2.0L Excel HB - thoughts so far

[Timmon]

5 hours ago, AndrueC said:

You must have the patience of a saint. I won't even wait for EV to get to me to 40 mph 🙂

I was quite surprised! The conditions must have been just right. Mostly, once at 70, the engine will shut down for a while, EV mode for a mile.

[bruce e]

On 10/20/2019 at 11:06 AM, rafletcher said:

Tyre pressure... So, responsibility of the dealership to check and adjust prior to handover to customer. I’ll be interested to find out how the dealership addresses the issue. 

After reading the TP post thought I had better check my pressures after delivery & found tyre pressure set to 32psi all round with the TPMS set to this, should have been 36/35 Makes you wonder what else they may have missed on the pdi

[nielshm]

A small video with 2 accelerations. 

The first one with no more than 2 100 rpm, but thats to slow, and traffic will catch up with me. 

The second one is more my way of driving,, 3-3500 rpm from start, and then easy on the throttle until 55 mph. 

The 2.0 does this without breaking any sweat, very powerfull and relaxed to drive. 

[rafletcher]

A further few random musings after a couple of months ownership.

The shift lights on the centre console are needlessly coloured (it's like something out of the '70's) and way too bright in the dark.

The amount of animation on the dash displays is extremely distracting. I've just left it on the radio screen.  The dash itself is too cluttered with stuff I don't want - what's the point of a display showing the speed limit that gets it wrong so often, even if the map itself appears to be correct. Examples, entering the A41 Aston Clinton bypass from the Aylesbury roundabout end, display on dash stays at 40mph for several hundred metres before correcting. Map database is accurate, so it must be the limit signs on the rb that are causing the issue.  Also a local road that is 60mph, is sometimes displayed as 60, sometimes a national limit. The latter isn't strictly incorrect, but it should be consistent.

More customisation of the dash would be welcome, rather than just scrolling through fixed options. I'd personally put the digital speedo in the centre of the main display, with infotainment/phone status above, with the option to allow nav directions to be alongside the speed display when using the nav system.  And why analogue displays for revs, fuel and temp?

Headlights are at best mediocre. I miss the "fog light on when turning" function too, as leaving work I turn onto a busy narrow unlit road with grass verges. The extra nearside illumination would be welcome.

Stereo sound is a bit odd to my ears. Seems very focussed, as opposed to having a broad sound stage. Must have more of a play.

OTOH this latest cold spell has shown that the screen washer jets don't freeze up easily (ok, I'm running a 50:50 mix of water and -40C additive, but the Audi still froze up even with heated jets) which is a good thing as AFAIK they're not heated.

 

[AndrueC]

@nielshm If I do need the extra power then I just use it - that's why the RPMs go up that high and it doesn't sound at all unpleasant to my ears - just a whoosh and a louder hum. The 1.8 has a decent enough 0-60 time and the Battery boost probably gives it a very respectable 30-70 time.

I've never been scared or cautious about flooring the accelerator on the rare occasions when it's needed. Even before the advent of ECUs the worst that might happen is that you'd bounce off the rev limiter. With a modern ECU however you don't even have to worry about that. The car just won't let you do any damage to the engine.

Not using the full RPMs when accelerating hard means - to me - not using the full capabilities of the vehicle. 99% of the time there's no need to accelerate hard anyway but when you do - floor the bugger. Anything less is just !Removed!-footing around in my book :)

[AndrueC]

@rafletcher I love the dashboard. It's part of why I bought the car. I think it's been well designed and the only improvement I'd like to see is MPG and miles remaining always being visible rather than only visible on the second screen and Battery state being visible as well as acceleration guidance. The full screen Battery display is too bright for night time use as well so like you I leave that set to Audio unless I'm using navigation.

I find that the speed limit display generally correct but there have been a couple of glitches. Even there one of them is because the map hadn't been updated where a new housing estate has been built but I corrected that myself.

