Yaris Cross Excel Ride

[dcweather]

Has anybody got an Excel?. Is the ride on 18" wheels as bad as I read? We have a lot of pot holes and speed ramps round here and I really want the Excel version for the other stuff. Why on earth do most manufacturers go out of their way to make their most luxurious high specs cars less comfortable and less economical by sticking bigger wheels on them !!!

[anchorman]

38 minutes ago, dcweather said:

Has anybody got an Excel?. Is the ride on 18" wheels as bad as I read? We have a lot of pot holes and speed ramps round here and I really want the Excel version for the other stuff. Why on earth do most manufacturers go out of their way to make their most luxurious high specs cars less comfortable and less economical by sticking bigger wheels on them !!!

I find mine perfect.  It’s firm but not too much in my opinion.  What does irritate me are the seats which are over bolstered.  The lower models are far better.  

[Tel 2]

Don's Post is correct on the Ride given we both have AWD rear suspension that is said to be smoother than the 2 wheel drive version on 18" wheels.

Tel

[Roy124]

I have FWD and find the seats as comfortable as my Corolla before. 

[Tel 2]

No issue with my seats either but remember we all have different skeletal forms.

Tel

[SinglePointSafety]

I found the Excel to have an OK ride on good but lumpy surfaces (if that makes sense) but the 18-inch wheels really thumped and crashed badly on potholes and other road imperfections (which, where I live, is pretty much all of the roads, and they're getting worse, not better)

I opted to store the original wheels and tyres, and fitted smaller 16-inch wheels with all-season 65-profile tyres (there's a thread on this forum). Big improvement in 'imperfect road' ride and a significant reduction in road noise

I too really like the Excel trim and what it offers. Seat comfort is hugely personal, but those in the Excel suit me just fine

[chazbri]

I have had an Excel for over a year now and have found the 18-inch wheels Ok although I haven't tried a Cross with any smaller to compare. The seats are fine for me but as other comments say comfort is a personal choice.

[Roy124]

My solution to potholes is to badger the Highways department using Fix My Street and emphasise H&S.  We have a contactor who uses a cut and hot tarmac repair rather than the temporary, lumpy, cold tarmac. 

Had some holes repaired in days. Not all but many. 

[Cyker]

Oh you've just reminded me, this is a good one:

There's a road I sometimes go down that has become extremely uneven due to subsidence; They repaired it maybe 10 years ago but didn't do a proper job apparently, as it's been slowly sinking over time and has gotten so bad again it undulates like a rollercoaster ride, and you can see where the underside of many cars has gouged channels into the tarmac.

I've reported it several times, and last week I've noticed that, rather than fix it, and to avoid being culpable for any damage, they've put an uneven surface warning triangle

sign there instead!

 

[Roy124]

There was a back road into Boston.  A typical Fen road.  I think the dug the  !Removed!, piled the spoilt on the side and, a couple of hundred years later, laid tarmac on top. 

Driving down at 50 was exhilarating. You used the full width of the  road, it was like mogulling, driving round the dips and swinging round the craters. For the motorist coming the other way, if they didn't know, a collision was inevitable. 

[dcweather]

@Keith - thanks for the comments. Was that extremely expensive to replace all 4 wheels and would that invalidate th insurance as a "modification" if it wasn't declared? No doubt they would use it as an excuse to whack the premium up!

[dcweather]

@SinglePointSafety and fitted smaller 16-inch wheels with all-season 65-profile tyres (there's a thread on this forum).

Can you remember the thread title - can't find it in  search?

[Aygolite]

2 hours ago, dcweather said:

@SinglePointSafety and fitted smaller 16-inch wheels with all-season 65-profile tyres (there's a thread on this forum).

Can you remember the thread title - can't find it in search?

Yaris Cross, smaller wheels, bigger tyres

[SinglePointSafety]

On 5/29/2023 at 11:11 PM, dcweather said:

Was that extremely expensive to replace all 4 wheels and would that invalidate th insurance as a "modification" if it wasn't declared? No doubt they would use it as an excuse to whack the premium up!

The wheels were ~£100 each (about a quarter of toyota's price) and when the car is sold, we'll sell the wheels and tyres (did that very successfully with a previous car). Insurance company totally happy, wheels are a standard Toyota size and going smaller: in contrast fitting bigger wheels tends to bother the insurance companies, their risk algorithms don't like 'bling'

[anchorman]

Did I mention!!!

