.

Also uses EV if I am starting the car and I know within short distance, I will hit a traffic light or something similar. Leave EV mode when I move away from that said traffic. Works well for me.

[CO2SLAVE]

I normally run EV when I start my car in the morning seeing that I live up a hill. Going downhill charge the battery nicely and normally at the bottom of the hill, there is a traffic light, I normally switches off EV when that traffic light goes green. Similarly, I use EV for the last 100-200 yards from home as I know the very next day I will have a fully charge battery anyway going downhill.

Also uses EV if I am starting the car and I know within short distance, I will hit a traffic light or something similar. Leave EV mode when I move away from that said traffic. Works well for me.

Thats' intelligent use of EV mode and no mistake! and there are instances when it is beneficial to use EV mode such as moving the car a short distance to save starting the engine but as a rule unless you have a guaranteed "free" charge situation such as a hill early in your journey - then I think it is best to let the car do the thinking ( Am I contradicting myself thinking this ? Shouldnt the car be doing it!)

[Opifex]

I normally run EV when I start my car in the morning seeing that I live up a hill. Going downhill charge the battery nicely and normally at the bottom of the hill, there is a traffic light, I normally switches off EV when that traffic light goes green. Similarly, I use EV for the last 100-200 yards from home as I know the very next day I will have a fully charge battery anyway going downhill.

Also uses EV if I am starting the car and I know within short distance, I will hit a traffic light or something similar. Leave EV mode when I move away from that said traffic. Works well for me.

Yes agreed.

I also use it when maneuvering out of our underground car park. The engine then doesn't start until I'm out on the road and can run at maximum efficiency - same idea as Glyyde's traffic lights. I do admit I get also get a kick out of showing off to the neighbours who all have Peugeot diesels clattering away in the confined space.

[timberwolf]

How do you use EV mode to exhaustion? Believe me I use it a lot and IMO it cannot be done in the Yaris.

In the Yaris EV mode automatically disengages itself once you hit the two bottom bars on the display. Then the engine cuts in to recharge...even if your stationary or not as the case may be. It won't re-engage until the battery is more charged (again judged by the display). Very smart system - I think you'd have to really work at bamboozling it..

Is that different to the Prius then?

Use EV until the petrol engine starts and then thrash the car like a Top Gear presenter?!

[timberwolf]

How do you use EV mode to exhaustion? Believe me I use it a lot and IMO it cannot be done in the Yaris.

In the Yaris EV mode automatically disengages itself once you hit the two bottom bars on the display. Then the engine cuts in to recharge...even if your stationary or not as the case may be. It won't re-engage until the battery is more charged (again judged by the display). Very smart system - I think you'd have to really work at bamboozling it..

Is that different to the Prius then?

Use EV until the petrol engine starts and then thrash the car like a Top Gear presenter?!

[johalareewi]

You are of course right the overall fuel economy will go up when you use the EV mode , but you will pay double for it in the morning run as the computer then realises it needs to replace the battery charge ( to run the ancillaries on the car AC and heating fan , brake servo , and a dozen other things we don't see )- how does it do this ? by running the engine for longer !

The computer will only start the engine to charge the Battery when the state of charge is low (2 bars).

Then it only charges the Battery up enough to clear the 'SOC low' condition (3 bars).

At other times the HV Battery will be charged up by regenerative braking and surplus energy from the HSD.

In the morning, the engine will fire up because it is cold.

[Nicolai]

Could we please get back on track here?

As I am considering buyung the comming Auris Wagon HSD, how common er teething problems with new Toyotas?

[ph47mf]

Very fussy OP hehe

Your question is quite vague and it's hard to give you an exact answer. Any cars of any manufacturers can have problems, some more than the others (like Renault/Citroen/Peugeot). I am confident Toyota is still as good as they have been despite of the high profile recalls. It doesn't actually put me off at all. To me it's actually a good sign a company is willing to admit mistakes and correct things.

I've had about 3 Toyotas in my life and I never had any major problems with them - no bills/service cost more than £400 at any given time. Frankly with a new car, covered by the extended warranty, have nothing to worry about at all.

[thecaretaker]

I've owned Toyota's for 25-30 years now, Carina II, Carina E, Yaris mk1 and II, Corrola, Prius and can't say I've noticed any difference in Toyota's reliability. All my Toyota's have been very reliable. For a motor manufacturer to recall 8-10 year old models and prepared to replace major parts such as steering rods for free I personally find staggering. Some of these cars which have had a hard life must be coming to the end of their natural life cycle. I'm sure you wouldn't get that commitment from any other car manufacturer. Lets face it, all car manufacturers do recalls, why the media pick on Toyota is yet to be discovered. but I had a new (at the time) 1980's Layland mini, a model that had been in production for 32+ years and I had to take that to the main dealer for a recall. If you had ever owned Layland vehicles, you'd appreciate how well made Toyota's are lol

[Cyker]

Number of recalls are not good stats to go by; Our Ford Focus derv has had several major and borderline dangerous problems which it turns out are very common to Focus owners but a recall has never done for those whereas Toyota seems to be deliberately shooting themselves in the foot with silly trivial recalls (Seriously, an iffy switch? Floor mats?? Although curiously, no recall for more serious things like design flaws in some of the bigger D4D's).

I'd take my ancient Mk1 Yaris over the Focus any day of the week!!!

[Chris Dance]

Nicolai, Many folk have assured you about the reliability and quality of Toyota cars. I endorse all they say. Our family has owned 7 Toyota cars, Corolla, Avensis, Gen 2 and now Gen 3 Prius. They are the best cars we have owned, reliable and economical to run and service.The recent recalls prove Toyota is eager to solve even minor issues even though incidents of any failure are very few.

Buy your Toyota you will not regret it.

[Parts-King]

Toyota are eager to get back to their number one position of legendary reliability, they openly admit they let things slip, this is one of the reasons for these voluntary recalls. There is now a system in place where main board directors have the say on quality of the product, it is not left to the accountants alone to decide on quality issues

Kingo

[Ancient Nerd]

Toyota are eager to get back to their number one position of legendary reliability, they openly admit they let things slip, this is one of the reasons for these voluntary recalls. There is now a system in place where main board directors have the say on quality of the product, it is not left to the accountants alone to decide on quality issues

Kingo

They need to upgrade the Weasel Warranty and refund the extended warranties that we have had inflicted on us. Otherwise it will still be obvious that Toyota GB doesn't really have faith in the reliability of our cars.

[Parts-King]

When I was typing my reply I almost included your reply AN, call me psychic if you like

[Ancient Nerd]

When I was typing my reply I almost included your reply AN, call me psychic if you like

I guess I am fairly predictable on this subject. However, I do feel that I am justified, because the outcome is that these early Gen III have dropped excessively in value, because Toyota is perceived to have no faith in them.

So I have been doubly hit. I have had to pay around £800 extra for an extended warranty. And the car has dropped in value because Toyota is seen not to have provided the manufacturers warranty.

If I seem bitter and twisted, it is for good reason.

[Parts-King]

If I seem bitter and twisted, it is for good reason.

So you keep saying! ;)

[Ancient Nerd]

If I seem bitter and twisted, it is for good reason.

So you keep saying! ;)

And will continue to do so, probably for a long time as the drop in value means I am unlikely to replace it anytime soon.

Unless Toyota fixes the problem - was that a flock of flying pigs i see ?