How much is enough?

[forkingabout]

3 hours ago, Rhymes with Paris said:

So with the Peugeot then, was this when the fashion started of putting tiny highly stressed engines in cars? Was it a turbo petrol?

 

Yeah 1.2 petrol direct injection 3 cylinder turbo 130 bhp / 230 Nm torque.

[Cyker]

Hoooo 159.9! That's not bad... it's dropped to 171.9 here!

I also tried the left-foot braking when I got the Mk4, but found it slower than using my right foot so now it just rests on the dead pedal

I also take most auto-reviews with a big pinch of salt for the reasons you mention - They don't have the car long enough, and a lot of the manufacturers are good at delivering a much better first impression than Toyota, but hide all the problems as a surprise for the unsuspecting long-term owner...

(I think I mentioned in another thread, I'm always shocked at how much stuff other people need replacing on their cars, that just lasts for most of the life of the car on my Toyotas!)

[Rhymes with Paris]

Re auto reviews, I used to enjoy watching regular car reviews on you tube.

But limited now,as data limits on this phone.

They looked at a wide variety of  cars of different ages, and took the views of the owner into account.

American guys, and visited UK too.

As regards Toyota longevity,AFAIK,if that's the correct acronym, this old tsport has had tyres, batteries, and services, nothing else.

Still on original exhaust, and everything else.

So the original build quality must have been quite something in 2003.

I am possibly a luddite, but my view is, the more that is added on, the more to go wrong,as evidenced by so many failures of expensive components here, and hearing from friends with newer cars.

[Big_D]

I'm out on the road again tomorrow. I'll probably need to fill up again at some point so will look around and see where I can get some decent fuel at a reasonable price.

[Cyker]

1 hour ago, Rhymes with Paris said:

As regards Toyota longevity,AFAIK,if that's the correct acronym,

 

Eyyy you'll be jiving with the kids on the internets yet!  

 

1 hour ago, Rhymes with Paris said:

this old tsport has had tyres, batteries, and services, nothing else.

Still on original exhaust, and everything else.

So the original build quality must have been quite something in 2003.

I am possibly a luddite, but my view is, the more that is added on, the more to go wrong,as evidenced by so many failures of expensive components here, and hearing from friends with newer cars.

I do think the Toyotas of that period were of particularly good quality, esp the jappy built ones; Collectively we had 2 Yarisususes, a Corolla and a Corolla Verso (All diesels  ) registered in the early 2000s and they were all mostly faultless and felt really nice to be in. The Corolla in particularly was a very solid feeling car and the 2.0L diesel engine in that thing had so much torque it felt like it could tow a house!  

I agree about more stuff being detrimental to reliability - That's why Dacia has a weird reputation for reliability despite being owned by a french company - There's nothing on the car to go wrong  

I think the biggest problem has always been electrics, and now software. As much as I poke fun at french workmanship, a lot of french engines are actually quite solid - The no-frills no-nonsense diesel engines they've made have been more reliable than they get credit for.

It's the electronics and software are the things that tend to go wrong more than the mechanicals, and they are often nigh-impossible to diagnose as, unlike mechanicals, the problem can be totally unrelated to the apparent symptoms, and mechanics are not electricians or software engineers...

 

[Rhymes with Paris]

Aye, I had read about Dacia being no frills and reliable, cheap too.

Never driven or sat in one though,so dunno if I would consider one, although I read somewhere that they are the only car on sale in UK now that can be had without "infotainment" screens, which would be a plus for me in a new car.

What anyone finds entertaining about bouncing along on potholed roads with their left hand hovering up and down trying to touch a control icon is beyond me.🙄

Unless I have the wrong impression of these systems of course.

Yeah jiving with the kids on the internet's, round here we call it DODH, or dabbing on da hood 😁

I am going to have to start using the letter A to represent acronym at this rate.

 

 

[Mojo1010]

I use the Infotainment screen for sat nav mainly so it need to be big and high up so my eyes still have some line of sight on the front view. Then it's for music and other info regarding the car like tyre pressures etc. Forgot one thing, reverse camera as well. 

