Toyota has started the next revolution for UK motorists

THE other day I got to try out a real technological groundbreaker – but it wasn’t a car.

Nope, I was playing Pong on an Atari – it wasn’t the first computer game, but it was the one that really caught the world’s attention. It seems weird to think that in 1972 playing a crude electronic representation of table tennis was at the cutting edge of killing time with a friend, but we wouldn’t have got to Angry Birds and Grand Theft Auto V without it.

On the way home from toying with Atari’s finest – and having a nostalgic test drive of Super Mario Kart on 1992’s Super Nintendo while I was at it – I overtook what I reckon must be the motoring world’s Pong on the motorway.

Time really hasn’t done the original Toyota Prius any favours. In the same way the Atari looks impossibly simple in a world where you download slick games straight to your smartphone, the original Prius looks positively prehistoric next to say, a Focus or an Astra of the same era. Then again, that’s the price you pay for being first out of the blocks with something new.

The Prius might look gawky now but it offered us the first chance to drive something other than a straightforward petrol or diesel – a hybrid - and it paved the way for today’s BMW i8s, Vauxhall Amperas, ‘h’-badged Lexus limousines and KERS-assisted Ferraris. Toyota now offers six different hybrids of its own, including a third-generation Prius that’s a lot more Call of Duty than Pacman.

But Toyota isn’t prepared to leave it at that. For as long as anyone can remember it’s been perpetually locked in a technological arms race with Honda, and both reckon the next big thing is fuel cells. In a nutshell, cars that can refill in an instant with hydrogen, somehow make it into electricity without any need to cue the Pathé newsreel of the Hindenberg disaster and then tootle along leaving only water vapour in their wake.

Honda’s already been at in the States with the FCX Clarity, and now Toyota’s taken a tentative leap into the British market with the Mirai.

The Japanese giant is playing it cautious – perhaps not surprisingly, given the £56k price tag and the almost non-existent hydrogen fuel network here at the moment – and you can tell by its slightly edgy styling that it’s going to be another machine that’ll date horrifically.

Chances are you won’t be ordering one of the first cars off to roll off the boat this month – not when it costs nearly twice the price of a Range Rover Evoque – but you’d be a fool to bet against it.

Toyota and Honda are bankrolling fuel cell cars, and they’ll be everywhere in 15 years’ time. The Mirai will look crude in no time, but the revolution’s got to start somewhere.

Toyota set to sell its fuel cell car in the UK

A CLEVER new Toyota which runs on hydrogen fuel cells – meaning the only thing coming out of its rear end is water vapour – will be introduced in the UK later this year.

Toyota said its Mirai model, a five-door hatchback similar in size to the petrol-powered Auris model, had been a hit in Japan so the manufacturer is now planning to sell it across Europe too.

BREAKING NEWS: Toyota model recalled due to styling defect

TOYOTA has announced a recall of more than 45,000 cars after one of its biggest selling models suffered from a styling defect.


The company announced the recall of its Innova people carrier after it emerged that the seven-seater suffered from a visual fault which rendered the car so mind-numbingly dull that anyone who beholds it is at risk of developing headaches and lethargy. While nobody has been injured as a result of the defect, the Japanese car giant has gone ahead with the recall due to the risk of the styling boring other motorists to the point of sending them to sleep.

A Toyota spokesman allegedly told Life On Cars: “While the vast majority of our cars are designed these days to be as safe, aerodynamically efficient and as visually stimulating as possible, occasionally a model styled by someone clearly on a tea break or a work experience student does slip through the net.

“For this reason, and due to the safety implications of having a car in our model which is so dull it risks boring other drivers to the point of distraction, we’ve decided to recall the model and replace it with something more interesting purely as a purely measure.”