The headlights seem okay to me but they keep needing a clean at the moment. One thing that I'm not so keen on is the auto-main beam. I have suspicions that it often fails to account for hills. My Jazz had this feature but it seemed a lot better at dipping the lights. With the Jazz I could believe that the car really did know best what the main beam pattern was and who it would dazzle but I'm not at all convinced with the Corolla.

Washer jets are okay except that the rear ones keep draining back into the bottle so that I have to run the wiper for several seconds before any water appears. Also - why push the stalk forward to operate them? Honda's system is more sensible where you turn the rear wiper stalk switch back against a spring. And I'm going to check the manual tonight but is it really correct that you can only put the rear fogs on if the front fogs are on? Again with Honda you can turn the stalk switch back against a spring for just the rears or click it forward for the fronts then further forward against a spring for the rears.

[rafletcher]

The front fogs have to be on first - it’s a part turn of the ring on the stalk - then rear fog is a spring return step further on the same ring for on, and another for off. So yes, front on before rear.  

[AndrueC]

4 minutes ago, rafletcher said:

The front fogs have to be on first - it’s a part turn of the ring on the stalk - then rear fog is a spring return step further on the same ring for on, and another for off. So yes, front on before rear.  

Yeah it seemed like that, just thought maybe I was missing something.

[Timmon]

Maybe because my last car was 17 years old, I find the Corolla an excellent car, so any small niggles are just not worrying about.

I am glad I went for the 2ltr, as it is closer to the turbo I had before, and even in this colder weather, I still get considerable fuel savings compared to my old car.

I am sure I would have enjoyed the 1.8 as well, but the 2ltr is a lot of fun when you want it to be.

I have no real complaints so far, except maybe the auto parking facility, which I find unreliable.

I find myself driving the car as I did my old one. I park myself, use reversing camera only if needed due to poor visability, lane assist is off. 

I love the My T app which is very useful. The turn by turn sat nav display on the instrument panel is superb, and losing that by using Android instead is a no no for me. 

The only gripe, which is probably my fault, is I can't work out why the internal courtesy light does not come on, so I have to manually switch on, to see what I am doing when getting in and out. 

[rafletcher]

I’d assume that the courtesy light is like all others I’ve had, a 3 position switch always on-off-on with open door etc.  I’ve notice£ on the Excel that as you touch the door handle to open the car it comes on. May even come on as I approach him the door. 

[OXYGEN]

I am extremely amazed by the car.

Today I made a 35km trip and got 2.7 l/100km!!! This is 104,6mpg!!!

Of course, there was some descent in the beginning, I got the Battery full twice, at some point even the ICE came on during descent (I guess to prevent the Battery from overcharging). I also experienced the best EV-only acceleration and it stayed in it for really  long periods. 
And even there was also some motorway driving towards the end of the journey, the fuel consumption is really unexpected.

[nielshm]

1 hour ago, OXYGEN said:

I am extremely amazed by the car.

Today I made a 35km trip and got 2.7 l/100km!!! This is 104,6mpg!!!

Of course, there was some descent in the beginning, I got the battery full twice, at some point even the ICE came on during descent (I guess to prevent the battery from overcharging). I also experienced the best EV-only acceleration and it stayed in it for really  long periods. 
And even there was also some motorway driving towards the end of the journey, the fuel consumption is really unexpected.

Now thats something. I notice that your has done the double distance on the ODO trip than my car, so maybe you have reached a point where every thing has loosened up, and runs as smoothly as possible? 

[Wheresmywig]

That is pretty sweet. Did you have the opportunity to do the return journey? Will be interesting where the Battery SOC levels out now that it has had a full charge. 

[OXYGEN]

This was the return.

The car doesn’t like to hold Battery full. As I said, it got to full twice for the journey because as soon as it gets above 6 bars discharging becomes a priority.

So at the end of the trip I was as usual with 3 or 4 bars.

