New company car time... Toyota Corolla hybrid

Bryan

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Swaying back towards the Toyota. The other thing I have to keep in mind is that if I have to leave the company I also have to pay back 3 years worth of the personal contribution (£360 versus £1620). Aren't company cars brilliant :p
 

JamieG95

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I’d go Toyota!

Ciara’s is the 2.0 Auto and it’s a very nice thing to drive. Has tons of spec and the front seats £34 to fill the petrol tank & it’s returning 350/400miles to that.

If you’re up the North Coast direction you’re welcome to see/drive it (y)

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Bryan

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Been a long 6 months since I first thought about this but I finally picked up the Corolla today...

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I usually hate white cars but unfortunately any other colour would have meant paying a bigger contribution every month. I actually think it looks good in white with all the black accents, window tinting and the wheels. It drives really well but the build quality isn't quite up there with VW.

Looking forward to the fuel economy and around the extra ££ in my wages every month now too.
 

Lexx

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I Picked up mine start of the month, slowly getting used to it, same colour, same spec, JBL, Leather, comfy enough, but not the same quality as the Audi, hate all the sensors randomly beeping, but Android Auto is handy, thankfully tho as it was ordered ages ago, the company took care of the extra charges, not impressed with Hursts, but didn't have high hopes when I heard it was coming thru them, so wasn't disappointed.
 

Bryan

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I Picked up mine start of the month, slowly getting used to it, same colour, same spec, JBL, Leather, comfy enough, but not the same quality as the Audi, hate all the sensors randomly beeping, but Android Auto is handy, thankfully tho as it was ordered ages ago, the company took care of the extra charges, not impressed with Hursts, but didn't have high hopes when I heard it was coming thru them, so wasn't disappointed.

I insisted mine was delivered through Shelbourne. I did not want to have to deal with Hursts. I hate Z northern Ireland plates too so I always ask for the IG plate but I'm running out of those now!

I've had to switch off the lane departure system too because it beeps if you even get slightly close to the white line in the middle nevermind over it.
 

Lexx

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I insisted mine was delivered through Shelbourne. I did not want to have to deal with Hursts. I hate Z northern Ireland plates too so I always ask for the IG plate but I'm running out of those now!

I've had to switch off the lane departure system too because it beeps if you even get slightly close to the white line in the middle nevermind over it.
lol, Turned off lane departure before I left Hursts, bloody dangerous thing on country roads lol, I did ask for it to come thru any dealer but Hursts, fell on deaf ears, we got three of the same cars, ordered Sept last year just before production started, took a year to arrive less a couple of days, so the emissions changed in that time as well, I dont like the interior finish, all those shiny surfaces are going to look gash after 4 years, are your bumpers a different colour than the rest of the car?, mine are a slightly different shade of white, I have a complaint in about the state of the car when I picked it up from Hursts and when I pointed all the faults out the sales guy asked me if I wanted it valeted again (like it was valeted in the first place lol), but had a service call to attend...dirty marks all over it, discoloured trim, green algae on the window rubbers and rusty wheel bolts, looks like it spent 6 months in a field

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Bryan

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That is terrible. I have to say mine looks like a new car all round with no rust like that. It was built in June 2020 according to the documents. Funny you should mention the colour difference - the other day someone commented on the back bumper being a bit more "yellow" than the rest of the car but I put it down to being dirty since I now have over 300 miles on the car.

I see what you mean about the beeping too - seriously annoying. I have found the lane departure system works best at the lowest steering input sensitivity.

I'm a bit disappointed that it doesn't seem to have auto door locking linked to the car speed. I've tried the instructions online but it refuses to do it.
 

Lexx

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That is terrible. I have to say mine looks like a new car all round with no rust like that. It was built in June 2020 according to the documents. Funny you should mention the colour difference - the other day someone commented on the back bumper being a bit more "yellow" than the rest of the car but I put it down to being dirty since I now have over 300 miles on the car.

I see what you mean about the beeping too - seriously annoying. I have found the lane departure system works best at the lowest steering input sensitivity.