While the Innova, mercifully, is not sold in the UK, the measure comes in the wake of recent – and totally genuine - recalls affecting cars sold in this UK, including a trio of issues affecting the RAV4, Hilux, Yaris and Urban Cruiser models. Owners of the UK models affected by the real recall are urged to check whether their car is affected by looking at Toyota’s British website or by calling into their nearest dealer, but anybody who has been affected by the Innova’s styling defect can safely deal with the issue by looking at a more interesting car after they’ve read the rest of this column.

 Motoring pundit Joe King said: “Toyota’s UK offerings have come on a long way from the terminally dull Corolla models of the 1990s – you only have to look at the GT86, for instance, to see that there are some cars with real soul and charisma in their showrooms these days.

“UK motorists should be relieved that the Innova isn’t a regular sight on this country’s roads, but it just goes to show that even the world’s biggest car companies can still offer some inexplicably dull models in their line-up.”

Several other car manufacturers have had to recall models due to styling defects before, including Ford for the indescribably dull Escort in 1990, Hyundai for the offensively ugly Coupe in 2000 and Ssangyong for the poorly-proportioned Rodius people carrier.

Any readers considering buying any of these models are urged to consult their nearest optician for further advice.

Happy birthday, Toyota RAV-4!

TOYOTA has celebrated the 20^th birthday of one of its models by offering the latest version with more gadgets at a lower price.

The original RAV-4 proved a hit back in 1994 with its blend of edgy styling, off-roader stance and its inviting driving experience, and the name has remained a staple of the company’s range ever since.

The latest version, which with a starting price of £22,195 is now £400 cheaper than its predecessor, is also offered with a more generous helping of standard equipment than previously.

New Land Cruiser is a breath of fresh air for off roader fans

If you’re fed up of seeing cars that look off-roaders but aren’t then you’ll be delighted to learn a new Toyota Land Cruiser has just been launched.

Historically the wheels of choice for everyone from the United Nations to the farmers of the Australian Outback, the latest Land Cruiser follows in the footsteps of its predecessors by putting off-road ability and durability first and style - check out the enormous and not-at-all-gaudy chrome grille - a distant second.

Prices for the new Land Cruiser, which arrives in the UK in December, start at £34,995.

So you want a secondhand supermini...

AN OBSERVATION about first cars. All the sensible people I know, having chucked away their L-plates, go for something sensible that’ll start up first thing on a frosty morning. The petrolheads don’t. 

There’s a lot to be said for making for your first car an automotive adventure in itself, which is why my first car was a 1983 Mini. Despite being held together largely with gaffer tape and string I loved driving it but even I’ll concede it wasn’t exactly an everyday car, because every day was a new and exciting way for it to entertain you with a breakdown. Whisper it softly, but during my first stint as a reporter in North Wales my “everyday car” was a borrowed Vauxhall Corsa! 

So I understood completely when a friend asked for a few car buying suggestions, not on some crusty old Sixties sports car, but a sensible, cheap secondhand supermini that’d actually be capable of getting her and her clobber up to a new job in Northumberland. She also bought a Mini as her first car, and while she’d rather sell her right arm than her pride ‘n’ joy I can understand why she’d want a more sensible automotive sidekick for the long trips to the North East. 

There’s plenty on offer - even in these days of spiralling insurance, it’s still possible to buy, insure and tax a decent set of wheels for less than a grand – but if it were my money I’d be looking at Peugeot’s 306, VW’s Lupo, Skoda’s Fabia and the earlier, funkier versions of Toyota’s Yaris. They’re all usefully younger than my trusty old Rover, should eake out a few more miles to the gallon and – by virtue of being younger – have plenty of life left in them. The Peugeot, in particular, would offer you more smiles per gallon too because it’s always been a fine handler – perfect if your other car’s an old Mini and you’ve got some Northumbrian country roads to play with. 

But, when it came down to sealing the deal, it wasn’t a 306 she went for, or a Yaris, Fabia or Lupo for that matter. In fact, she’d gone for the supermini you can pick up for buttons these days because everybody owned one and as a result there’s still millions to choose from. The supermini I’ve driven on countless occasions and always secretly enjoyed because it rides and handles so well. The supermini, in fact, that I passed my driving test in and which – had I not decided to go for that infernal Mini – probably would’ve been my first car. 

