New 2010 Yaris Owner

[charliegriefer]

Hey Folks...

Just picked up a 2010 for my daughter. Her second car (licensed 6 months... first car was a beater that just finally gave up).

To be honest, was looking for inexpensive. Went to our local CarMax dealership with eyes on a Nissan Versa. They had issues with the Versa, so we looked at a Yaris.

Wasn't at all familiar with them. But I am a believer in the longevity of Toyotas. This thing is a 2010 with only 57k miles on her. It's a 3 door. Would have preferred a 5, but beggars and choosers and all.

Doing my best to get familiarized with it. Reading over the manual and perusing the forums.

Gotta say, while I picked it up because it was inexpensive, I'm digging it a lot. Reading some of the posts here makes me feel pretty confident that it'll be with us for a good, long time.

Anyway, just wanted to drop a quick note and say hi.

Hi :)

https://i.imgur.com/kApdtGy.jpg?1

[Kaotic Lazagna]

Welcome! That's a rare color. I'm on my second Yaris (first one was a sedan I bought new back in 2007 or so, traded it in for my FR-S, and then picked up a used 3-door to accompany the FR-S). They're great cars. One thing that isn't that great is the water pump, so just keep an eye out for that.

[GrayYaris]

Hey Folks...

Just picked up a 2010 for my daughter. Her second car (licensed 6 months... first car was a beater that just finally gave up).

To be honest, was looking for inexpensive. Went to our local CarMax dealership with eyes on a Nissan Versa. They had issues with the Versa, so we looked at a Yaris.

Wasn't at all familiar with them. But I am a believer in the longevity of Toyotas. This thing is a 2010 with only 57k miles on her. It's a 3 door. Would have preferred a 5, but beggars and choosers and all.

Doing my best to get familiarized with it. Reading over the manual and perusing the forums.

Gotta say, while I picked it up because it was inexpensive, I'm digging it a lot. Reading some of the posts here makes me feel pretty confident that it'll be with us for a good, long time.

Anyway, just wanted to drop a quick note and say hi.

Hi :)

https://i.imgur.com/kApdtGy.jpg?1

Congrats to you and your daughter!

The Yaris is a great ride and in AZ it should last you a long time. Even when parts fail (which is rare) quality parts are very reasonably priced.

My Yaris has a case of the crusties, but with 185K on the odometer (I've owned it for the past 110K), I have about $1200 of parts into it (half of that cost was from a set of snow tires and a set of all seasons). Friends and family are shocked at what I haul around in the back (or on top, thanks to my Thule Traverse roof rack) of that Yaris and are surprised at its ability to sip fuel.

Aside from the practicality and economy of the Yaris, perhaps one of its best attributes is mechanical simplicity and elegance. If you ever run into a problem with the Yaris, this forum is one of the best forums around. I guarantee if you and/or your daughter have patience and are willing to learn, there isn't a problem on that car you can't fix yourself with the help of the members of this forum.

Going forward, I would recommend the following "mods" if they aren't already done:

Rear Anti-Sway bar and wider rear tires- See CTScott's and other's posts on this. It will greatly stiffen up and stabilize the ride, especially at highway speeds

Cruise control- CTScott has a great budget solution for this if you want to mess around with basic soldering/electronics. If you don't want to go that route, you can pick up an OEM/OEM style cruise stalk for around $200 installed.

Enjoy!

[Leegamer]

I dig that color. It will make a good second car, very reliable, fuel efficient, easy and cheap to maintain and to me a very comfortable car for long distance drives.

[kevinj93]

Welcome to Yaris World. Your daughter looks to be delighted with her new car. It certainly looks good in the photo.

[Kaotic Lazagna]

Going forward, I would recommend the following "mods" if they aren't already done:

Rear Anti-Sway bar and wider rear tires- See CTScott's and other's posts on this. It will greatly stiffen up and stabilize the ride, especially at highway speeds

Cruise control- CTScott has a great budget solution for this if you want to mess around with basic soldering/electronics. If you don't want to go that route, you can pick up an OEM/OEM style cruise stalk for around $200 installed.

