Latka's Yaris thread

[Latka]

Hahaha... rather than continue to drag the poor meet / cruise thread off into the woods further I figured I should probably just tart my own thread. :)

Yesterday I went to check out a Yaris (2 door hatchback) at the Windward Toyota dealer. I wanted to double-check that I fit in it mostly, but also wanted to poke around the car. I fit, but I'm probably going to have to recline the seat a bit - damn German and Scottish heritage! I like the hatch / folding rear seat. I've always been a hatchback fan, having had a '91 8v GTi, a pair of 85/86 CRXs, and a 2002 MINI Cooper S.

I was pleasantly surprised to see that Toyota actually left some room in the engine bay. You can get to the belts, intake and exhaust manifolds without screaming - well, compared to the Mini at least.

Looks like we're going to end up getting a base model car with A/C. I'll add a radio later for the interior. Going to tint it and get an exhaust for it right off the bat. Gotta make sure everyone knows all 106hp are on the way. ;) Haven't decided which exhaust to get yet, but I'll have to do some research. I'm not after a raspy, tinny rice-boy sound. Possible future stuff could include drop springs, uprated struts, and maybe a rear swaybar. I'd love to get back into SCCA Auto-X - if I do that I might stick with exhaust and aftermarket struts. I think it'd be pretty competitive in H Stock, but I'll have to wait until I actually drive one for that decision. At 2200 pounds and change though it's really damn light.

We're hoping to get a Yellow Jolt '09, but I'd be ok with most of the colors except black. Had a black '87 Porsche 924S - thing looked awesome when it was all clean and shiny, but sheesh - one or two days driving out here and it looked like junk with all the water & dust.

I'm kinda bummed that I have to get rid of all my Minis, but such is life. I went back to school to change careers and had to sacrifice quite a bit (toys! hahaha). My green Mini as well as my 1966 Austin Cooper S will have to go. I've got a small pile of parts that I need to sell too. It'll be nice to be down to 2 cars though! My fiance is happy driving our Nissan Titan to work - I don't like driving it... it's too big. Funny, considering I'm 6'6" :) I'm much happier in a small car, provided I fit.

(edit) Oh, as for school - truckin along. I "started" school in '94 when I got out of the USMC. It'll be nice to finally finish it up. This is my last semester at Windward CC, and come January I'll be at the College of Business up at UH Manoa. Yay - only 2 more years to go.