Stuck between yaris mk2 1.3 vs 1.33. What year to buy ?

[HYS5]

Which yaris engine is better ? i have heard mixed reviews about this. Please advise thanks 🙂 

[FROSTYBALLS]

The 1.33 may suffer from increased oil consumption later in life. 

One main difference between the 1.3 and 1.33 cars (not specifically the engines), is that the 1.3 will have a 5 speed gearbox whereas the 1.33 will have a 6 speed.

[john p williams]

4 minutes ago, FROSTYBALLS said:

The 1.33 may suffer from increased oil consumption later in life. 

One main difference between the 1.3 and 1.33 cars (not specifically the engines), is that the 1.3 will have a 5 speed gearbox whereas the 1.33 will have a 6 speed.

Does not the Mk2 have the MMT Automatic Gearbox option which has proved troublesome and unreliable ?

[FROSTYBALLS]

1 minute ago, john p williams said:

Does not the Mk2 have the MMT Automatic Gearbox option which has proved troublesome and unreliable ?

Yes. 

[HYS5]

Is there a gearbox issue ? i have read about this

[FROSTYBALLS]

30 minutes ago, HYS5 said:

Is there a gearbox issue ? i have read about this

Which gearbox?

[HYS5]

Manual gearbox for both 1.3 and 1.33 ?

 

[john p williams]

1 hour ago, HYS5 said:

Is there a gearbox issue ? i have read about this

read this in full Hassan  https://www.honestjohn.co.uk/carbycar/toyota/yaris-2006/

[Cyker]

IMHO get the 1.3.

After our idiot mayor forced me to get rid of my Mk1 D4D I changed to a Mk2 1.33 because I wanted to stick with the £30 road tax (The 1.3 was £130, probably more now!), and liked the novelty of 6-speed.

However that car has been the most unreliable car I've owned - The entire AC system was leaking, literally every pipe and seal were full of micro leaks, and the compressor clutch was failing and only engaged above 3000rpm, and I was told by Toyota it was an internal clutch and so the whole thing would need replacing (To be fair, probably due to lack of maintenance by previous owners, but none of the Mk1s I've owned had so many AC problems and they are much older cars!), the engine was consuming more and more oil (Was at a litre a fortnight before I chucked it in) and to top it off the gearbox failed catastrophically, and I was getting stupidly high quotes for replacement or even repair (Eventually found a breakers in Wales who sold me one for £150 rather than the £700+ local breakers and repairers were quoting me!). Even after it was replaced I could feel the gears were still not right and eventually bit the bullet and scrapped it for a Mk4 after my dealer incorrectly diagnosed the AC faults and charged me for repairs that didn't fix the problem.

The 1.3 has more or less the same running gear as the Mk1, so tried and tested bullet proof and far easier to get parts for - The 1.33 had a very short run in the Mk2 and I found parts for it a bit trickier to find. The engine just feels shoe-horned into the car - There is a huge gap where the airbox would normally go in the 1.0 and 1.3, while the 1.33's airbox is squshed at the back under the scuttle panel and is a right beep in the beep to get the air filter out of without removing the scuttle panel first.

Unless you want a Mk2 specifically, I'd say consider a Mk1 - They had FAR better build quality than the Mk2s, esp. the japanese-built Mk1s like my old D4D. By comparison I feel the Mk2 (At least my one) had about the same build quality as early Tesla Model S's! Some of the panel gaps are almost wide enough to poke a finger through!

I'm so glad I got rid of it, I really hated that car!

[Stevie J]

Ive got the 1.3 in mine, and the A/C system has failed on mine also - the system was regassed in January this year at Kwik Fit and 3 weeks later it had stopped blowing cold again. It was only when I was checking under the bonnet to do the usual oil check that I noticed oil all along the plastic cover under the radiator and it was dripping from the pipe union where the A/C pipe connects to the condenser, so yeah, it leaked, and this was not picked up by Kwik Fit's machine that is supposed to check for leaks. My last Yaris, a Mk1 1999 CDX suffered from failed A/C too - kept leaking the charge out so I just give up with A/C on cars older than about 10 years old, they never seem to work without leaks.

