Four-door Yaris for the U.S.

Since its introduction in the U.S., the Toyota Yaris has been available as a two-door hatchback and a four-door sedan. Just about everywhere else in the world, a five-door hatchback has been available, too and now the U.S. can be added to the list according to both Autoblog and Motor Trend.

Many Yaris enthusiasts, including myself, figured since the Scion xD was based on the Yaris chassis, we'd never see the five-door in the U.S. However, this apparently isn't the case.

I personally love the five-door, and would've bought one instead of my two-door, simply for ease of access for passengers. Since Yaris sales have been up more than 50% over last year, it makes sense to to increase it's presence, and compete more directly with the Honda Fit and Nissan Versa.

LINKS
Motor Trend
Autoblog.com

New rolling stock for my Yaris: Pt. 2

Unfortunately the Konig wheels I ordered (see below post) were on order for 6-8 weeks, and I didn't want to wait that long. Instead, I found a great deal on some Speedy Race Mode wheels (15x6.5, +40) and Falken Ziex 912 tires. Although I wasn't going to go with an all-season tire, the 912s were a smokin' deal, so I figured what the heck. I've owned three sets of Falken Ziex 512s, and have been very happy with them. More info once they're on.

New rolling stock for my Yaris

I've switched things up a bit on my '07 Yaris. I sold my Speedmaster wheels and Kumho AST tires, and just purchased a set of 15" Konig Daylite wheels (15x6.5, et +40) and a set of Yokohama S.Drive tires (195/55/15). Can't wait to get them on! A bit more offset, and a narrower tire should reduce the small amount of rubbing I was getting with my last setup. Plus, the S.Drives are a much stickier tire than the Kumho ASTs.

The squeaky wheel ... er ... suspension gets the grease

I've developed a really annoying squeak in my driver's side rear suspension. I can't figure it out. It's pretty intermittent, but is loud when it happens.

I've been trying to troubleshoot this thing for nearly a week now. I started by simply jacking the car up, and rotating the coilover perches. That seemed to take care of it for a few days. Heck, I took an 800 mile road trip to Northern California, and never heard the squeak.

After returning to Portland, the squeak came back. I jacked the car up and removed the rear spring and shock. I took the mounts off and used "disc brake lube" (as recommended by the guy at Baxter's Auto Parts) to lubricate all of the bushings (top and bottom mounts on the coilovers). Reassembled, test drove, and the squeak is still there. Grrrr...

Next, I made sure the tops on the shocks were tight. I noticed the squeaking side wasn't at tight as the non-squeaking side, so once everything was snugged up, it was off for a test drive. And yet again, the damn thing squeaked.

Angered, I drove to work, listening to all the squeaking. When I left work yesterday, I headed home and noticed no squeaking. Okay. I set off to run some errands that evening, and again, no squeaking. Whatever.

I'm wondering if it has something to do with the temperature outside. On my road trip, it was in the 70s. The squeak returned when it got cooler. Yesterday it was warmer. We'll have to see what today brings.

Yaris to Participate in "One Lap of America"

Some of the guys over at Yaris World are going to competing in Car and Driver's One Lap of America. How very cool to see a new subcompact doing the Lap! The Yaris' owner, Loren, has set up a blog to document the whole experience! Check it out at http://yarisonelap.net. Good luck guys!

Subcompact see sales gains in March

While many in the auto industry saw big-time losses, there were a few standouts in March sales. Namely the Honda Fit and Toyota Yaris (above).

According to ReportOnBusiness.com's, story entitled "U.S. auto sales tank," March 2008 Honda Fit sales were up 74%, and March '08 Toyota Yaris sales were up a whopping 83% from last year. Wow. Looks like small cars are beginning to catch on.

Link to Story: ReportOnBusiness.com

Better breathing for my Yaris

Rather than spend the money on an expensive air intake for my Yaris, I decided to save some cash by making my own high(er)-flow intake. I'd done this before on other cars with good results, so I figured why not?. No, I don't have any dyno numbers, but it sounds good and I'll never had to buy another filter since I used a K&N.


Basically it goes something like this: I bought a spare airbox from a Yaris owner. I proceeded to remove the built-in charcoal filter in the top of the airbox. Next, I broke out the Dremel tool, and removed much of the lower portions of the airbox, thus making the bottom of the K&N air filter exposed and able to suck more air. However, since I didn't remove all of the airbox, it still bolted into the stock location and fits perfectly. The photos above are of the bottom-half of the airbox with the sections removed.

