I don’t know, thats the thing, what gearbox makes noise, a broke one? maybe driving an ev with a cvt be a way to tell..
I certainly don’t hear any major gearbox noise from my honda, over the engine noise.. Maybe if a car was just in ev mode then you would notice the sound of the drive of the car, the regen system creating friction to charge etc.
Once i had a 1.ol fiat panda for just doing the school run in. It was ok till i had to go to london in it. It was a manual and the noise it made was crazy had to get rid of it. It was from the engine reving it’s heart out.
My point is the only way you will know is by driving the cars, not by reviews that wanna sell cars and offer discounts if you do..
A car sales person will often tell you what you wanna hear or just not mention it. like when you asked about the noise and i did think when you said you was gonna test drive the yaris, i did think it would not be good for your needs, although the mpg are great, but i did not say anything as you need to decide, no one else can for you and i would hate you to be put off by some peoples views or not test drive cars you intrested in.
Not all coffees are the same and some prefer different ones over others. nothing wrong with that, but because someone don’t like a certain one should you not try it or like it.. This is my point i guess. only ones self knows what one likes and what one can put up with and what we cannot and we all differ.
Deffo though i do think if you want the best mpg a trade off will have to be made. but you do have to try them to make up your mind. Sometimes hard choices have to be made.