[Fake_Empire]

Am I seriously the only one with extremely annoying crickety wind noise on a driver side? I have 18" Falkens summer wheels and 16" Continental winter wheels and there isn't much difference in between them. No matter how I drive, what the weather is, I'm getting that extremely annoying noise as soon as I hit 100km/h. Can't identify where it's coming from.

Sent from my motorola one vision using Tapatalk

[nielshm]

I can't get my automatic high/low beam to work. I've tried something like 10 times, but high beam doesn't drop, and oncoming traffic goes crazy. 

According to instructions, I press the button, and turns on high beam. But nothing happens, beam doesn't drop. 

[AndrueC]

To activate high beam you push the left stalk forward. If you choose to rely on auto-dip you can leave the stalk in this position all the time.

The automatic dip function is switched on/off by one of the buttons to the right of and slightly below the steering wheel.

[nielshm]

8 hours ago, AndrueC said:

To activate high beam you push the left stalk forward. If you choose to rely on auto-dip you can leave the stalk in this position all the time.

The automatic dip function is switched on/off by one of the buttons to the right of and slightly below the steering wheel.

Well, in that case, the system doesn't work at all. I better visit the dealer. 

[nielshm]

I would love to move the car within my driveway, without the engine starting up. My driveway is long and narrow, and we often moves cars in the morning, depending on my wifes working hours. 

[AndrueC]

1 hour ago, nielshm said:

I would love to move the car within my driveway, without the engine starting up. My driveway is long and narrow, and we often moves cars in the morning, depending on my wifes working hours. 

You should be able to once outside temperatures get above 16c. In the summer I could drive all the way out of my housing estate before the engine started if I was careful.

[Catlover]

nielshm.......... you car doesn’t know you only wanting to swop cars about on the drive, so it goes in to “warm the engine up” mode. As Andrue says, once warm weather again you may get the chance to move car about without engine starting, assuming enough energy in hybrid Battery.

[AndrueC]

I think I missed a trick this week. I've had my kitchen replaced and as part of that the installers removed an old disused radiator. It was only half way through the week that I realised the radiator was mounted on the other side of the garage back wall and that since the pipes to it came down inside the garage I could have just had them put it on the other side of the wall. My garage has an insulated door so I might have been able to ensure the car was always above 16c in the morning (currently it can be as cold as 10c).

I don't know if it would save energy overall but it's a shame I didn't think about it first. I'm wondering if it's worth getting someone back in to install one there anyway but now there will be the extra cost of a new radiator 😕

 

[Catlover]

Something in the back of my mind, Andrue, saying I heard in the past it’s best to keep you car in a draughty area, maybe outside, rather then a snug warm garage. If I remember right, it’s because underbody road dirt more likely to dry out in a draughty area.  Suppose it’s like washing on the line will dry out better on a windy day rather then a still sunny day.

[TonyHSD]

Hi,

Engine will start up always if the car has been left for a while, it needs to get the engine oil to certain temperature so ice is ready to start and not cold. Even in hot summer days ice will run for at least a minute before it turns off. The only way you can trick the car is if you let it roll backward in N immediately after you turn on in ready mode than ice won’t start. Once you stop you have to turn off the car without going into P,  D or R . 

[AndrueC]

1 hour ago, Catlover said:

Something in the back of my mind, Andrue, saying I heard in the past it’s best to keep you car in a draughty area, maybe outside, rather then a snug warm garage. If I remember right, it’s because underbody road dirt more likely to dry out in a draughty area.  Suppose it’s like washing on the line will dry out better on a windy day rather then a still sunny day.

Yeah I've known people say that a garage means rust is more likely as the car takes longer to dry out and condensation can form. But modern cars are fairly immune to rust and at this time of year I appreciate a garage. As a result of the kitchen work I've had to leave my car outside for the week and it definitely reminds me of the advantages of a garage 🙂