I'm a bit disappointed that it doesn't seem to have auto door locking linked to the car speed. I've tried the instructions online but it refuses to do it.
Yeah, meant to mention about the auto lock, like wtf, i've had people try my boot at lights on a few occasions I asked the sales person and he had no idea, dont know why I bothered, cant find a way to turn it on, wonder how the insurance will deal with it if I loose my service kit due to it :worried:
 

Bryan

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So I've had the car for nearly two weeks now and it has 1100 odd miles on the clock now. Been through two and a half tanks of fuel (£40 or so per tank) averaging 47mpg. I suppose that's not bad for a 2 litre petrol automatic however I'm still to get into the mystical 50mpg+ range.

I gave the car a well deserved first wash this morning and really noticed the colour difference you mentioned:

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The back bumper seems to be the worst but all plastic panels on the car have a yellow tinge to them - the bumpers, boot spoiler and the side skirts. Toyota quality right there. I'd be very peeved if I'd paid list price for this car myself. I also discovered a few small scratches inside the door jam of the rear door that has started to rust already so must have been there for a while.

On the other hand I also find the cruise control very annoying in that it doesn't stay activated and you have to turn it on every time you use the car and then the radar distance setting does not remember the last distance you selected and always comes back on with the furtherst away distance. This means activating cruise control is a three different button press (with two further presses of the distane button) and takes your attention off the road more than needed.

I've also, like you, had to completely turn off the land departure system - it is down right dangerous. The input it forces even at the lowest setting makes driving on the motorway a nightmare. With it switched off it's like a completely different car. Auto hold is the same - I haven't had an automatic car for a long time that actually rolls back on hills when you lift off the brake. Why you can't just have the auto hold on all the time is also very annoying.

I've also noticed the past few days the car seems to rev a lot more when taking off from junctions and getting up to speed. It's almost like the belt on the CVT box has got wet and slips on rainy/wet days. It definitely wasn't as bad as that for the first week or so. It's up to 4k+ revs to get up to speed from standstill sometimes.
 

mk2driver

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Cruise resetting is a legislative thing I believe - it has to default to off and the furthest setting
 

Bryan

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Cruise resetting is a legislative thing I believe - it has to default to off and the furthest setting
Tiguan didn't do this. It allowed you to specify the distance it came on at and it was on all the time so it was a one button press.
 

mk2driver

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Tiguan didn't do this. It allowed you to specify the distance it came on at and it was on all the time so it was a one button press.

Fair enough - anything I’ve driven has always worked as you described and from a safety point of view makes sense (safest setting to start)
 

Bryan

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Well it's been nearly 14k miles in the Corolla so far. I'm not that impressed with it to be honest. The CVT gearbox is rubbish - joining the motorway at 4/5k revs makes you feel like an old granny every time. Even the slightest bit of overtaking requires near redline revs. Really lets the car down. For around the town it is brilliant and will run on battery power for a good bit of the time. My car has been pretty poor in the snow/ice - felt very twitchy from the back end and did not inspire any confidence in driving it. The steering has also become nearly as vague as my 205k mile Ford Ranger and it has a habit of following ruts in the road. I've also had an annoying vibration at motorway speeds that was there from day one but has only got worse. When it had its first 10k service I asked for these things to be looked at but as usual with it being a lease car they just don't care.

I really struggle to get MPG over 46 in real world driving and I get about 350 miles to a full tank of around 35 litres. I guess that's good for a 2 litre petrol engine and auto box but nowhere near what they claimed. I also have not seen any real reduction in income tax as a result of driving this - I'm still being charged pretty much the same as the Tiguan and no one can explain it.

Overall if I had bought this with my own money I would not be happy. It's OK but really not worth the extortionate retail price for what it is. The gearbox could be a lot better and it really doesn't need to rev anywhere near as much and this would seriously help the fuel economy.
 

davyk31

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The income tax thing is easy to check and worth checking as HMRC often get it wrong. All you need is the CO2 of the car to get its percentage and the list price of the car. It will all show on your tax code breakdown that you got posted or can be seen online. Should be less than a Tiguan if you ran it as company vehicle too.
 
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