[flyboy3]

I always ask the dealer not to wash my car. Most dealers don‘t do it properly, no pre-wash, dodgy leathers so swirls on paint etc.

i wash mine myself, pre-wash, two bucket method, separate microfibres for each stage, etc. and current car at 4.5 years has no swirls at all.

When mine goes in for service it has “do not wash” notes all over the interior, and I make sure the service card has same message on it

They probably create the swirls in the paint so you get fed up looking at them and buy a new car! 😁

 

[drabisan]

A through the forest highway, nearly no other traffic and I finally decided to test maximum speed. I was doing cruise control at 130km/h. Ask the lady for permission and there I went for.
I'm fairly sure at one moment I read somewhere that 2.0 engine is limited to 176km/h. Can't find that exact reference, but I can quickly find reviews talking about 112mph. So about there.
Car accelerated quite nice up until 170km/h and a tiny bit slower after that. Up until 193 where it stopped. Like simply: that's what you're getting today!
At the end of this month car will be 2.5yo. By then it will be 36000km.
Everything still good! Tomorrow a wash because it has 1 billion bugs killed. And a full tank - I'm using only normal petrol - madame concluded premium petrol is only good at increasing fuel consumption and I'm not driving often enough to have a different opinion.
Still a small rattling on the front air grill every now and then. But not sure worth the time fixing it.
And don't store luggage in front on the subwoofer! It's a big difference in sound quality!
I know... first world problems!

 

[drabisan]

Another update on the battery: I had it parked for 12 days and 8h. Car started as it should! Always on camera is configured to shut itself off after reaching 12.2V - that may be the difference.
True, this is a 10 months old battery. The one that failed me was nearly 2 years old (car was build in Dec 2019 and I collected it in Jan 2020). Not that a nearly 2yo battery should fail after not starting the car for 8 days like it happened in 2021!
But this time I was prepared not to have to call emergency car park help. I bought from Halfords their own brand power pack that can start an engine up to 2l. I made sure it's charged and I know how to connect the cables. 70Euro investment for my own peace of mind! And this power pack has an USB-A port that can even charge my laptop or a Nintendo Switch (I test that!) so it can play a different role during some theoretical emergency.

 

[drabisan]

3rd service at the beginning of this month. The exact same day I order it 3 years ago. Done nearly 15k km in the past 10 months and this will continue from now on. This was the last service free of charge. Next time I'll need to pay.
Nothing significant - I'll have to change front tires in the next few months. I'll buy something else. Primacy 3 are not good enough for this car. When starting from still, it tends to loose grip if there's a bit of dust or mud on the roads. Can't say I had problems breaking or loose traction while driving. Just when moving the car from a traffic light or parking. Annoying enough but we both learn to control it. Still, I'll go for a different model.
Fuel consumption decreased quite a lot thanks to almost no short trips. Past 2 tanks average was 5.1l/100km.
I believe I start to understand the need for wireless Android Auto! If only to get rid of those stupid USB-A to USB-C cables! Eventually every cable decides to break. When you need navigation it the most! I always carry a spare cable, but it's still annoying. Wireless charging plus wireless AA would be a much happier combination! Although that will enable those people to check their f..g phone while driving! (we all seen them everywhere, including on motorways)

I was approached few times by the dealer and Toyota Ireland maybe I want to trade this car for a new one. Nope, I don't! It's too good and there's nothing tempting to any other specs! What was interesting...they could deliver me a new GR Sport as early as January. And they had 3 different colors I could choose from.
But no, thanks! I'm more than happy with this one.

 

[drabisan]

My Orange got to 52k km!
This mild'ish weather with long drives puts the fuel consumption at ~5. In Dec and Jan when we have few cold spells, it never went above 5.2l/100km. I'm filling mostly from Maxol, standard E5 petrol they seel in Ireland. I tried again the premium petrol they sell...boy more snappy but consumption increases even with fairly long drives.
Can't seem to fix that small rattling on air grill. Toyota fix it in November, it lasted a couple of months. Now it changed the frequency. Back to a visit next week.
I changed the front tires. The other 2 have plenty of meat, it will carry another at least 15k. I chose Michelin CrossClimate SUV. Not cheap but nothing to break the piggy bank. Neither the old ones were not noisy, but it's a pleasant surprise those are slightly more quiet.

