Can you buy a new non Hybrid petrol car now?

[Steviesam]

My old Mother has 2024 Toyota Yaris Cross and its st. Constantly having a flat battery, despite Toyota fitting a slightly larger battery and a cheap crappy solar panel. Also they fitted a CTEK charger so she can charge it up. She is 85-and doesnt need to be doing that. She said if she had wanted to plug her car in, she would have bought a full EV.
Despite that, after driving it for 2 hours today, she has had text and an email saying the starter battery is getting flat-she plugged it in last night too on the CTEK.

So thats all more crap than an 85 year should put up with and she want a petrol car, similar size. She likes the Japanese stuff preferably.

Does such a car exist now or is everything bloody hybrid?

Thanks!

[valiant]

Does she leave the key near the car when at home at all?

One issue with another manufacturer admittedly, is that although the car is turned off it's never fully asleep if it can detect the key nearby thus causing a drain.

Keeping the key away from the car or in a Faraday pouch can alleviate some issues with battery drain.

[Steviesam]

Thanks for the idea, but due to her paranoia about thieves, she has always kept the keys in a faraday pouch thing.

[bennno]

Not enough miles being driven, they need use.

Swap it for a nearly new / used 1 litre aygo, no hybrid system, suits low usage levels.

[loskie]

Skoda Fabia

[lufbramatt]

Same issue could occur regardless of whether car is a hybrid or normal petrol? Not sure what the hybrid system has to do with the 12v battery going flat.

I broke my ankle last year and couldn’t drive. Took 3 weeks of sitting on the drive for my Corolla hybrid to message me to say the 12v battery was getting low. Has the car got an underlying fault?

[sneezer212]

It is very difficult to buy a non-hybrid new car in the UK. You can get them either at the very top end or at the very bottom end, although even these routes are closing.

Many hybrids are not labeled ether - despite having a 12v or more commonly 48v hybrid drivetrain. The RS6 for example is a hybrid (has an unreliable 48V system). Most people don't know that.

The Toyota problem you describe is well-known. The 12v in the car has insufficient capacity to power the swathe of electronics in the car and is also used to support the electric engine so ends up with limited charge if not driven often - which leads to flat batteries as it maintains various always on electrical systems. I guess you know this because you have a larger capacity battery that still doesn't work. I wonder why Toyota don't advertise that the car needs to be driven frequently and at least once a week? Hmm..

It is often really difficult to find out if a car is hybrid or not - the Fabia mentioned may or may not be. Check the model very carefully as different trims can be suddenly 12v hybrid. Manufacturers don't like to tell you if it is hybrid and dealers quite often have no idea.

To the person who doesn't understand what the hybrid system has to do with the 12v - you don't understand how modern hybrid systems work. They all have this problem to a lesser or greater degree. Toyota is particularly problematic if not driven often.

[Shinysideup]

My old dear had exactly the same with a 2025 Yaris hybrid. Met with denial of any fault by the crap local dealer but they offered to sell us a solar charger.

Since she liked the car apart from the flakey charging system we found a GR Yaris with convenience pack. She loves it and i don't have to jump start it every few days.

[raspy]

sneezer212 said:

To the person who doesn't understand what the hybrid system has to do with the 12v - you don't understand how modern hybrid systems work. They all have this problem to a lesser or greater degree. Toyota is particularly problematic if not driven often.

I had a MB plug in hybrid. Didn't use it for 3 months. Started fine! Never had issues with the 12V battery, in terms of not driving it for weeks at a time.

[loskie]

go into Autotrader filter new cars and petrol

Arona, Fabia as mentioned, you'll find a few.

Arona may be a good shout as slightly raised ride height

[Monkeylegend]

loskie said:

go into Autotrader filter new cars and petrol

That doesn't work with some mild hybrids like BMW. All their petrol engines have a separate 48 volt battery for starting the car from about 2021/2022 and are different from the plug in hybrid system.

This is not always made clear in the adverts even if you only select petrol only.

This mild hybrid system also has a reputation for letting owners down with little or no notice leaving you stranded when the car won't start and batteries are quoted at £1000 plus to replace.

[Sheepshanks]

bennno said:

Not enough miles being driven, they need use.

If buyers aren't told that, then the cars are being mis-sold. They're not fit for purpose.

[Shinysideup]

Sheepshanks said:

If buyers aren't told that, then the cars are being mis-sold. They're not fit for purpose.

It's hard to fathom that Toyota have built a car which fails so often for edge case low mile users, the dealers then blame the customer for not doing enough miles. Before i had direct experience of this with a new Yaris i wouldn't have believed it.

If you ask the dealer how many miles you need to cover to fix this issue they wont give you a number.

[Doesitdrive]

lufbramatt said:

Same issue could occur regardless of whether car is a hybrid or normal petrol? Not sure what the hybrid system has to do with the 12v battery going flat.

I broke my ankle last year and couldn t drive. Took 3 weeks of sitting on the drive for my Corolla hybrid to message me to say the 12v battery was getting low. Has the car got an underlying fault?

It can, but Toyota have has this problem for years, Grandad had a 63 plate, same issue, never has it with his diesel van, or any car before itv

[Sheepshanks]

Shinysideup said:

It's hard to fathom that Toyota have built a car which fails so often for edge case low mile users, the dealers then blame the customer for not doing enough miles. Before i had direct experience of this with a new Yaris i wouldn't have believed it.

If you ask the dealer how many miles you need to cover to fix this issue they wont give you a number.

A Hyundai service manager told me they have the same problem - he said they're the wrong car for people who do a few miles twice a week. He has to deal with people who need new £500 batteries at 2 yrs and Hyundai won't cover under warranty.

Which? article a few days ago: https://www.which.co.uk/news/article/revealed-the-...

There's someone on here having a nightmare with a Lexus LBX. I looked at those for one of our daughters - she mainly works from home, so sounds like it was a lucky escape. She got a Skoda Kamiq.

[TommoAE86]

Would you be able to find an older Mazda that fits the bill of being Japanese and not hybrid? Our previous gen 3 is not a hybrid and the new ones are "mild hybrid" whatever that is, the 3 we have is very good . It's abit confusing on the used list but this one looks like it's not a hybrid: https://www.mazdausedcarlocator.co.uk/used-cars/20....

So annoying about the Toyota system, making me question my next car choice as I WFH I am not sure I do enough miles to keep the system going.

[E17KRY]

My mother in law had the same issue with her Yaris. She's ended up changing up for a new petrol powered mini cooper as she wanted lane assist etc. She's had no issues with it so far.

[MGSteve]

Have a look at the Kia range. A neighbor purchased a petrol non-hybrid XCeed earlier in the year.
Their website suggests the Picanto, Stonic, K4 and XCeed are available as petrol non-hybrid.

[Jamescrs]

Shinysideup said:

It's hard to fathom that Toyota have built a car which fails so often for edge case low mile users, the dealers then blame the customer for not doing enough miles. Before i had direct experience of this with a new Yaris i wouldn't have believed it.

If you ask the dealer how many miles you need to cover to fix this issue they wont give you a number.

The sad thing is the people selling these cars won't care less whether or not the car is suitable for the intended use, they get their sale and move on to the next customer, granted at a higher level the company loses repeat business but the actual sales associate couldn't care less usually.

[Huzzah]

Dacia have non hybrid stuff.