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.