I learnt from experiences and dont touch the screen when driving, only when stationary. So I like the screen to be reasonably big. 

My current MK3 yaris has a older style lower info screen, newer cars now have higher up screen this is great, at last they have learnt!

Edit: I use standalone sat nav on the window due to lower screen on my car (it doesn't come with sat nav anyway).

[Rhymes with Paris]

Ah, thanks Mojo, I understand a bit better now.

I had imagined that major controls like heating and air con etc, and simple things like radio volume control that you need on the move were all integrated on a screen with a load of menus and sub menus to fiddle around with.

[Mojo1010]

Volumn controls are usually incorporated on the steering wheel. Many cars have physical buttons for those big controls, very few cars has it all on the screens. 

I want physical controls for heating/air con, no way all on the screen, it would take too long and dangerous on the move to toggle for the right controls to use. Below is a image of the MK4 Yaris with 8" screen. Below the screen, the main controls are physical buttons. The newer 9" screens has no buttons the screen.  Kia has touch buttons toggles on their new setup. 

[Cyker]

Totally agree for physical controls; It's one of my bugbears with Teslas (You have to use the touchscreen to change the wiper settings!!!)  and the VW EVs in particular (They have touch controls *pretending* to be physical controls; That's like the worst of both worlds!! Want to change the volume on the radio? Oops you've turned your hazards on! Do they not test these things with real humans?? Gaah!)

I was just trying to pick a different playlist of songs the other day - As you say, impossible to safely select while driving because it's impossible to stab at that precise part of the screen while your arm is being bounced by the road, and you have to look at the screen too long while doing it! It's an annoying oversight that stuff is not controllable from the steering wheel, just skipping songs and volume control.

Thankfully I discovered the left jog dial of the Mk4's headunit can be used to cycle through things and push to select, so I was able to use that without taking my eyes of the road to do what I wanted to do, but jeez these car manufacturers need to do a course on human-machine interfaces and ergonomics!

I have to say, it's one thing I like about BMWs -  Their iDrive system. It's just a nice big rotary dial with a push that you can use to scroll through and select options on the infotainment without having to look around or take your eyes off the road; It's really nice to use compared to a touchscreen.

Touchscreens are great if you're not moving, but absolutely suck on the move unless you have a passenger to operate it. If you could rest your finger on it and then push to actually select the option it wouldn't be so bad, but because you have to stab the right spot in one go, it's just unusable as you're bouncing along - It's so easy to just brush it accidentally in the wrong place and suddenly it's trying to call the mother in law or something while you frantically stab the cancel button and drive into a hedge.

(To clarify this is just hypothetical and I have never done this!  )

 

[Catlover]

17 hours ago, Rhymes with Paris said:

Re auto reviews, I used to enjoy watching regular car reviews on you tube.

But limited now,as data limits on this phone.

Hi Paul, from what you have said I am assuming you are on a contract to buy a phone together with a package of data/calls/texts.  If that is the case, my advice is always look at the total contract lifetime costs and then compare the cost of buying the phone you want outright (at the best price YOU can get) and then add on the price of the package YOU want. Mobile phone shops want you to buy what they want you to have, why?, so they can profit from the sale. Just like you have found out, sometimes the package they sell you doesn’t match your needs.

I have just bought a new phone to the market, 6.5” LED screen, 128gb storage, 6gb ram, fast enough processor to do all I want a phone to do. It is getting extremely good reviews for its LED screen, brightness (important for outside use especially sunny days), and it’s camera. I the shops £190, direct from manufactures offices in the UK £150, with a two year warranty and delivery included. I buy a package of unlimited minutes/unlimited texts/4gb data for £6 per month, this is a “rolling month”, meaning I can give a month notice and go elsewhere. I watch YouTube like you. 4gb data is fine because whilst at home I can use Wi-Fi. However there are many packages now giving unlimited calls & texts with 6pm or 8gb data for £10 or less.

Massive savings is what I am saying Paul, by buying a phone and sourcing the data package separately.

[Rhymes with Paris]

Hello Joe, thank you so much for such a detailed post.

I'm afraid I may have been unintentionally misleading with my mention of data limits.

