Thinking of buying a Yaris Cross

[SinglePointSafety]

I would add that - important for me - the other thing in the YC's favour was the availability of a detachable towbar. That's been totally brilliant and I've posted some photos on this forum. IIRC the Honda Jazz didn't offer a factory-fitted towbar when I looked at the brochure and accessories info. The salesperson told me one could be fitted, and of course these people never lie, do they.....

[deaf JEFF]

1 hour ago, dcweather said:

@deaf JEFF I would like to say I hope I haven't put you off the Yaris Cross. I was very picky about dimensions, height and so on and feel that my Renault Captur and now the Cross are amongst the very few self charging hybrids that meet my main criteria of economy and price. No doubt most of the other contenders  are much more expensive. I have looked and I can't find any with the spec of the Cross that I can get for £6k deposit and £265 p.m.  For example my friend has a Kia Niro which does seem smoother but is a bit bigger and about £7k more to buy.
At 73 my demands are probably different to many. But how good was it in that recent bitter spell to completely defrost my car, heat the seats and the steering wheel from the mobile app in my lounge, then 5 minutes later just go out and drive off. Almost worth getting for that alone. Then with both hands full of shopping to put your foot under the boot and watch it open in front of you saving two lots of bending down !😉

I think you should try out all your choices and go on the forums for any other choices as well. Then you can make your own informed decision about all the different compromises there will undoubtedly be.

No Dave, i was glad of your honest opinion but i take it for what it is ,your personal opinion ,and whats important for some others will disregard👍. The 1st most important thing for me is to be able to get in the car otherwise its tit,s up straight away 🙂.

My friend wanted a Nero, picked the car, signed the paperwork and was told an 8 month wait, when he done a bit more digging with other Kia dealers who were mostly saying 15 months wait he cancelled and got his deposit back and bought a Tesla which hes very happy with, this was a year or two ago though.

I will try all the other forums eventually, even took my Karoq for a 70 mile run yesterday after months of just doing the 2 mile runs to town and back and it was so good i just might keep it yet

 

[Tommy X]

10 hours ago, deaf JEFF said:

 

 

I will try all the other forums eventually, even took my Karoq for a 70 mile run yesterday after months of just doing the 2 mile runs to town and back and it was so good i just might keep it yet

 

Jeff, I found the Yaris Cross easy to get in and out of the front seats, not so easy in the rear, with respect, looking on car forums will drive you up the wall, so many differing opinions (bit like on here😉) but it will give you some food for thought. Sounds like a good idea to keep your Karoq, I've driven one and found it good to drive, I think Skoda's are a good solid, well built cars,  has your Karoq been reliable?       

[dcweather]

14 hours ago, SinglePointSafety said:

The sound deadening was done by John Kleis audio in Reading, who did a very thorough and neat job, they sent me lots of photos, and a video of the process is also on their YouTube channel, so I'm confident that they actually did what they claim. They used a lot of material, many 10s of kg total weight, did the boot/rear wheel arches, both doors, which they reckon is enough and anything else is diminishing returns. It took them several days non-stop to do the work: I did think of doing it myself, but I simply didn't have the time nor the inclination

I don't recall the precise cost of the sound deadening because I also asked them to also change the front speakers, total bill IIRC was a tad under £2K - but prices may well have increased since then

When you close the rear doors you now get a lovely 'thunk' rather than 'clang' - the front doors on the YC were already pretty solid-sounding. JK staff reckon that Japanese-design cars are often a bit short of sound-deadening, perhaps because all their roads are immaculate and thus road noise simply isn't an issue. Nor is it in the bits of the glorious, prosperous EU that I've driven in (where the cars are made and probably the biggest non-Asian market) it's only the bankrupt UK that has both rough-surfaced and cratered roads

Good grief - I think I'll put put up with the noise for a  couple of years.!

[Tommy X]

43 minutes ago, dcweather said:

Good grief - I think I'll put put up with the noise for a  couple of years.!

The point is you shouldn't need to do it, that was Toyota's job when building them 

[deaf JEFF]

30 minutes ago, Tommy X said:

The point is you shouldn't need to do it, that was Toyota's job when building them 

Exactly, they could incorporate soundproofing into the cars production for probably a hundred ish quid extra on the price of the car

[Parts-King]

Manufacturers will use a bit of glue instead of a bolt to save weight and cost. Everything is made to a price, fitting sound deadening to save a few DB will not be on the radar hence you don't get it for the price paid, harsh but true in any manufacturing situation. 

[deaf JEFF]

3 hours ago, Tommy X said:

Jeff, I found the Yaris Cross easy to get in and out of the front seats, not so easy in the rear, with respect, looking on car forums will drive you up the wall, so many differing opinions (bit like on here😉) but it will give you some food for thought. Sounds like a good idea to keep your Karoq, I've driven one and found it good to drive, I think Skoda's are a good solid, well built cars,  has your Karoq been reliable?       

My Karoq was registered on the 30/09/2019 and has done 28500 trouble free miles so far. Had a Seat Ateca before my Karoq which as you know is practically the same car but different maker, and the Skoda is much better built in my opinion. My friend has a VW Tiguan (same car again) and the build quality, ride ,soundproofing and comfort is better again, and thats with his 21" wheels on.