 

I’ve got 4 Good Year tyres with no more than 15 miles on them.  £200 will buy them.

[Hicardo]

I'm happy with the ride and handling on my Excel.  It doesn't ride smoothly, but it feels sporty and pointy (just trying to sound like a magazine reviewer ..hah 😁

[Cyker]

You have to complain more about scratchy plastics, infotainment graphics and 0-60 times over 4 seconds to pass for one of those  

 

[CruxisCore]

11 hours ago, Cyker said:

You have to complain more about scratchy plastics, infotainment graphics and 0-60 times over 4 seconds to pass for one of those  

 

As I was making a decision for Yaris Cross, it was the first time Ive really extensively looked at car review videos. I've had my Aygo X for a year now and this is the first time Im touching plastics in the car. I was just wondering to my better half that "why do car reviewers put so much weight on the plastics? ive had this car for a year and it never crossed my mind to be touching this plastic between the dashboard and the wind screen".

My better half has a Volvo with 230something horse power. My Aygo has 72hp. When I accelerate to 0-60 in normal use, it's not much faster in the volvo as i dont floor the thing anyways lol. But surely it's still a little more eager to get up to speed than the aygo.

[Cyker]

I never got it either, but I guess I have different priorities - I prefer money be spend on the drive train and reliability, rather than wasted on how a piece of plastic I'm never going to touch looks and feels like, but others genuinely put value on such things.

I find the plastic scratchers tend to be customers of german car marques, who have been loosing reliability year on year, but still some people prefer them, presumably because of the more luxury feeling plastics.

As for the Aygo, I suspect the Volvo weighs a lot more which would handicap its acceleration a bit  

[Rhymes with Paris]

The plastic on the Tsport looks like an elephant's backside TBH.

But I don't care, I still stroke it lovingly.

 

[CruxisCore]

5 hours ago, Cyker said:

I never got it either, but I guess I have different priorities - I prefer money be spend on the drive train and reliability, rather than wasted on how a piece of plastic I'm never going to touch looks and feels like, but others genuinely put value on such things.

I find the plastic scratchers tend to be customers of german car marques, who have been loosing reliability year on year, but still some people prefer them, presumably because of the more luxury feeling plastics.

As for the Aygo, I suspect the Volvo weighs a lot more which would handicap its acceleration a bit  

Probabl 500kg more, but it's not that it lacks oomph, it's just that I don't use it. I find that I pretty much accelerate rather peacefully regardless if the car could really do that 0-60 fast. Aygo X has like.. 15s 0-60, the Volvo might be able to do it in half but I personally as a driver still probably do 12+ s cos theres (usually) no need to actually floor it. I dont like beating the crap out of the engine 😄

I just sat in a friends Ford Focus Vignale and I have to say, the interior quality difference really is massive. It was really nice inside and felt like a premium car definitely, but like you say, I rather have the most fuel efficient hybrid power train over soft faux leather and fake wooden bits. The Yaris Cross has at least a decent amount of non-scratchy stuff on the higher parts, that's fine but I really wouldnt want to be paying 5k just for the interior and still have the car break down after 150k

[Primus1]

4 hours ago, Rhymes with Paris said:

The plastic on the Tsport looks like an elephant's backside TBH.

But I don't care, I still stroke it lovingly.

 

And his case comes up next week😀

[Rhymes with Paris]

 

41 minutes ago, Primus1 said:

And his case comes up next week😀

Hang on a minute,are pachyderm oriented persons being marginalised and persecuted now?

It is nice of course to have padded and stitched leather/alcantara interiors, I remember the inside of my old Lexus is, very plush.

It was reliable, but re the rest, maybe a lovely place to sit while awaiting the AA.

 

[Primus1]

1 hour ago, Rhymes with Paris said:

 

Hang on a minute,are pachyderm oriented persons being marginalised and persecuted now?

It is nice of course to have padded and stitched leather/alcantara interiors, I remember the inside of my old Lexus is, very plush.

It was reliable, but re the rest, maybe a lovely place to sit while awaiting the AA.

 

It wasn’t made clear just what he was stroking…

[shufman]

Morning,

A few Yaris Cross’ designs are turning up on driving tests now, 17 inch wheels seem a nice compromise but compared to my partners YC Excel, the difference between the rides isn’t night and day but the smaller wheels don’t have the harder edge.