What I have is a Nokia g 11, on the Tesco network, which I think piggybacks onto O2.

I have what Tesco calls a "rocket pack" which gives more minutes and texts than I ever use, and 10gb of data for £10, needs topping up on the 28th of every month.

This is a PAYG jobby,no contract.

I do not have WiFi at home, no internet connection (long story involving diamond cable and gardeners cutting cable) not to mention cost, even if I did.

So all internet access is on this mobile only and network, apart from free WiFi when I do a bit of shopping the other end of town.

While 10gb is enough usually for me coming on here and looking up the news etc,it soon eats it on YouTube or any video.

So realistically I look up YouTube on the 27th of the month if any data left to use up,or sat in the car park at Waitrose while picking up my quails eggs and lobster 😂.

Your new phone sounds brilliant and had I not just got this one at the end of May I would be seriously be looking at one.

So much appreciated that you made such a helpful post, to others aswell as me I would guess.

[Rhymes with Paris]

Cyker, not sure which would be worse, the mother in law or the hedge.

Not that I have a mother in-law now, but used to enjoy Les Dawson back in the day.

Not all of the comedians now considered "politically incorrect" btw, I find things funny or not funny based on quality of delivery really.

 

[Catlover]

2 hours ago, Rhymes with Paris said:

Hello Joe, thank you so much for such a detailed post.

So all internet access is on this mobile only and network, apart from free WiFi when I do a bit of shopping the other end of town.

An ok. I see now, using data only for everything……it obviously limits you.           
You are right, Tesco use 02. And as long as you get enough minutes/texts, £10 for 10gb is very reasonable.

[Bper]

Anyone seen any more reductions in petrol prices . Only seen local supermarket  £1.76p still not dropping anywhere near the original prices £165.7p

[Big_D]

I paid £1.689 per litre yesterday

[Cyker]

So I drove (Well, crawled very slowly) past a Tesco this morning and it was 172.9, but going back past it on the way home it was 166.9!!  

 

[Bper]

If all these supermarkets no doubt talk to each other why are they not all dropping the price to encourage shoppers into there stores.

Many motorists are travelling miles to get a few pence off as it makes a difference. 

[Big_D]

1 hour ago, Bper said:

Many motorists are travelling miles to get a few pence off as it makes a difference. 

I travel past our local petrol station to one about 5 miles away. Admittedly it's still on the route to where I'm going, so it's not a detour or me going out of my way to find cheaper fuel.

But, every time I fill up, I am saving money. Yesterday when I filled up I saved 6p per litre. I filled up with 28.9 litres and saved £1.73. Although it;s not a huge saving, I can at lest say my next loaf of bread is paid for in the money I've saved on fuel. Add it up over a month, and its a free pint !!

[Rhymes with Paris]

I go up the bypass, about 6 miles, to the other end of town to fill up.

Several reasons:

They have Shell v power, which rightly or wrongly I prefer.

It gives the car some exercise as in I can get the engine warm and stretch it a bit, up to motorway speeds.

The staff are all pleasant.

It has the most cameras I have ever seen in a filling station, which I think deters the types who would need to study for a year to pass a urine test.

It has plenty of room around the pumps, so avoiding the permanently surprised and annoyed drivers who get really wound up over a 3 second delay caused by me,who cannot move very fast.

Only this last Tuesday there was a security guard from the adjoining supermarket and several staff chasing some 3 stripe clad morons who had probably been employing some five fingered discount,so they are definitely on it,as they say.

It may be a couple of pence per litre dearer than others round here, but for those reasons it is worth it to me.

[Bper]

I don't know about everyone else but we are not seeing local petrol prices drop any further from either supermarket's or retailers. It appears the cost of living and the energy crisis has become the main focus. However, will this mean that there is no longer any need to lower petrol prices further as the intention is to get us used to these higher prices?

If this is the case will this be the same with the increased food and energy costs? 

[Cyker]

I refuelled yesterday for 162.9!  

[Bper]

1.76p here look at the difference in price.

[Cyker]

If you have a smartphone, I highly recommend the PetrolPrices app for finding the cheapest nearby

[Bper]

Already have the app. 30 mile round journey to make any real difference.