Since last Thursday I’ve had a much more varied selection of cars: First my Fabia was in for a service, and I had the loan of a new shape Fabia with the 1.4 TDI engine. It wasn’t bad, but it’s ugly. It looks like the bastard child of a Bini and a Hyundai Atoz, which can’t be good. It drives OK though, and build seems good- the 3 cyl 1.4 struggles a little with the size & weight though.
Later that day, I had the joy of a Toyota Yaris. I haven’t driven a Toyota in years, and didn’t enjoy this. There’s several good things: the build quality and material quality was excellent, the engine very quiet at idle, the handling not bad. Bad points? Clutch pedal with very little travel, an engine that was near-silent at idle, but coarse and thrashy at speed (though it went Ok for a sub-1-litre) and brakes that quite frankly scared me. They managed to be scarily innefective at motorway speeds, and terrifyingly over-servoed and grabby at low speed, to the point that, as I’m a big clumsy lummox, I couldn’t bring myself to drive the damned thing more than to the bodyshop and back. Yes, the Fabia vRS has returned, and the repair looks good so far. Also, the older Fabia is the best of the three by a good margin.
However, it’s increasingly looking like I will lose my insurance excess (and all the other expense), as the fuckwit is now claiming all innocence. Let that be a lesson to you all: carry a disposable camera in the car, and take photos, and don’t do the sensible thing by moving out of the dangerous, busy junction.
“…and don’t do the sensible thing by moving out of the dangerous, busy junction.”
That would be my failing I’m afraid. To be as little trouble to those that may be delayed a few minutes simply because my car is dying in the middle of the road.
I hope I have the common sense (if/when it happens to me) to not move my car until I’m good and ready.
Another good item of equipment to carry is a pair of handcuffs to prevent possible witnesses from disappearing. Make that two pairs.
P.S. The Toyota Verso came second in our list of ‘New Car For Next Year’.
“That would be my failing I’m afraid.To be as little trouble to those that may be delayed”
That was my approach, (though there was a safety aspect too) and I am now regretting it. If it turns out that way I’ll be posting a registration number for the Walsall Mafia to track down.