 

[drabisan]

It came to my mind to re-purpose a Dyson I'm no longer using (thank you Roborock!) to give the car a clean. Old vacuum cleaner was seating in the shed for many years - I don't know why I didn't give it away long ago.
It took me about 20 minutes to take out a Peppa Pig puzzle piece off the vacuum cleaner hose (no Boris J, Peppa Pig is not perfect world ).
Most times I'm cleaning the car with a battery powered Dyson and it does a more than decent job. It's small and easy to use in a car. Turbo mode is really good for the car, but it eats battery way too fast.
But it can't match a proper vacuum cleaner!
Not more than 1/4 of the bin tank filled. But 80% of the tank was nothing but dust! I'll repeat this task every month! Worth investing 1h!
Several times I bought inside cleaning when I have the time to go to a proper car cleaning shop. Clearly my vacuum cleaner is much better than theirs - judging by the amount of dust.

 

[Is that the bus]

It came to my mind to re-purpose a Dyson I'm no longer using (thank you Roborock!) to give the car a clean. Old vacuum cleaner was seating in the shed for many years - I don't know why I didn't give it away long ago.
It took me about 20 minutes to take out a Peppa Pig puzzle piece off the vacuum cleaner hose (no Boris J, Peppa Pig is not perfect world ).
Most times I'm cleaning the car with a battery powered Dyson and it does a more than decent job. It's small and easy to use in a car. Turbo mode is really good for the car, but it eats battery way too fast.
But it can't match a proper vacuum cleaner!
Not more than 1/4 of the bin tank filled. But 80% of the tank was nothing but dust! I'll repeat this task every month! Worth investing 1h!
Several times I bought inside cleaning when I have the time to go to a proper car cleaning shop. Clearly my vacuum cleaner is much better than theirs - judging by the amount of dust.

Yep I Shark ours every so often, I don't eat in the car but my wife let the grandchildren eat something with Sprinkles and it was all over. The Excel has perforation on Leather seats Shark wouldn't get them had pick out each tiny part with a cocktail stick to get them out. Erm I wasn't best pleased I can tell you. Oh glitter from grand daughter's dancing exam was another whole experience,so goes the world.hope all on the forum are well

 

[drabisan]

Yeah, eating in the car is a battle I'm not even fighting! I'm not driving that often, so there you go...
Orange also have perforated leather seats so I totally hear you on this one!

I have an idea for future cars!
Flat floor - that's granted for electric cars.
A small ramp so all the crap on the floor will go on the side where kids are seating.

The way cars are build today, all crap ends up under the front seats. Oh joy!

 

[Is that the bus]

Yeah, eating in the car is a battle I'm not even fighting! I'm not driving that often, so there you go...
Orange also have perforated leather seats so I totally hear you on this one!

I have an idea for future cars!
Flat floor - that's granted for electric cars.
A small ramp so all the crap on the floor will go on the side where kids are seating.

The way cars are build today, all crap ends up under the front seats. Oh joy!

I think you'll kno what a Squish,em. It's a soft horrible thing that comes in many guises all shapes all the grandkids have them. Xmas time dropped some coins out of my pockets,reached under the seat and felt this cold wet sticky thing gave me quite a turn I can tell you.
Turned out to be thing with ears on nasty, I recycled it permanently.

 

[drabisan]

A bit of a soap opera with booking the car for 15k service.
I never had any problem booking the car within 1-2 weeks. More often than not I was the one asking for a late booking.
This time...surprise! I was given in February a slot in April! After a bit of talking to the friends I was booked for 21 March. A bit more insistence: 14.

The other day I got a call they can see my car this week. Apparently some recalls are halted due to lack of chipsets and suddenly there's a window.
I will be able to service the car this Friday, without me exceeding the 15k km.

