Quote:
Originally Posted by Red Herring
And if the OP was talking about something exciting I would sort of get that argument, but he's looking for something small reliable and cheap.......
I don't think there are many new city cars that will be significantly "safer" than a ten year old Yaris, and if you want to argue a case on eco grounds I doubt the increased carbon footprint generated by driving the older car into the ground would be any worse than that caused by the production of the new car and the disposal of the old one.
Pretty much the only gain from continually updating your vehicle is had by the manufactures and supply chain. I prefer to spend my money on enjoying what I have!
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OP here: I don't
need to change it. I inherited the car from my late Dad and he was disappointed in it compared to his previous Yaris. Why? As mentioned previously the gearbox is not pleasant to use in the lower gears. There's a suggestion on the Yaris forum that there's an issue with the slip rings on the synchromesh but Toyota won't recall the cars but have modified the design. It affects the 6 speed, the previous Yaris was a 5 and was fine. My Dad was also surprised (annoyed) to find that the new 1.3 Yaris was taxed in a higher bracket (more CO2? I never checked). The Yaris dash on these older models is in the centre of the dash - on the previous model it was digital and clearly legible - on this one it's analog with a red on orange display which cannot be seen in sunshine.
The car isn't in bad condition (for 11 years old) but Dad was still driving at 90 years old (I tried to stop him) and navigating the gateposts was proving difficult unless he did it by contact
- there's a few minor scrapes. I also dropped the Z900RS on it which has scraped the bumper (the bikes ok though in case you were worried). The a/c condenser has a hole in it and new one is £500 (from Toyota) and it's still on its original battery (after 11 years! - amazing).
The car is bigger than what I need - I'm small, don't carry passengers and a narrower car would help with moving my bikes around although it's not a big deal.
I'm fortunate inasamuch as money isn't an issue. I am seriously worried* that our country's economy is screwed and I think people like me, if they have the money to spare, should spend it because younger people have been badly shafted and frequently don't have the cash to spend. Ideally, this would be on UK products but there isn't a small UK car, so the next best thing is helping the local dealer.
* I worry about a lot of things.