To be honest i came on this forum, asked if people was still happy with their Yaris x, expected half a dozen replies (if i was lucky) thank the posters and then join the VW T Cross forum with the same question. To say i was overwhelmed with all the answers here is an understatement . I started thanking the posters then got in a muddle because i thought they were replying to someone else so i took a step back and just replied to a couple of people , and thats where i am at the moment 😁 Not in any particular hurry any way though

 

[Primus1]

I like Skodas, but my wife hates them, I think it goes back to her mum having one back in the late seventies, a rapid coupe, they were a bit of a joke back then but now they are arguably the better make in the vw group, I’d love a karoq but I’m not sure it would fit in my garage anyway, I really like my Yaris cross though I think it would be hard to go back to any normal non hybrid car as I love the diesel like economy, I’m sure there are things with the op,s car that aren’t perfect, no car is I guess it depends what you want out of a car..

[SinglePointSafety]

I had a VAG car, with the DSG auto, before the YC. The DSG auto can vary in its smoothness according to brand/model, but in my experience most are a bit 'lumpy' at low speed, especially when cold. In contrast the hybrid CVTe box is literally like driving an EV at low speed - totally, utterly seamless and passengers who experience this for the first time are suitably impressed when the car pulls away smoothly and silently. Yes, the YC engine isn't the quietest but - my car at least - it's pretty smooth, and the sound-deadening has (unexpectedly) decreased the engine noise. There's been some discussion on this forum regarding the effect of various fuel qualities eg E5 vs. E10, experimenting with that right now, will report back if I can

Agree about Skoda build quality - colleague has a Superb, and it's suitably named, very impressive cabin materials and fit/finish, nicely quiet, even with its diesel engine, once it's at cruising speed. But, but... perhaps she's been unlucky, the car's spent many days on many occasions at the local dealership whilst they sort out the various faults, including a new DSG gearbox - which now at least works, but it's much less smooth than the car's original and unfortunately is starting to make some unwelcome noises ("they all sound like that madam". Yeah, right....)

[Tommy X]

1 hour ago, SinglePointSafety said:

I had a VAG car, with the DSG auto, before the YC. The DSG auto can vary in its smoothness according to brand/model, but in my experience most are a bit 'lumpy' at low speed, especially when cold. In contrast the hybrid CVTe box is literally like driving an EV at low speed - totally, utterly seamless and passengers who experience this for the first time are suitably impressed when the car pulls away smoothly and silently. Yes, the YC engine isn't the quietest but - my car at least - it's pretty smooth, and the sound-deadening has (unexpectedly) decreased the engine noise. There's been some discussion on this forum regarding the effect of various fuel qualities eg E5 vs. E10, experimenting with that right now, will report back if I can

Agree about Skoda build quality - colleague has a Superb, and it's suitably named, very impressive cabin materials and fit/finish, nicely quiet, even with its diesel engine, once it's at cruising speed. But, but... perhaps she's been unlucky, the car's spent many days on many occasions at the local dealership whilst they sort out the various faults, including a new DSG gearbox - which now at least works, but it's much less smooth than the car's original and unfortunately is starting to make some unwelcome noises ("they all sound like that madam". Yeah, right....)

Keith, I agree the YC ECVT transmission is very good, smooth and seamless, and yes DSG transmissions can be different depending on which VAG car you have, with my Seat Arona 1.5 EVO DSG I could feel the gearchanges from 1st - 2nd - 3rd then things settled down through the higher gears, my VW T Cross 1.0 ltr DSG is much smoother right through the gears, one of my dislikes of DSG boxes is they change up through the gears too quickly to help fuel economy and are reluctant to change down when the car slows,it holds on to a high gear for too long which can make the car hesitate slightly before moving off again, you don't get this with the ECVT  

[dcweather]

Back to the sound proofing. I've looked ine boot footwell and there is nothing, just thin steel! So that would be easy to self do. Also if you remove the hatch for the rear light access you can get to some of that wheel arch which is also bare metal. There is a bit of felt stuck on the back of the hatch! So they could be done easily. Would it make a difference because I don't fancy ripping trim out really. The front carpets also seem thin and a very baggy fit but hard to see how you could easily lift them. I haven't looked under the bonnet yet to see if there is any scope there.

[Tommy X]

10 hours ago, dcweather said:

Back to the sound proofing. I've looked ine boot footwell and there is nothing, just thin steel! So that would be easy to self do. Also if you remove the hatch for the rear light access you can get to some of that wheel arch which is also bare metal. There is a bit of felt stuck on the back of the hatch! So they could be done easily. Would it make a difference because I don't fancy ripping trim out really. The front carpets also seem thin and a very baggy fit but hard to see how you could easily lift them. I haven't looked under the bonnet yet to see if there is any scope there.

Dave, I put some soundproofing in the boot area but didn't remove any trim, can't say it made much difference, no harm trying for yourself, I think the  options in the engine bay are very limited and would probably be better from the inside of the car, removing the cardboard carpets to do the floorpan.