New to Yaris a couple of questions

[Newf]

Hi All,

We recently bought a 2008 two-door hatchback with only 37,000 kms on it.

We had just sold a 2000 Echo so we figured we couldn't go wrong with the Yaris.

We are a manual tranny family but couldn't pass up the deal we got on the Yaris due to the pristine shape it's in!

The only complaint I have is that the automatic tranny makes the car gutless, in terms of quick pick-up. The car does 140 km/h no problem, but when we stomp on the gas in the city it takes forever to go and we've had to adjust our driving habits accordingly.


I read on one of the forums that the accellerator is "drive-by-wire". Would this account for the lack of accelleration when you floor it, or have I just been away from automatic trannies so long that I've forgotten how sluggish they are? Is this drive-by-wire accellerator pedal something that can be adjusted or calibrated.

OR ... could I just drive it and shift from first to third by moving the gearshift? But would driving like this, instread of keeping the car in D, place a lot of wear and tear on the automatic transmission?

The car has all manual locks. Does an aftermarket product exist to make the hatch keyless or allow you to open it from the inside, as if it had a trunk latch?

Thanks in advance for any suggestions!
Newf

[WeeYari]

Welcome and what a find.

Using the term gutless for your automatic is subjective. My '06 is A/T and while not quite as peppy off the line as the M/T, I would not say it is gutless. For sure it will not be as peppy as your old manual Echo since the Yaris is a heavier car. What I have found is that when I want a burst of speed for passing, if I quickly burp the accelerator prior to flooring it, I do get quicker acceleration.

Is drive-by-wire something that can be calibrated? No.

Is there a product to convert to keyless hatch, or internal release? No.

[kimona]

I had an '07 and now a '14, both automatics. I actually find the 4-speed automatic surprisingly intelligent and rather quick... if you're not afraid to really work the accelerator pedal. It's a brilliant little transmission and the car is darn near bulletproof. Have fun.

[Newf]

Welcome and what a find.

Using the term gutless for your automatic is subjective. My '06 is A/T and while not quite as peppy off the line as the M/T, I would not say it is gutless. For sure it will not be as peppy as your old manual Echo since the Yaris is a heavier car. What I have found is that when I want a burst of speed for passing, if I quickly burp the accelerator prior to flooring it, I do get quicker acceleration.

Is drive-by-wire something that can be calibrated? No.

Is there a product to convert to keyless hatch, or internal release? No.

Thanks there WeeYari.
I've been playing with tapping it and then flooring it. It's a lot about timing.
Thanks

[Newf]

I had an '07 and now a '14, both automatics. I actually find the 4-speed automatic surprisingly intelligent and rather quick... if you're not afraid to really work the accelerator pedal. It's a brilliant little transmission and the car is darn near bulletproof. Have fun.

Hi Kimona,

When you say work the pedal, do you mean like WeeYari was talking about? Or just flooring it and hoping for the best?

Take care,
Newf

[bronsin]

Gutless? What do you think you’re doing, driving in the Indianapolis 500?

[Newf]

Gutless? What do you think you’re doing, driving in the Indianapolis 500?

No. Just normal city traffic.

It's all relative. I'm comparing it to my old 2000 Echo sedan that had a manual tranny.

Now back to pole qualifying for my daily drive to work ... :biggrin:

[jayeh]

My annoyance with this car is that I have to think about how I press the gas pedal or else I spin the tires. I wish there was an eco mode or something to make it less touchy.

It's annoying to go from driving anything else back to my car since the pedal is so touchy! It's also annoying to go to someone elses car and take off from a stop going 27 KPH and wondering why I'm going so damn slow.

[BennyLava]

Gutless? What do you think you’re doing, driving in the Indianapolis 500?

Yeah at around 100hp I wouldn't expect too much, manual trans or not. Built to save gas, not go fast. But there are a few mods you could do which would make it noticeably better than your manual echo.