The supermini I’d completely forgotten about. Ladies and gentleman, I give you the Ford Fiesta!

Toyota in convertible GT86 shocker

IT WAS only a matter of time. Toyota is considering putting a convertible version of its fabulous GT86 into production.

The Japanese car giant will unveil what it's calling the FT-86 Open at this year's Geneva Motorshow in a few week's time, and while it's calling it a concept car I wouldn't be fooled; if the original FT-86 concept coupe was anything to go by, I'd put my money on an al fresco version of the rear-drive enthusiasts' favourite being in the offing.

It's one of two concepts the company's showing off in the Swiss city - the other being what's billed as Toyota's response to the Renault Twizy - and while the official line is that it'll only decide to put the FT-86 Open into production if the public likes it, chances are it will. What's not like about the inevitable but inviting prospect of one of the great drivers' hits of the past decade?

The coupe version of the GT86 is a bit of a Life On Cars favourite, blending sleek coupe proportions, keen pricing and old fashioned rear-wheel-drive, oversteer-happy dynamics to create something that offers as much fun as some sports car costing two or three times its £25,000 price.

The initial impression I got when I drove it last year was that it's a Mazda MX-5 on a 1.5 times scale with metal rather than fabric over your forehead but that's selling it short. It's somehow meatier and more challenging, but more thrilling too.

Of all the cars I drove last year, this was by far and away the one I had to fight my way past other journalists to get a go in, and I can understand exactly why. I can also also understand exactly why Jeremy Clarkson said the GT86, of all the four billion cars he drove last year, was his favourite. In an automotive landscape where everything is anodyne and the loudest sound you're likely to hear is the chime of a seatbelt safety warning, the GT86 is a motor with a sense of mischief. It's a laugh.

Throw in open-top thrills (without ruining too much of the coupe's dynamics) and I reckon they'll have a bit of a roadster hit on their hands.

Always look on the bright side of life when you're buying a car

ANYONE remember that scene out of Monty Python's Life of Brian? You know, the one where poor Brian, in his escape from the Romans, is forced to indulge in a spot of haggling with a market trader?

That's what I always reckon buying or selling a car - admittedly, something I haven't done for a while - is like. As the guy in biblical Judea put it, you gotta haggle. Well, at least that's what I told my sister to do on her spot of car buying over Christmas.

Regular readers might recall that on this blog a couple of weeks ago I threw a couple of small car suggestions her way, and reckoned her final choice, Fiat's 500, wasn't a bad shout for someone seeking something practical, cheap to run and stylish enough to tootle around the Scottish towns she frequents. The story should have ended with her proudly clutching the keys to her very own 500 and driving into the sunset, but it didn't.

Her small car of choice was in fact Toyota's Aygo for one simple reason; Fiat's dealers wouldn't play ball and Toyota's would.

My sister strolled into showroom after showroom and, in a time-honoured tradition of car flogging going back further than anyone cares to remember, was keen to indulge in a spot of Life of Brian-esque haggling. I'd told her, in the pep talk I'd given to her earlier, that it's just plain rude for people selling or buying a motor not to indulge in a bit of price banter, but the ones she'd spoken to were having none of it. Not one she visited was prepared to move so much as a pound on the price of the 500 she wanted.

Slightly deflated, she went to Plan B - her second choice, not the rapper - and asked a Toyota showroom of her choice if they'd be prepared to talk turkey over an Aygo. They obliged, and sold her a very nice ex demonstrator in a whiter shade of pale for a whisker under eight grand.

I suppose it's just a reflection of the way we buy and sell cars - whether they're new or secondhand - that I've always thought a deal where someone's not prepared to negotiate is a deal to walk away from. Being able to ask “Can I make you an offer?” and not have someone take immediate offence is one of the most important things in automotive retail. That and asking as many questions as you like about the deal, even if the buyer/seller whinges about your enquiries becoming a sort of Spanish Inquisition.