The result was an inexpensive intake that looks stock and sounds great.

I know – some of you are thinking it's not dyno proven, it's sucking in warm air, so on, and so fourth. Well, perhaps, but I really don't care since the short-ram air intakes typically don't make a lot of power to begin with, and I'm not paying the money for one. Call me cheap. Regardless, this project was quick, easy, and effective. And to paraphrase a friend of mine on Honda-Tech, "If your ass can feel the difference between 90hp and 95hp in a 2300 lb. car, you should be flying experimental aircraft for another planet in a galaxy far far away."

So there.

Consumer Reports: Yaris = Fail. I disagree.

Let it be known that I am not a fan of the magazine Consumer Reports. I just don't think they have a clue on some things, especially some things automotive.

The latest move by the magazine that makes me continue my distrust is the ranking of the Toyota Yaris (with the manual transmission) as one of the worst cars on the U.S. market at the moment. According to a report on CNN Money's Web site, CR said the Yaris' "lows" were acceleration, vague steering, and numb shifter. Let's address the acceleration issue first.

According to Road and Track magazine's comparison test of the Toyota Yaris, Honda Fit, and Nissan Versa (April 2007):

"At our test track, the Yaris flat-out smoked the other two to 60 mph, taking 8.5 seconds against the Fit’s 9.0 and the Versa’s 9.1. Aside from its obvious lack-of-weight advantage (it weighs only 2295 lb.!), that quick time was achieved because the gearing of the Yaris’ 5-speed manual transmission allowed it to hold 2nd gear to 60 mph, while the 6-speed Versa and shorter-geared 5-speed Fit required shifts to 3rd."

Okay, so what's that mean, CR? Were your tests done differently?

Second: Vague steering. OK – the Yaris' steering isn't the best on the market. Fine. However, remember: this is an economy car. Most people aren't buying this car because of its world-class steering feel. The Yaris was the least-expensive vehicle CR tested. It says so right on the magazine's Web site. What do you want for $12K?

Third: Numb shifter. Define "numb." Imprecise? Compared to what? Certainly not the Hyundai Accent or Kia Rio. Those two cars, which I still think are overall good vehicles, had the worst manual shifter I've ever felt. How about a manual Chevrolet Cobalt? Even the Cobalt SS Supercharged had a clunky, imprecise shifter compared to my Yaris.

Like CR, these are my opinions. I certainly don't think the Yaris deserves to be on this list. I can think of plenty of other vehicles that should be on this list instead of the Yaris, but you know what they say about opinions: Opinions are like assholes – everyone has one (and they all stink).

My Toyota Yaris

So what small car do I drive? I own a 2007 Toyota Yaris, and I love it. In case you didn't know, it's the little white car parked between my friend Craig's Nissan Sentra SE-R (thanks for the photo, by the way) and that Lamborghini Superleggera. Yeah, that one. Although my car is no Lambo, I love it. And you know what they say: If you can't dazzle them with dollars, baffle them with bullshit. Well, OK; maybe not bullshit, but I didn't figure anyone would take a second look at my little Toyota next to an Italian beauty like the Lambo at the track.

To my surprise, I had several people come up to me and ask me about the Yaris. I had one guy even say that he hadn't even looked at the Lambo because he liked small cars and noticed my Yaris. (That's my kind of guy, but c'mon – it's a Superleggara!) Anyway, with it's bright orange Speedmaster SM046 wheels, and lowered stance, it hardly looks like a typical Yaris and does get its fair share of stares.

So a bit about my Yaris. It has the following upgrades:

15x6.5 (et 38)Speedmaster SM046 wheels (they weigh only about 11 lbs. each)

Kumho Ecsta AST (205/50/15)

Megan Racing Coilover Dampners

TRD rear swabyar

K&N Drop-In air filter (hey, I got it cheap!)

No, it's not very fast in a straight line, but it handles like a go-kart! In fact, I was able to do three laps on the racetrack as part of the re-opening, and it handled even better than I thought. The Kumho tires aren't my first choice (they came with the wheels), but they weren't too bad.

I'll be autocrossing the car this season, and it should prove to be a great little vehicle through the cones.

Yaris Links

Here a few of my favorite Web sites with Yaris-specific content:
Yaris World
B-segment.com
The Micro Team