Enjoy!


Since it's for the daughter, I would NOT recommend the rear sway bar as she is an "inexperience" driver at this point having only 6 months of being licensed. I say this because to the average person, it's easier to manage understeer vs oversteer. A rear sway bar will push the handling characteristics towards oversteer, albeit no where near that of a rear wheel drive car or a midship car.

I also wouldn't get wider rear tires only. I would get a square set up of wider tires all around. While I did say understeer is easier to manage, having wider rear tires on a front wheel drive car that has understeer bias from the factory would just make understeering even more pronounced. Having a square wider set would retain the factory understeer bias, but will offer better grip and more side wind resistance. However, there's only so much you can fit on the factory steel wheels before it balloons out, which will result in even more side wall flex, and actually hurt handling.

[Kaotic Lazagna]

The first "mods" that I would suggest would be to get these: https://www.vleds.com/shop-bulb-numbers/h4-9003-hb2/micro-evo-h4.html. Stick with the 5000k color temp. They're as good as you can get short of a full blown projector retrofit. They will glare less than drop in HIDs, and so far I haven't been flashed at (I did re-aim my headlights) by on-coming traffic.

This will allow your daughter to see farther out and more clearly what is on the road during the night.

[charliegriefer]

Thanks for the replies, all!

I'll check out those Micro Evolution headlights. The only other mods I'm really looking to do quickly is:

1) LED mods on the speedometer. She and I both dislike the amber. A lot. I saw that CTScott offers that service (or, did?). If possible, would also like to upgrade the cluster to one with a tach.

2) CarPlay stereo. We're in an Apple ecosystem here. I had a CarPlay stereo in a previous vehicle, and I loved it. Great having maps up on the screen. Ability to take calls, tell Siri to play certain songs, etc. Saw one at crutchfield that was $350 with all of the necessary hardware.

I'm sure there will be more in the weeks to come. But for right now, itching to get those two done :)

[Kaotic Lazagna]

Replacing the HU on the Yaris is really easy to do since the trim pieces come right out.

The color that bothered me more was the "old" green look of the HVAC controls. I replaced them with white LEDs.

https://scontent.fsac1-2.fna.fbcdn.net/v/t1.0-9/26112371_10215657571898670_7402842893104746670_n.j pg?_nc_cat=103&_nc_ht=scontent.fsac1-2.fna&oh=da6ce4fe5189f45b15b8482d2d1fe826&oe=5CB5FD3D


My '08 doesn't have the amber colored tach/speedometer tho. If it did, I probably would have gone with amber LEDs for the HVAC to better match it.

[Dodge Aries K]

Man, I wish my first car was that nice. I had a 1986 Dodge Aries that I bought from my friend's girlfriend for $600. Crap vinyl bench seat, a horrid audio system, and not even a passenger side mirror (that was an option back then hahaha) but it did it's job.

If she takes care of it, that car will last a long long time.

[charliegriefer]

The color that bothered me more was the "old" green look of the HVAC controls. I replaced them with white LEDs.

Ooh I dig the white on the HVAC controls. I might have to look into doing that as well :)


Man, I wish my first car was that nice. I had a 1986 Dodge Aries that I bought from my friend's girlfriend for $600. Crap vinyl bench seat, a horrid audio system, and not even a passenger side mirror (that was an option back then hahaha) but it did it's job.

If she takes care of it, that car will last a long long time.

To be fair, this is her 2nd car. The first was a 2005 Saab that I bought at auction for $500. And to her credit, she was grateful. Even when I mentioned that I might want to get rid of it and look for a car with a low monthly payment, she sighed and said, "But I love my car".

FWIW, my first car (back in '86) was my uncle's car that he let me borrow, and ultimately gave to me. I don't even recall what it was anymore... but it probably wasn't any better than your Aries :)

[NYC-SE]

Welcome to the Yaris family. You've made a wise choice.

[justanotherdrunk]

nice color and love the 2 door model!

[tmontague]

Smart choice, darn reliable cars with plenty of parts at good prices, plus they still use the same engine so finding parts from a recycler really cheap is easy.