We've got an 09 auto sedan, and imo its far from gutless. I've had gutless cars in the past, and my stock 09 sedan is nothing like them in terms of power. It will get out of its own way, which is really all you can ask from such a car. Considering what I've experienced, I'm just glad it will even do that. Think back to how bad the 90's economy cars were, especially when they got some age on them. Those things were gutless. Often times instead of going any faster, they'd just make more engine noise. And then maybe start to barely increase in speed. Maybe.

[jayeh]

Yeah at around 100hp I wouldn't expect too much, manual trans or not. Built to save gas, not go fast. But there are a few mods you could do which would make it noticeably better than your manual echo.

We've got an 09 auto sedan, and imo its far from gutless. I've had gutless cars in the past, and my stock 09 sedan is nothing like them in terms of power. It will get out of its own way, which is really all you can ask from such a car. Considering what I've experienced, I'm just glad it will even do that. Think back to how bad the 90's economy cars were, especially when they got some age on them. Those things were gutless. Often times instead of going any faster, they'd just make more engine noise. And then maybe start to barely increase in speed. Maybe.

I had a 94 Daewoo with I think 55 carbourated horsepower. That thing would barely move at the best of times!

[Newf]

As a teengager we had a VW 412 automatic. But for me the cool thing about it was a metal button under the accellerator pedal. When floored, the pedal would hit the button and this caused the transmission to downshift.

I had lots of fun coming up behind the guys in Novas/Camaros/Muscle Cars and flooring the 412. The air cooled engine would scream and the guys would turn around not knowing what was going on ... until they saw the car ;-)

Once they figure it out, they'd laugh, and gun it past me. Yep, I learned humility behind the wheel of that one ... well not really, I was just being a $hit distruber.

Take care

[dogsridewith]

Newf:
The owners manual will explain shift lever positions for the automatic Yaris. Note also the highest speeds allowed in each gear position. Strongest acceleration will generally be with a fully depressed throttle pedal in the lowest allowed gear.

[Newf]

Thanks Gang for all of your comments! I think I was mistaken in expecting it to be as peppy as our old manual tranny Echo.

Take care!

[Newf]

Newf:
The owners manual will explain shift lever positions for the automatic Yaris. Note also the highest speeds allowed in each gear position. Strongest acceleration will generally be with a fully depressed throttle pedal in the lowest allowed gear.

So I would just accellerate, when revs climd make sure to release gas and gear up?

Take care

[dogsridewith]

Shouldn't need to let up on the gas when manually shifting through the D positions with an automatic.
But have you ever just floored it in D from a rolling stop and kept it floored until reaching a safe speed for where you are? (If you don't keep it floored, it will upshift.)
It has been said here that these Yaris have a 6000 RPM rev limiter, so you shouldn't be able to hurt it if it is working correctly.
I can't say what it would do if you downshifted at speed to a gear low enough to exceed the 6000k rev limiter. (I think some automatics may shift to the lower gear lever position, but will not engage the lower gear in this case.)

[Bugz]

So I would just accelerate, when revs clime make sure to release gas and gear up?

Take care

So I've had my 2010 Vitz for a little over 2 years now.. I've noticed that fully flooring the gas does not give me the best results in most cases. It seems to me that there is a "sweet spot" with the pedal that makes the car accelerate more, I find that to be just a little bit before the pedal is fully floored. I even proved it on the Highway when this was the only way I could get to max the
speed limit.

[dogsridewith]

So at max speed if you floored it the car slowed down?

[Bugz]

No when I'm at Max speed its maxed of course but to get there... If I have it floored it feels like it slowly climbs to get to the max, when I ease a little bit off the acceleration however it gets there quicker. I tried it over and over just to make sure I wasn't bugging. If I go fully flat footed on the gas the engine races and yeah the car accelerates however it does it quicker when its not fully floored.

Edit(I should also note this is an automatic CVT Transmission)