Nobody expects the Spanish Inquisition.

Subaru switches to rear wheel drive for BRZ coupe

THE sleek sister car of the muscular new Toyota coupe featured on here last week will arrive in Britain next July, it has been confirmed.

Subaru said its BRZ coupe, the result of a joint project with Toyota, will arrive here next summer and pack the same 200bhp flat four engine as the GT-86 coupe produced by its Japanese counterpart. Unusually for a Subaru the BRZ sticks with the Toyota's front engined, rear wheel drive layout - the company is renowned for using four wheel drive systems on its models.

A Subaru spokesperson said of the new coupe: “With 200bhp and 151 lb/ft of torque in a car weighing just 1,220kg, the BRZ has been designed for maximum – and accessible – driving enjoyment.

"The result of a Subaru-led joint-engineering venture with Toyota, the BRZ delivers a sensational and engaging driving experience, thanks in large part to an engineering and development programme that focused on achieving the lowest possible centre of gravity."

The Subaru BRZ is scheduled to go on sale in the UK in July 2012.

Fire up the.... Toyota Yaris 1.3 SR

A LONG time ago, in a factory far, far away, Toyota made some epically reliable but unbelievably boring cars.

Chief among these was the Starlet, which back in the early Nineties failed to tempt the supermini faithful out of their Fiestas, largely because it looked so dull. That's why its successor, the original Yaris of 1999, was such a class act. In a stroke the company cracked the small car nut with something stylish and innovatively packaged, and it hasn't looked back since.

It's clear the company still knows how to make an engaging small car - you only need to look at the ingeniously packaged IQ and the cheeky Aygo for proof - but the latest version of the Yaris has some awfully big small car boots to fill.

The main thing you'll notice aboard the new arrival is just how roomy it is.

Admittedly, finding room for people and luggage where you mightn't have expected it has always been a Yaris party trick, but with the 2011 model the world's biggest car company has moved the goalposts again. If you're one of those freakishly tall people who find the Fiesta and Corsa a bit of a squeeze, the extra inches Toyota's eaked out of the Yaris might just swing it for you.

What you also notice is that the likes of the 1.3 SR version I tested are definitely aiming for the upmarket segment of the supermini sector - where people care more for equipment and bombproof reliability than image or driveability - and I doubt anyone familiar with the outgoing model are going to be dissapointed by the quality of the materials and the way it's been screwed together. It's also very generously equipped, with the stereo/satnav interface garnering particular praise, but then it needs to be for almost £15k.

Yet for everything it gains the new Yaris loses some of the ineffable magic which made its two immediate predecessors such a hit, lacking both the cheeky looks of the original and the sparkle that came across on every journey. It's by no means a bad car, but nor is it one that you'd choose over a Fiesta, a Polo or a Jazz.

Unless you're freakishly tall, that is.

The Ford Capri's back, and it's Japanese this time

STICK your men's fragrances back on the shelf and unplug your smoothie maker. Metrosexual is out and hairy-chested is back in this season.

I know this because the Ford Capri, that most medallion-wearing, bitter-swigging, cigar-chomping of cars is back, even if it isn't actually a Capri. Or a Ford, for that matter. The only way isn't Essex (or more specifically, Dagenham) anymore. Thanks to Toyota, the only way if you want an outrageously powerful but surprisingly affordable performance car is their new sports coupe.

Yes, I know the newly announced GT-86 - the worst kept secret in motoring until this week - might be Japanese but it really is the iconic Ford reincarnated. It is, like a Capri, rear-wheel-drive, which I know from experience is intoxicating and intimidating in roughly equal measure, depending on the conditions and the weight of your right foot.

Like the later Capris, it's got a big, beefy engine (197bhp 2.0 litre flat four, if you're interested) under an endlessly long bonnet, and just like Essex Man's favourite it's got a swoopy coupe bodyshell. Prices haven't been announced yet but if the pundits' predictions of about £25,000 are on the money, it'll be the performance car bargain of the year. Like a Capri.

