car main dealers or others??

MeGuinness

forgotmyname wrote: »

at 70mph will it do 60+mpg?

No. Thought not.

A diesel focus with stop/start would cost less to buy/service and be free to run for a good few miles, If you used that money for fuel.

It will give better fuel consumption overall.

did you actualy read my post???

Yolina

forgotmyname wrote: »

at 70mph will it do 60+mpg?

No. Thought not.

No, but my Yaris Hybrid is currently giving me just shy of 70mpg on a mix of 30/40/50mph roads in flowing town traffic (and no, I'm not going to go out during the rush hour just to see if I can improve on that :rotfl: ) mpg should improve once the car is fully bedded in (got another 150-ish miles to go) and temperatures get warmer (whenever that may be )

For those of us who do little motorway driving, diesel doesn't really make sense.

Edit: in any case, the OP's question was about where to buy the car from rather that which car to get

MeGuinness

yes one of my original question was why are dealers at north of uk seams to be cheaper then down the south! and i i really get any benefit buying from a toyota dealer other then others .

Yolina

I guess because many things are cheaper up north! And it could be that as a hybrid is less efficient at lower ambient temperatures, they are less popular the further north you go.

fivetide

Yolina wrote: »

I guess because many things are cheaper up north! And it could be that as a hybrid is less efficient at lower ambient temperatures, they are less popular the further north you go.

I still think it is because of the congestion charge. As the OP said, he is a cabbie. Lots of Prius taxis down there because they can go into london for free.

Further North, the Skoda Octavia rules because it's better to have a diesel car than one running on petrol all day when the battery dies and there is no other financial incentive.

From there, supply and demand should rule.

All IMHO of course.

Yolina

fivetide wrote: »

I still think it is because of the congestion charge. As the OP said, he is a cabbie. Lots of Prius taxis down there because they can go into london for free.

That could change if TfL have their way as they are currently consulting about reducing the threshold for CG exemption from next July (though currently registered exempt cars would remain so for another 2 years)

Further North, the Skoda Octavia rules because it's better to have a diesel car than one running on petrol all day when the battery dies and there is no other financial incentive.

From there, supply and demand should rule.

All IMHO of course.

The electric battery doesn't quite do "die and then you're on petrol all day" There is always some power in the battery, as the Toyota hybrid system will run petrol only, electric only or both at the same time depending on what's required - the electric cells are charged from whatever energy is harvested every time you lift off the throttle, every time you brake, and if needed from the petrol engine feeding back to the battery cells

fivetide

Yolina wrote: »

That could change if TfL have their way as they are currently consulting about reducing the threshold for CG exemption from next July (though currently registered exempt cars would remain so for another 2 years)

But we aren't talking about a few years. We're talking about now and the reason these cars are more expensive down south than oop north. I suggest there is greater demand (evidenced by the taxi use) around london because they are, as it stands, exempt from paying a fairly hefty charge. As such, economics ditates higher demand, higher price.

I would suggest it is a much more likely theory than a temperature difference of a degree or so making a huge impact on the abilities of the car. They aren't that sensitive.

The electric battery doesn't quite do "die and then you're on petrol all day" There is always some power in the battery, as the system will run petrol only, electric only or both at the same time depending on what's required - the electric cells are charged from whatever energy is harvested every time you lift off the throttle, every time you brake, and if needed from the petrol engine feeding back to the battery cells

Thanks, I know how they work.

In stop start traffic it'll be difficult for the car to maintain electric power through all day use (as a cab) I'd have thought so as I said, it makes more sense for taxi drivers in the north to use a solid diesel car than a hybrid as there is no additional financial incentive.

Yolina

fivetide wrote: »

But we aren't talking about a few years. We're talking about now and the reason these cars are more expensive down south than oop north. I suggest there is greater demand (evidenced by the taxi use) around london because they are, as it stands, exempt from paying a fairly hefty charge. As such, economics ditates higher demand, higher price.

I would suggest it is a much more likely theory than a temperature difference of a degree or so making a huge impact on the abilities of the car. They aren't that sensitive.

oh absolutely but I did notice a fairly large difference (nearly 10mpg) between driving around with an ambient temp of 8 to 10C and driving around with an ambient temp of 0 to 2C. At the lower temps, the petrol engine does come on much more often, I'd guess partly due to having to heat up the cabin more and partly due to having to keep the system in the right temperature range.

It's like everything: what is right for one type of user isn't going to be right for everyone else.

OP: If you get a 2009 car, it should still be under warranty anyway (8 years for the electric battery, 5 years for the rest of the car) but do double check as I think Toyota did for a while give a shorter 3 years warranty, but I don't know which year(s?). As long as it's got full service history then it should be ok. The extra money you'd spend getting it from a Toyota dealership might give you peace of mind knowing that they've looked it over, but whether that's worth £3k or not remains debatable

CKhalvashi

Arnold Clark has always been a very hard man to beat (we've bought just over 1000 vehicles from the network over the last 10 years. Most of the cars have been 'SH' or 'SG' registered.

They've been serviced by a London main dealer, so there's no compatibility issues there.

CK