I have a few moments to spare so I thought I would tell you about the car I bought last Thursday. It's a Toyota Yaris Verso automatic. It's the first time I've bought a car for myself. It's a W reg new in 2000, so not very wonderful by many people's standards, but I think it is great. My previous car, a P reg Peugeot was oozing oil all over the place and having to be topped up more and more, so it had to go. I find my left knee is really benefitting from not having to use a clutch. I'm surprised at what a difference it is making. I am 66 so getting on a bit. The seats are at a height that I can just slip into them and out again easily. People tell me automatics use more petrol. I usually use about £40 of petrol in a fortnight, so I will be keeping an eye on things, but of course, I'm committed now.I've been reading up in the manual how to get the best fuel consumption out of the car, so that should help. Used to have a Toyota Carina and that lasted years, so I'm hoping for good things from my Yaris. I'll let you know how I get on.
Two friends told me I should find out when the cam belt was last changed. I couldn't find anything about it in the manual and service record, so I rang the dealer. He said it didn't have a cam belt but was chain driven. So no more finding £300 to replace a cam belt. Another friend told me that the chain driven system lasts a very long time and the only down side is that it eventually gets a bit noisy.
The petrol consumption seems o.k. but I had to do an unexpected extra journey this week, so it's not quite so easy to judge how it's gone.I shall know better when I have two normal weeks, but as I say it seems to be fine.It certainly is a very roomy vehicle with lots of leg room for all those on board.
Another advantage in this lovely car is the good all round visibility which makes maneuvering safe and easy.The parcel shelf can be put to a lower position so that several things can be placed on it without obstructing the view through the rear window.
There is an adjustable steering wheel, but I'm not confident enough to meddle with that as yet, but I must look into it as it may make my comfort in driving even better. there are all sorts of little place to store things including a storage tray under the passenger seat.
I have written in previous posts about disasters. In the case of Concorde, decisions by people, plus other factors were directly to blame for the event. In the case of the Penlee disaster it may have been avoided if someone had made a better choice in the time beforehand and as a consequence brave men and the ship's crew and the captain and his family died. 9/11 was certainly the result of wicked men committing a terrorist act, but even in this there was heroism notably by another Cornish man, Rick Rescorla who helped many to safety and left it too late to help himself. In situations like this we see what the human spirit is capable of both good and evil. What of disasters that come on people because of the earth restless movement of tectonic plates. Often people live near volcanoes because the land is rich and fertile and they have the chance of a better life there when the volcano is resting. We cannot blame them for that but sometimes people become complacent...
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