As far as my engine is concerned, there has never been an issue with the engine as such, it uses NO oil at all between the 6K oil changes, the oil never moves off Full on the dipstick, and apart from niggly chirping on the drivebelt when started from cold which vanishes when warmed up, the engine has run like a singer sewing machine, lol. I certainly cant fault it, but you need to get one which has had regular oil changes as they dont react well to neglect of the oil, and also water pumps can fail after about 60 - 70K miles on these engines, so always check the coolant level weekly, as small leaks can go undetected and with these cars not having a temperature gauge, only a red warning light which you dont sometimes notice if the sun is shining on the display, leaks can cause overheating and serious engine damage.

My mother has the 1.33 engine with 6 speed box in her 2014 Yaris Icon, and it seems OK so far, but its only done 26K miles so time will tell as to the oil consumption on it. My own gearbox is a 5 speed but its a pretty awful box, with awful clutch action so often crunches into reverse and sometimes when the gearbox is hot it can drag, meaning the clutch does not completely free the drive even at full pedal depression, and this is something Honest John says too, so even the 5 speed boxes can have their issues on the MK2. I get used to the very low biting point, and leave a bit of time between first and second as sometimes this can baulk if done too quickly, again down to the finicky clutch, and I have bled the slave cylinder which makes no difference to the very low biting point - it just seems to be the way the early Mk2 clutches are, as if Honest John has reported the issue of dragging clutches that dont always fully disengage the drive, it must be fairly common.

[bathtub tom]

Wasn't the sliding rear seat discontinued on S3 models?

[Shavestick]

I have a MY 59 Mk2 with the 1.33 engine and six gear box.

I am a second owner and got her at 40k now on 130k.

One thing you need to do with any car AC is to service it every two years. This is a point our mobile AC specialist always make.

Preferably don't use outfits like Kwikfit to do it, I don't need to tell you why.

Service is about £70 and includes a full inspection.

Apparently AC is a service item but most brands including Toyota don't insist you follow it, but you should.

So far with this service regime I never had an issue with the AC.

Oil consumption is slightly higher since 100k. About a litre between the services. I always used 5w30 fully synthetic despite the manual guidance for 0w20. In the early years 5w30 is what our Toyota dealer filled so I stuck to this grade.

In reality the only issue I had was a stuck passenger door molested by one of the kids by spilling something sugary.

You are right, the plastic on the headlights is like new and I don't keep her indoor.

 

[bathtub tom]

1 hour ago, Shavestick said:

One thing you need to do with any car AC is to service it every two years. This is a point our mobile AC specialist always make.

Preferably don't use outfits like Kwikfit to do it, I don't need to tell you why.

Service is about £70 and includes a full inspection.

Last car I had (Nissan) had the A/C re-gassed after around seven years. It had lost about 20%. I had my Yaris re-gassed this year after about six years. It had lost about 30%.

The A/C's still crap!

[Cyker]

In my Mk1, I regassd it after I bought it and never had to regas it again in the 5 or so years I owned it!

I really hope the Mk4 has similar longevity, as it uses the newer r1234yf refrigerant which is really expensive compared to r134, and as it's a hybrid it'll need special compressor oil which I bet is also expensive!! 

My one hope is to try and emulate frosty, who apparently uses the AC all the time and never seems to need to regas his cars 

[FROSTYBALLS]

Yes, we just leave our air con switched on all the time whether it is climate control or manual. That's since at least 2006 over eight cars. Between 1998 and 2006 manual air con was used at least 20 minutes a week, often more, over six cars.

[Cyker]

Ordinarily it's not something I'd do as it does hit the mpg; Not so much in my old D4D, but very much so in the 1.33 VVTi!

So far it doesn't seem to affect the Mk4 so much - Haven't turned it off since I got it and still getting high-60s/low-70s. Gotta love that high-voltage electric pump!

Out of curiosity frosty, how often do you need to get a regas, roughly, since you went with your always-on policy?

[Shavestick]

I also leave the AC running all year round in our 1.33 TR, can't say I saw any significant difference in mpg to not have it on.

Below is what goes into my two years AC service, this is not the same as repassing.

Initial system test
Check system components such as hoses, belts, condenser, compressor, fans, electrics etc
Check internal system controls, flaps, heating etc
Recover any existing refrigerant from the system
Vacuum A/C system
Regas (recharge) A/C system with refrigerant to vehicle specific levels
Add A/C oil and leak detection dye
Leak test components
Full post re-gas system test
Update service records.

BTW our aerial rubber also perished after ten years, the innards are made of copper so no risk of rusting. At the time I wrapped some black canvas type Gorilla tape around it and it's still there after a year, better than throwing a perfectly good aerial otherwise.