The funny thing is that there's a remake of The Sweeney on the way next year, but rather than going for the spiritual successor to all those leather-jacketed Fords of decades gone by they've gone with an actual Ford, in the shape of the front-wheel-drive Focus ST. A hot hatch which I'm sure will be brilliant in the best fast Ford tradition, but can you see the original Regan and Carter riding around in one? Or The Professionals, for that matter? Really? I'm not too sure, Guv.

I suspect Essex Man Junior - if such a medallion-wearing, unbelievably Seventies throwback of a bloke actually exists - would go for the hairy-chested rear wheel driver. I can only hope the baddies in the new Sweeney film, which comes out next year, do pick a GT-86 as their getaway car of choice, in the hope we'll at least be promised the Focus ST being involved in some proper car chases.

Which would be faster? Answers on a postcard to the usual Champion address...

Fire up the... Toyota Auris Hybrid

TRAFFIC JAMS. You hate them just as much as I do, but it's where this clever hybrid hatchback from the world's biggest car company starts showing off.

Slip the hybrid version of Toyota's mid-sized hatch into its EV - or Electric Vehicle - mode and it suddenly becomes your very own Coalition Government, refusing to let you spend any money at all by frittering away precious fuel. Instead it sidles along in silence, determining not to restart its 1.8 litre engine unless you mash your foot to the floor. Like its pricier Prius sister, crawling through jams using absolutely no petrol at all is the Auris Hybrid's party trick.

Toyota practically invented the hybrid - the car which combines petrol with electric motors in the quest for eco-friendly motoring - over a decade ago with the original Prius, but I reckon the Auris is actually the better buy. It might not come with the Cameron Diaz celebrity endorsement its more iconic sibling gets but what you do get is a slightly more resolved package.

The Auris is, to my mind at least, not only better looking than the Prius but also a better drive, giving you more confidence once you leave the jams, stick it Power Mode and drive it like, well, like a car. No, it isn't going to make you the Jenson Button through the bends but thanks to its effortless auto box, fingertip light steering and a handy amount of grunt from its petrol-burning department it is startling easy to drive. Only the slightly fidgety ride and a lack of all-round visibility let the side down but otherwise I reckon it's got the Prius - an impressive car in its own right, don't forget - licked.

If your drive to work involves lots of twisty lanes then this probably isn't the car for you; it's too woolly and not communicative enough for cross-country work, where the petrol-powered traditionalists like Ford's Focus still rule the roost. If, on the other hand, your commute seems to be a never ending series of traffic jams, the Auris Hybrid is well worth a look.

Your wallet will thank you for it.

Could this eco sports car be the next Toyota MR-2?

TOYOTA'S evoked memories of its old MR-2 sports car with its latest concept car - but the new roadster comes with an eco twist.

The two-seater GRMN - which stands for GAZOO Racing, tuned by MN - might be a petrol-electric hybrid car but in terms of its looks and mid-engined layout it's definitely a machine which hints that Toyota might be mulling over the idea of a new MR-2 sports car.

The concept, introduced to tie in with this year's Nurburgring 24 Hours race, will keep traditional driving enthusiasts happy with a 245bhp V6 driving the rear wheels, but it's also helped by an electric motor providing drive to the front wheels.

The last of the old MR-2 sports cars left the company's UK showrooms in 2007.


Life On Cars writer David Simister is getting wet on a campsite in Cornwall this week, but will be back later this week with more motoring news and reviews.

Fire up the... Toyota Prius

TOYOTA'S Prius at ten years old, is a global icon of the world's biggest car company, beloved of eco warriors and Hollywood actresses alike, and the first car you're likely to think of when it comes to saving the planet or saving at the pumps.

It is the hybrid.

