Interesting, thank you. I would expect the Fabia with the 1.5 engine to go like stink. I had a Fabia as a courtesy car earlier this year, though, and the interior plastics were horrible. There was a kind of cowl over the instruments that looked like it was made from hardened bin bags. They may have addressed that in the Monte.

Why are new car salespeople (generally) such fools?

I have also had multiple experiences where I've walked away because of their attitude. Not being 'pushy' or anything like that, just lazy and dismissive. Have they got some idea that they are spotting times wasters?

How do they spot "time wasters"? How much do they lose if they get it wrong and brush off a genuine buyer? You have to wonder what else they would be doing with their time if it wasn't being wasted.

Whenever I have been to get a new, or very newish used car, I have pretty well decided what I want, Don't generally haggle on price, but get a spare wheel of some sort included, and say no to paint treatments, fabric treatments, Gap insurance and make that known early enough. Usually main dealer, and if a service due, make sure it is done and invoiced correctly and service booklet stamped.

Simples.

But I too have been there where I am told nonsense and just add in quietly that I spent many years in the trade..so I DO know what I am deciding for myself.

I presume that your wife's existing Fabia is a manual, and that the main reason for the change is possibly she's finind it increasingly difficult to use the clutch as well as the ease of driving generally with an auto?

I ask as I've heard from several people - here and within my own family and social circle - that changing from manual to auto can be very hard if the person hasn't had any or much use with an auto over their life, and the effect is exaccerbated in older age.

The main reason for the change is because its well beyond the 3 years we planned to swap cars when we retired.

Neither of us had issues getting used to the auto Superb. Before we bought it we drove a Volvo XC40 (2 day test drive), a Passat TSi estate and a Superb TSi and found them easy get in a simply drive. The iV is even better and we have not had a single issue swapping form manual to auto and vice versa.

But we have never attempted that much advised (but dangerous habit) of left foot braking. Keep the left leg out of the way and use the right leg just like you would in a manual. 2 weeks ago just down the road from us an 86 year old lady who had only just taken delivery of a new Yaris and been advised by the salesman to left foot brake managed to demolish a wall and write off not only her new car but the car on the drive behind said wall. Hope she is OK, she was unable to get out of the car and eventually the Police had to extricate her since her condition took a turn for the worse. Ambulance too 2 hours to attend (mid day Thursday), not good when we are only 1/2 a mile from the hospital and ambulance station.

We witnessed exactly the same in the Tesco carpark a couple of years ago when we were on holiday. Brand new Vauxhall Crossland which had just been driven from the dealership. The lady behind the wheel looked very nervous as she entered the car park and as she approached a space (plenty available - probably only 30% occupied) she violently accelerated and struck a Fiesta on its rear nearside 1/4. She was shocked and all her husband could say repeatedly to the owner of the parked Fiesta (no doubt a write off) was "but its a brand new car".

You may well know this already but the latest spec. Corolla 1.8 drivetrain is much improved over the previous - the change knocked ~ 1.8s off the 0-62mph time. Of course the 2.0 is quicker still by about the same again.

Well aware that the 1.8 has recently been improved but all they have seem to have done is reinstate the power lost to the 1.8 when the Corolla replaced the Auris. We had one of those where I worked, my own car at the time was the 1.4 TSi Leon. On paper they had similar power but on the road the Auris was dreadful.

Drove the 2.0 Corolla Estate when we bought the Superb PHEV. It was OK in isolation but once we had driven the PHEV I quickly forgot the Corolla.

Hope that you find a better Toyota dealer.

There is a problem there. The next closest dealer is the same 2 garage independent we went to Friday but just not as convenient. Other than that its a much further trip. Servicing would mean using the local garage unless we wanted to make a day of it and considering how they treated us before a purchase it does worry you how they would treat you when they had your money.

We have shown interest in Toyotas about 5 times now and despite peoples love of them on here they have done their best to turn us away each time, sometimes the car, sometimes the staff, sometimes both. No more thanks.