The engines are designed for low rpm torque from factory so they make a really fun and peppy grocery getter. After building my car for high rpm hp at the loss of low rpm torque, I couldn't believe how peppy the stock yaris' are when I hopped in my sister in laws '07 hb

Hope she enjoys it!

[chriswf]

I haven't had any real issues with my Yaris, and it has 250,000 miles.
I did replace the bearings a few times, but to be fair I was breaking the new Timken bearings - that's how hard I drove my Yaris. And I drove it for long hours on end, ~340 miles a day. Lots of city miles. Never had a CEL come on.

Once I thought about selling it, just to see how much it's worth... and 3 people asked me if I replaced the water pump. I said no, never heard from them again. So I took the ad down.
It still has ZERO problems but it's only a backup car now...

I owned an Infiniti for a while (tons of problems), but eventually straight traded it for a 1st gen scion xB. The xB also has the 1nzfe engine in it, and every day that I go outside, I know my xB will start without any problems as well... such a nice feeling.

They really are great cars, and cheap cars. Cheap parts. Feels good.

[GrayYaris]

Since it's for the daughter, I would NOT recommend the rear sway bar as she is an "inexperience" driver at this point having only 6 months of being licensed. I say this because to the average person, it's easier to manage understeer vs oversteer. A rear sway bar will push the handling characteristics towards oversteer, albeit no where near that of a rear wheel drive car or a midship car.

I also wouldn't get wider rear tires only. I would get a square set up of wider tires all around. While I did say understeer is easier to manage, having wider rear tires on a front wheel drive car that has understeer bias from the factory would just make understeering even more pronounced. Having a square wider set would retain the factory understeer bias, but will offer better grip and more side wind resistance. However, there's only so much you can fit on the factory steel wheels before it balloons out, which will result in even more side wall flex, and actually hurt handling.

Kaotic Lazagna- I think you're greatly exaggerating the risks of a rear sway bar. Have you driven a stock HB Yaris at highway speeds during a mild storm? It is absolutely fatiguing and probably a bit dangerous depending on road conditions. I would argue that the only reason the Yaris doesn't have a rear anti-sway bar like many other passenger cars is because the Yaris is a stripped-down car designed for economy, not drivability. Toyota found a way to save a few bucks and built the car without the rear anti-sway bar.

[tmontague]

Kaotic Lazagna- I think you're greatly exaggerating the risks of a rear sway bar. Have you driven a stock HB Yaris at highway speeds during a mild storm? It is absolutely fatiguing and probably a bit dangerous depending on road conditions. I would argue that the only reason the Yaris doesn't have a rear anti-sway bar like many other passenger cars is because the Yaris is a stripped-down car designed for economy, not drivability. Toyota found a way to save a few bucks and built the car without the rear anti-sway bar.

In normal conditions I would agree with you. New driver+rain on a high treadwear tire=bad new bears. New drivers miscalculate cornering speeds until they have a feel for the roads, better safe than sorry

[ern-diz]

Welcome! Beautiful Yaris example, congrats!

[Kaotic Lazagna]

Kaotic Lazagna- I think you're greatly exaggerating the risks of a rear sway bar. Have you driven a stock HB Yaris at highway speeds during a mild storm? It is absolutely fatiguing and probably a bit dangerous depending on road conditions. I would argue that the only reason the Yaris doesn't have a rear anti-sway bar like many other passenger cars is because the Yaris is a stripped-down car designed for economy, not drivability. Toyota found a way to save a few bucks and built the car without the rear anti-sway bar.

I'm on my second yaris, so I have experience driving both a sedan and a 3 door HB in stock configuration and lowered (my sedan had the TRD RSB, never bothered to get one for the HB since I'll eventually get coilovers).

As mentioned understeer is easier to handle for a new driver or one that is not experienced. That's why I suggested that the OP does not get one right away until his daughter is more comfortable driving the car and driving in general. If it were your child, would rather take the safer route, or choose a more spirited driving characteristic?

[bradbowl]

Welcome! Excellent rare color. Your daughter will love it!