Unfortunately, that means a quick science lesson. Hybrids are, as the name suggests, motors which use a mix of petrol and electricity to get you moving, with the
Toyota's 1.8 litre lump doing the sterling job of not only moving you about, but also helping to charge an electric battery, which in turn helps with the duties of swooshing along silently in traffic and in low speed parking manouveres.

Cast your eyes over the latest version, the third generation of the car, and it's definitely a love or hate job. Some of my passengers were instantly put off by the unusual proportions but to my mind it's the best looking Toyota hybrid to date, ditching the dowdy looks of its predecessor in favour of some crisp detailing, like the edgy headlights and alloy wheels.

It's the same story on the inside, which looks more like the cockpit of a spaceship than a rival to the Golf or Focus. The dials are replaced with a brilliantly bizarre computerised screen in the middle of that deep dashboard, and the gearstick is a minute, translucent blue affair which you'd swear has been nicked straight off a gaming console.

You have to forget the too-light steering and slightly stodgy handling and concentrate instead on learning the low speed coasting this car loves to get anywhere near the 70 miles to the gallon the Prius can and will do. There's even a game you can play to make it more fun; choose the animated display of the car's energy consumption on your car's Starship Enterprise display panel, and see how long you can get it to run on just electricity.

The Prius is also almost certainly a better bet than the rash of electric-only cars coming later this year, because after 100 miles on a longer trip you'll still be saving the planet long after the ‘leccy-driving do-gooders have run out of battery power and ground silently to a halt.

It's not an exciting car, but it is an impressive one.

As published in The Champion on January 26, 2011

Hybrid Theory

NEWS that Toyota's Prius is ten years old this week got me onto one of the fundamental questions of motoring. Are cars evolving as fast as we are?

Think about it; a decade ago we were a fairly primitive species, doing all our business through a dial-up Internet connection and getting confused over who the next US President was because some pensioners in Florida couldn't fill in a piece of paper properly. Since then we might have suffered seeing something called Jedward being given a record deal, but otherwise the world has come on in leaps and bounds.

I no longer have to text my mates because I can just Facebook them instead, my favourite TV shows are but a click on iPlayer away, and I can do it all on something called an iPad, which is about the same size as a chopping board. Certainly, when I come across a breaking story at The Champion I'm now faced with the same dilemma; write it or Tweet it?

But cars, even ones as sophisticated as the Prius, are still largely the same, despite gaining a USB socket here and there. All of them - hybrids included - still run on the basic principle of burning things that died millions of years ago, and if you showed even the snazziest car interior to your average Steve Jobs or Mark Zuckerberg they'd laugh openly at its humble stereo and lack of social networking. Then they'd probably set up a group on Facebook to encourage everyone else to do likewise.

I've got this theory that if you somehow stole Doc Brown's Delorean from the Hollywood warehouse it's undoubtedly hidden in (I know the original got destroyed, but Hollywood has spares of everything) and transported an iPad or a Kindle back to October 2000 in it, our not-so-distant ancestors would gasp in amazement. But send them details of even the most modern Prius and they'd yawn, because it looks pretty much the same as the one you bought back then.

I fear the answer I'm actually looking for could kill off this column once and for all, because - despite Google themselves taking on the challenge of developing the driverless car - the Facebook future may not involve motoring at all.

In October 2000 you could use Concorde to get something between London and New York in less than three hours, but now there's no need because you can do the same - virtually - in several seconds.

Are cars evolving as fast as we are? If it means not consigning the likes of Jaguar's exciting new CX-75 to museums prematurely, I'd hope so.

P.S: Hybrid Theory, in case you're wondering, was a hit album which just happened to be released in October 2000. I spent ages thinking that pun up...

Selling like hot brakes

Just got word from Toyota that last month was its best ever for UK sales of the Prius hybrid car.

That's the same month that many of the firm's models got caught up in the most widely publicised safety recall in years, and got residents where I live so concerned I was invited onto the local radio station to talk about how drivers might be affected.

It's the same story with Audi's TT; once that car had its stunning lines dilluted by a rear spoiler for safety's sake after horror stories about the car's stability ten years ago, it went on become a massive success story.