As I said above we also visited our local Toyota dealer when sorting out a Suzuki Celerio (they sell Suzuki) 4 years ago for the wifes uncle. The salesman told us a total outright lie and when we showed him the proof of his "mistake" he simply walked off. In that instance we did sone googling and found a couple of Suzuki dealers within reasonable distance of the wifes uncle one of which had cars in stock and a deal was done. They have been excellent, collect the car when service is due (charge £10 but it is a 15 mile drive which needs doing 4 times in the day) and since he only does a low mileage they carry out a "special" service which saves quite a bit. Like our local dealer they are a family owned independent but it seems they understand the need to keep customers happy before and after purchase.

Off to see Skoda on Tuesday. And even a salesman there tried to upset us last time but the chap who was washing cars and taking photos rescued the situation. He got us a key (that was all we wanted) and got another salesman to attend to us. When we collected the Superb we said to the salesman that he should give the valeter a huge thanks since without his help we would have left. He told us that the valeter actually owned the business, he had retired but came in a couple of times a week just to keep busy. Never seen the obnoxious salesman since

The 136bhp Auris 1.8 hybrid has has a 0-60 time of 10.4 seconds and the new 140bhp Corolla 1.8 hybrid does it in 8.7, which is a sizeable difference. So I think there must be more to it than that. Irrelevant of course with the poor dealer experience!.

A 1.7 second reduction seems like a miracle to me when there is only 4 bhp between them and the Corolla is likely to weigh quite a bit more (like all new models do).

Without wishing to be picky just checked the Corolla brochure I downloaded last week and they quote a 0-60 of 9.1, 7.4 for the 2.0. Toyota quoted 10.9 for the original Corolla 1.8.

I know the 2.0 had a much better CVT than the old school one in the original Corolla 1.8, wonder if they have used that in the update?

Think the 8 seconds that Skoda quote for the Fabia 1.5 would be quite adequate.

Edited by skidpan on 13/08/2023 at 09:58

Anything from the Nissan stable appeal? Unless my memory's failing I think you've referred to a Nissan before.

We have had 4 Nissans, a Bluebird (dreadful but reliable). 2 Micra 1.2's (excellent) and a Note (bit slow but great space and comfort). When we swapped the Note we looked at then new model Micra but it failed meet any requirements for performance and space, bought the Fabia. Other than the Micra its only the Puke and Qashqai (ignoring the Leaf) and no interest in either of those.

I have an Ibiza and the handbrake on that is also closer to the passenger seat, than the drivers.

I recall that you generally always liked the VAG cars that you’ve had previously. Think I’m correct in saying that the Corolla you were originally considering is a similar size to a Golf. The 18 plate (previous gen) Golf of my dad’s has an EPG. On Carfile the Corolla and the Golf are a similar price.

Have you considered a Golf 1.5 eTSI 150 DSG?

Irrespective of what you eventually go for, I’m quite interested in the outcome.

We have also come to the same conclusion that the eTSi Golf looks interesting. In truth the Golf is about £1000 less than the Corolla 1.8 at Carfile but odd as it may seem its as well equipped as the Corolla in Life (base) spec. Going to have a look tomorrow.

Will update then.

Although I have always thought that 0-60 times were fairly academic it is interesting to note that in reviews, the published 0-60 times of pure IC engined cars are quite difficult to achieve in real life and are rarely bettered. On the other hand, EV and Hybrid times are in many cases bettered or matched at worst. Some recent examples I have seen were the MG4 standard range (published 7.7s vs road test 7.0s), the Honda Civic Hybrid (7.9s vs 6.7s) and the Corrola 2.0 hybrid (7.4s vs 7.4s). Ultimately, I don't think any of this is a surprise given the way EV's/ hybrids deliver their power.

Edited by davecooper on 17/08/2023 at 22:16

He did ring us and I asked for his best price and also asked how you would find the fuel and temp gauges. He said it had neither, you had to use the miles to go read out which as we all know reads total b******s even on a good day. Bit of googling suggests it has them, just needed to find the menu, more research (and hopefully a knowledgeable sales person) should provide the answer. He did e-mail me a price, simply copied the VW list one, not what I asked for.

So all told we are happy with the car and later today I plan to speak to Carfile to get a quote from them. Hopefully their dealer will have more info about the car itself, watch this space (again).

Glad you like the Golf.

Can't believe it doesn't have a fuel gauge, either.