I would love to understand how come recall/chipsets is something that critical they were unable to run normal maintenance. Granted, world of cars changed...but recall requiring a chipset sounds so weird to me!

 

[ans]

It could that the recall is serious risk of fire or risk to life so makes it a bit more important or it could all be bs

 

[drabisan]

Serious risks - I definitely understand.
What I find it hard to is chipsets required for recall. There's a lot of electronics involved in safety those days. But I'm still curious to find exactly what.

 

[drabisan]

I didn't had time to chat, so I have no clue what recall involving new chipset was/is.
Service done fast, as usual. No problems. Annoying: all roads were full of salt Friday morning so car on Friday was "white".
Didn't go for a wash, no washing stations close enough for the car not to get white in no time. Saturday is pouring rain so all salt washed away.

What I noticed: not a single car in showroom, all highest spec available, had JBL audio. All of them had basic audio. Sales people were like "well...it's a bad situation, lately not even chipsets for keys are not available".

 

[Smoky24]

ust purchased my orange edition, collect some time this week, hopefully turns out to be a good investment.

I'm thinking of getting a dashcam installed buy slightly concerned, I've heard the 12v batteries on these cars are sub par and dont want to end up stranded or waiting for recovery.

Also can anyone advise if its worth getting the Toyota service plan? From what I can see minor service costs £230 and major service £350? Toyota want over £30 month for service plan, surely works out cheaper if I just pay myself for annual service?

 

[drabisan]

I have an always on camera. I configured it to shut itself down when voltage drops below a certain value.
I did run out of 12V battery once, but I couldn't blame the camera.

Friday it was the first time I had to pay for service. First 3 were free of charge when I bought the car.
And I'm considering "Serviceplan from Toyota" as it's called here in Ireland. Likely this week I'll sign that contract.

 

[Huey]

Also can anyone advise if its worth getting the Toyota service plan? From what I can see minor service costs £230 and major service £350? Toyota want over £30 month for service plan, surely works out cheaper if I just pay myself for annual service?

My service plan with Toyota is £26.88 / month but was set up a couple of months after I had the car, but total cost was the same as 2x minor & 1 major plus the first MOT.

Made sense to me as planning on keeping the car for at least 3 years so it locked the current prices in. Can’t see costs getting cheaper in coming years, so seems logical

 

[ans]

I guess you mean shut itself down 😆

 

[drabisan]

I guess you mean shut itself down 😆

Blame autocorrect. I'm editing the message. Sorry about that!

 

[forkingabout1978]

ust purchased my orange edition, collect some time this week, hopefully turns out to be a good investment.

I'm thinking of getting a dashcam installed buy slightly concerned, I've heard the 12v batteries on these cars are sub par and dont want to end up stranded or waiting for recovery.

Also can anyone advise if its worth getting the Toyota service plan? From what I can see minor service costs £230 and major service £350? Toyota want over £30 month for service plan, surely works out cheaper if I just pay myself for annual service?

Which dash cam are you thinking of fitting?

The Toyota supplied Nextbase camera has a built in rechargeable battery for powering the parking mode function so the vehicles 12 volt battery isn't affected.

I fitted a Garmin to my previous vehicle ( plus the GFs car ) & the official Garmin hardware kit has a user adjustable voltage cut out to protect the vehicles 12 volt battery from being discharged by parking mode.

For what a decent replacement Varta / Bosch or Yuasa branded battery costs for a C-HR I wouldn't worry about it.
Just remember if your sitting in the vehicle listening to the radio or using something like a tyre inflator etc, put the vehicle in ready mode so the hybrid system can start the engine if required & recharge the 12 volt battery - which will be under the boot floor on a UK spec Orange edition.


A Toyota service plan does lock the price you pay in at the start of the plan - if the service prices rise in the future your protected from those price rises while your service plan is active.
The service plan also spreads the payments out OR just put some money away safely to pay for the services.

 

[Smoky24]

Thanks for the replies.

So can we change the 12v batteries for a decent bosch or varta? Does this not affect the warranty?

I've not yet decided on which dashcam to purchase, still browsing.