I don't like the Prius but I don't deny Toyota their success. If a car's good enough, no safety recall is going to stop it selling.

You can bank on the Swiss to show us some great cars

A SERIES of stunning cars destined to land in your local showroom over the next year are being showcased in Geneva this week.

The Swiss city's annual motorshow is always a hot tip for spotting the machines which will be impressing motorists in the near future, with everything from supercars to superminis - and a touch of the weird and wonderful - on on offer.

Almost every manufacturer is striving to show off something exciting at the event, and one motor that's been making waves this week is Toyota's FT-86, the Japanese giant's riposte to the 370Z, the latest in Nissan's reinvigorated range of sports coupes.

Following in the footsteps of the Celica and Supra, it's a welcome return to sports car territory, and a great way to revive interest in the carmaker after the scandal surrounding safety recalls on some of its other models earlier this year. With rear-wheel-drive, a rev-happy two litre lump and a six speed gearbox, it's definitely a GT from the old school.

But where Toyota are going back to basics, Ferrari are looking to the future, and have embraced the world of hybrid technology by fitting an electric motor to the 599 GTB supercar.

It's not quite the shock you'd expect; rather than chasing economy or trying to save the planet, the Italian company have taken a few tips from their F1 colleagues and used the system, dubbed Hy-Kers, to generate more than 100bhp on top of what the 599 GTB already generates, meaning it'll be a formidable motor if it ever makes production.

After the sucess of the DS3 hatchback, Citroen are continuing their move upmarket by naming a slinky saloon after a mens' magazine, called simply the GQbyCITROEN. I look forward to test driving the NUTSbyCITROEN and the FHMbyCITROEN sometime next year.

Yet you'll find the real star of the show hidden away on the Opel - that's Vauxhall to you and me - stand, where the tiny Meriva is being launched. Building on the success of the slightly cubist original, the firm's smallest MPV brings cuter styling and some neat touches (check out the clever rear doors) to what's bound to be a big hit for Vauxhall.

They'll be everywhere this time next year, and you can't say that about most motorshow stars.

Don't go on about your Toyota, just get it mended

THE sky is falling. Climate change will kill us all. We’re all going to get swine flu. Oh, and if you drive a Toyota you’re going to be wiped out in a high-speed inferno.

If you saw the front of either The Daily Mail or The Times chronicling Toyota’s safety recall earlier this week you would think getting behind the wheel is about as safe as gargling wasps or bungee jumping with the wrong rope, but as a paid-up media man I actually feel sorry for Toyota. Hysteria doesn’t cover it.

The coverage of the safety recall has been so disproportionate that you’d think it’d be best not to venture outdoors at all, for fear of a runaway Yaris with its throttle jammed open wiping you out. I can just see The Runaway IQ or Avensisageddon becoming a bad movie later this year.

Toyota’s head office actually told me this morning that the fault, which involves sticky accelerators on the Aygo, IQ, Yaris, Auris, Corolla, Verso, and Avensis, as well as the (Toyota based) Peugeot 107 and Citroen C1, only affects a very small number of vehicles, and that they’ve had to recall so many vehicles to be on the safe side.

Motor makers recall lots of cars every year, but the press seem to cherry-pick a handful and go mad with their keyboards. The last time any car got this much coverage was the Audi TT in its original, slightly slippery state, but there’s been far worse – and far quieter – recalls since.

Even if you are one of the very, very unlucky ones who gets caught out by a dodgy pedal, it’s really not hard to bring it to a halt. Most cars I’ve driven – even the ones with jammed throttles – have a brake and clutch, both of which slow you down. Even automatics can be asked nicely to glide to a stop, by braking and getting the gearbox to slow you down.

There will be a full feature in The Champion designed to allay readers’ fears (and it’ll be on here in the next few days too) but if your Toyota’s accelerator jams, stick the thing into neutral and get it sorted by your friendly local dealer.

And then stop going on about it.