Not convinced about modern temp gauges. It used to be that if you were going up a long hill your temp gauge would rise and if you went downhill it would fall. These days they just rise to the middle (over 1 to 3 miles) then never move.

Pity about your poor dealership experience. Unfortunately, it's all too common with dealers. I'd like to hear how you get on with Carfile.

There is a fuel gauge, Skidpan just could not find it when on the test drive.

Been a while (over a month) but we now have a new car on order (more on that later) but what a month its been.

1st September we agreed a deal on the Golf. All that needed sorting on the order was the service plan, sales lady would ring on Monday. She never did, discovered Tuesday she had gone on holiday until the following Thursday, trainee who had been passed the paperwork did not have a clue. Said he would get car ordered and seal the deal and his colleague would sort it on her return. When she did eventually contact me (broker had to get involved since 5 other deals of his were also having issues) I was told that since the paperwork was not done by the 4th September it would cost me another £1000. She would not accept blame, just said I would have to pay or walk away, walked away. Tried our local dealer, did get a price from him but too high. Tried Drive the Deal, what they do seems very dodgy and despite being a good price I felt there was a huge risk involved in signing up for it, walked away. The lady at the original dealers did e-mail me trying to get her deal back on track but the price had not changed so had to say no.

Bit of research and Audi A3 looked good (1.5 TSi DSG Sport). Price was pretty much the same as the Golf, missed some features but gained others (including actual heating controls). Went to see it and the wife could not get out. Seems that in April this year the Sport had been given the S-Line buckets (trimmed in cloth not leather) and there was no way we could have one.

Did lots of internet searching and decided that we needed to step back, go on holiday and start again. So last Monday phone calls made (we were still considering a Fabia and the Mrs not using the handbrake but the 42 week delivery finally put paid to that). Tuesday went to see the Jazz, 118i and Yaris. 3 very different cars but all seemed to have flat front seats from the web and spying through car windows in car parks. Foul day and bad start, BMW did not have an SE for us to look at. Off to Honda and more problems, wife could not move the seat back and forwards, the bar, seat and her hand would not work together (never had this issue with any other car). Before I carry on one more thing about the Jazz. I am 5’ 9” tall and average build but in the Jazz I had to have the drivers seat all the way back, never had to do that before. Loads of legroom in the rear but how do taller people drive one?

So off to Toyota, hosing it down by now. We hoped to look at the Design trim and by some strange luck their demonstrator was a Design, unfortunately with the rain it put a close to proceedings and we left saying would call in on Wednesday afternoon if it was better. Wednesday afternoon dry so off the M1, to the dealer and it started to rain, then it stopped. Had a look round the Excel in the showroom and then the Design demonstrator, pretty much the same space as the existing Fabia and despite the Toyota figures being smaller my 3m Rabone seemed to suggest the boots are the same in both. The Yaris rear doors do not open very wide but it did not cause any issues. All models have a spare as standard. Test drive booked for Friday AM.

Got there a few minutes late (lorry being recovered) and off on test drive. It drove different to the Fabia but surprisingly well. Instant power to pull away, up to 70 mph with no flaring of revs and even when I floored it a couple of time it was way better than any CVT I have ever driven (and that includes the current Corolla and RAV4). Some road noise on some surfaces, totally silent on other (just like all cars). Mrs drove it with no issues at all. We both felt comfortable and after working out how the auto handbrake worked (the Superb one remembers your setting – the Yaris reverts to default on every start) it was like an old shoe. Did not try the “Power” drive mode, one for later.

So back at the garage it was time to do a deal. I had been on the web looking at various brokers and decided to use those as a start. With little work I got the price I wanted and from a garage 10 miles away (not 200 miles away). They even agreed to delivery in March at the protected price after a bit of discussion (car should be available by late December).

Only extras we specified were metallic paint and the parking pack (car already has a camera but only on the rear). Its about £550 less than a similar specced Fabia 1.0 TSi 110 DSG SE-L but the PCP rates are lower on the Yaris making it substantially less over 4 years (about £2000). In fact the Yaris is the First car I plan to run the PCP to term on simply because I can get more interest in the bank than I am paying out.

Fingers crossed now.