All that you ever need to know:
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My sadly last car had eight forward years, automatic of course. It probably had some sort of differential but Iāve never bothered with oily bits of cars for over forty years. Iāve left that sort of thing to other people.
Probably a very wise decision, best to leave things you donāt understand to people who do.
I certainly didnāt understand how my car worked beyond putting petrol in one end and getting raw fear out of the other! But then, I didnāt need to.
stripped down many car engines to replace piston rings and big end bearing etc let alone reseat valves. I actually use to enjoy it including putting in new clutch plates and brake pads. something impossible with modern cars. Now disconnect even the battery and everything may need restting a step backwards in my book, no longer a DIY at home job
Mine is a 2 litre engine never found it underpowered.
Thatās what I said. Itās even more pertinent now that you donāt have a car and canāt drive.
Ended up with a Honda Crv, this will be our third one, number one went throw a brick wall, and number two after a short time refused to start, and now settled for a silver beast.
My wife drives it more than me and she loves it, the only spend out was new wiper blades.
I have a Renault Clio 1.4 Automatic 2005, It would be easier to turn round an Oil Tanker than this bugger. Even with power steering, the turning circle is a joke. It takes me umpteen times to park the car in a space. 
I bought my wife a renault clio and quickly got rid of it. Huge issue when turning, what happened was turn the steering part way and the wheels hardly moved, turn a little more and the wheels turned so fast they were uncontrolable. So so dangerous if one considers making a right turn on the road. the dealer didnāt want to know which made it worse
Beware of Toyota cars?
Iām getting disillusioned with my Yaris Cross because of the problems Iāve been having with the 12V starter battery. I donāt use the car everyday and certainly far less than my previous ones but I still think that the battery should last longer as it did with all my previous Toyota cars. Now I constantly need to keep an eye on the battery, have to recharge it frequently, and have to be prepared for coming upon a dead oneā¦ 
Toyota doesnāt seem to be really interested.
That just doesnāt sound right.
My carās battery went flat over Covid due to lockdown but your car is brand spanking new. Did you publicly complain? Most companies tend to resolve complaints posted on their social media platforms.
You have a very good memory! 
Yes I did both but all they did was ask how much I drive. I also discussed it on media platforms which was a bit more helpful telling me how to save battery power. Itās a long storyā¦
The last thing I read was that someone said heād read on English fora that they suspected those cars manufactured during COVID were let sit idle far too long so that their batteries deeply discharged from which no battery really recovers.
Did you buy a new car replacing your Mercedes meanwhile?
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There could be a point to the batteries lying unused during lockdown. Perhaps you should consider replacing the battery then? Bit of a pain to replace it so soon.
Good memory - you as well 
My Mercedes is out of warranty now but Iāve taken mechanical insurance.
I considered trading it in for a newer model but decided against it as itās not worth replacing.
I work from home and it just sits in the garage most days. Itās only done 39 000km.
The 40,000km service is going to cost me though.
Still in two minds though - itās between Mercedes and BMW. I browsed some nice cars yesterday. Tempting.
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If your car has stop/start then you need an AVG type battery
I bought a cheap 1.5amp smart charger to keep my battery topped up when the car wasnāt being used. It basically applies about 13v to the battery which keeps it charged up permanently. It can be left connected without damaging the battery.
From memory it only cost between $20 and $40
Will go for a gel battery even if this means that Iāll be needing a different charger.
I only know about Mondeoās sometimes I love them sometimes I hate them.
Why? Flooded Lead Acid is ideal for a car. It can provide the high current needed for starting, recovers quickly and is very forgiving. All the others are over egging the battery pudding and making things unnecessarily expensive.
The small drain on the battery from the computer and modern accessories can be compensated for by a small solar panel or charger.
Iāve got a Hybrid car which means that I donāt need the high current that cars with a cumbustion-only engine need for starting but just a relatively low one for booting the system. That seems to be the main reason for Toyota to build in a rather small starter battery assuming that cars are made for drivng not for letting them sit idle. I rather need a long battery life which is why the dealer recommends gel batteries, which are more expensive but provide more power for the limited space available.
The unsolved problem is if the drain from all those gadgets is really small or if thereās something fundamentally wrong. It works fine as long as the cars is regularly movedā¦
The thing is that either Toyotaās cars or Hybrid cars in general seem to have a constant drain on the battery so that they need to be moved more often than other cars. My wifeās (non-hybrid) car, for example, gets even less frequently driven than mine but the battery lasts much longer.
There seems to be a price to be paid if you want to save fuel and be eco-friendly.