My car search ends with a 2010 Yaris!!!

[Bobstermania]

After a grueling month of car searching, I actually gave up and decided to rent a car for the weekend just to try and get it out of my system. The only car they had left for the $10/day deal was a 2012 Yaris sedan which, ironically, was not even on my list of cars to ever buy. I reluctantly took it and that little bugger proceeded to win me over with its super peppy engine, great handling, and awesome MPG!

I did a ton of research after that weekend at the end of April, devouring every last website review and lurking here on this forum. I was excited to learn of its stellar reliability, and I especially like that it was still made in Japan. I was considering the corolla, but something about "Made in Canada" just didn't sit right with me. Scurrying through all the local ads, I was discouraged to find mostly ex-rentals and base models (REALLY wanted cruise control after 5 years with my trusty 1993 Toyota Tercel!) until I found a nice little 2010 white LB at a dealership. It was certified pre-owned with 1 lease owner and 27,000 miles. Power package and cold weather package. Keyless entry and even an engine immobilizer! (This is the first car I've had with even an alarm!)

Now my search is over and I'm zipping around town with all the feverish excitement of a teenage boy driving his first set of wheels. I like everything about the Yaris and can't imagine finding a more complete vehicle for my needs. I don't know if it's possible to literally fall in love with a car, but I'm coming as close as anyone can...

[yours_falsely]

Congrats and welcome!

[yarisugi]

Congratulations on your find but don't end up like this guy.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q0S642NtHtE

[Bobstermania]

lol, I sure hope not! It's just a great car, nothing more!

[Astroman]

Congratulations and welcome! I fell in love with my Yaris after 10 minutes into the test drive, had to have it! It will be our 7th anniversary in July and the love is still there

Now you need to show your Yaris some love with a few simple upgrades! A must is a rear sway bar which will really help the handling and is a pretty inexpensive upgrade. Many on here have commented that it should have come from the factory with a rear sway bar.

[bronsin]

Open your hood once a month and if you see dried pink stuff on the underside of it on the passenger side your water pump is leaking.

There is home made cruise control you can install yourself for just about free.

You made the right choice!

[Bobstermania]

Where do I go for the rear sway bar? What does it do?

[Kar98]

Originally Posted by Bobstermania

Where do I go for the rear sway bar? What does it do?

When you beat it around a curve at high speed and your outside rear wheel feels like it's collapsing... that's excessive body roll and a rear sway bar would fix that. You can get them here:

http://shop.microimageonline.com/Bracing-Bars_c22.htm

[Hershey]

Welcome . Goes well with SNOW ?!?!

[tooter]

Originally Posted by Bobstermania

Now my search is over and I'm zipping around town with all the feverish excitement of a teenage boy driving his first set of wheels. I like everything about the Yaris and can't imagine finding a more complete vehicle for my needs. I don't know if it's possible to literally fall in love with a car, but I'm coming as close as anyone can...

I love happy Yaris stories.
You're a good writer.

[Bobstermania]

Thanks for the welcome messages everyone! I did take a little ribbing at work for the Yaris-- Sorry it's not a bigger, American gas guzzler....

[Astroman]

Just complain loudly at how often, and how much it cost to fill your tank. I'm sure the ribbing will turn to glares, or looks of despair

[yougojay]

Your Yaris is beautiful & it's a COUPE! I drove my 2013 Yaris L Base 3 Door Coupe w/auto & Air home from the dealer on 4/11/2013 & have been completely enthralled with it since. It is a great personal space, still completely stoked about this car. Six speaker Stereo cranks good enough for me, works excellent with my iPod & the Air blows COLD - Need to vacuum the interior a bit this Weekend, and un-box our new air compressor we've had for months so I can jack up the air pressure in the tires to 40 psi or so. Like the feel of a stiffer ride, plus it should help with the MPG's -
LOVE the crank windows! I can easily reach over with my right hand and crank the passenger window open or close it. Who needs power windows !
It even matches our other car that has ONE BIG Windshield Wiper

It will be a pleasure to work on this car. I'll be lucky to reach 60 or 70 thousand miles in 10 years...I guess it doesn't really matter, it will last for 100s of thousands of miles from what I have read here.
I do want to get a rear sway bar one of these months, maybe that would be a good Christmas 2013 present, Ha!

Good luck with your new Yaris, read the posts here, they are informative and interesting & you learn a lot about the car. PLUS, the guys and girls here are pretty funny, too -

[yours_falsely]

Originally Posted by bronsin

Open your hood once a month and if you see dried pink stuff on the underside of it on the passenger side your water pump is leaking.

There is home made cruise control you can install yourself for just about free.

You made the right choice!

I just recently did the cruise control mod and I love it. Very much recommended.

[Septembersrain]

That is a similar situation to what I just had! I'd been looking to get a new car but I'm a very attachment prone person. I'd test drive a car but since I wasn't spending enough time with it, I couldn't commit. Well my Kia ended up in the shop. So I had to get a rental as they didn't give me a loaner. I went to Enterprise and they gave me an offer of an Impala and Yaris, I said "Smallest one please". I left with the 2013 Yaris (5-door LE). I spent a week with him as they weren't any closer to fixing my Kia. We're spending time together, I'm learning about him, and I'm having a blast. That's when it dawned on me that I'm extremely happy in this car. Just like you, I hadn't considered this car either and now I had. So I go to the Toyota dealership down the street. I get shown an xD and Corolla too. I look the salesman dead in the eye and say "I'll be back for that black 3-door Yaris." Needless to say, the day before the rental was to be returned, I went and got her. They looked surprised to see me but they really treated me respectfully though. I'm happily retiring my Kia (I'm keeping her) and I'm having a blast with Pearl! Any suggestions for me? ^_^

TL; DR Got a Yaris rental. Liked it so much I bought one.

[racerb]

Bought my '10 Yaris 3-door hatch about a year ago, most fun I've had driving a car in a very long time! I'm even looking for a second one to build a racecar out of, so I'll have a DD/Autocross car and dedicated racecar to boot!!

Welcome to the addiction....

racerb

[UberSilver]

Pretty much the same for me as well. I needed a car shorter than 14 feet and good on fuel. I looked at a couple of Mini's, but everyone for under $8k was falling apart or had a bunch of miles. Then I found a pic of an 2010 Yaris coupe, and thought, that looks sorta cool. Couple of weeks later I found an 08, drove it, bought it, Love it. Coming from a Land cruiser, it was a shock to the system. And yes, I got questions like, did it come with a matching purse?

Tokico HP Blues and a WhiteLine sway bar, is a super upgrade! transforms the Yaris into a totally different Beast.

Originally Posted by Bobstermania

After a grueling month of car searching, I actually gave up and decided to rent a car for the weekend just to try and get it out of my system. The only car they had left for the $10/day deal was a 2012 Yaris sedan which, ironically, was not even on my list of cars to ever buy. I reluctantly took it and that little bugger proceeded to win me over with its super peppy engine, great handling, and awesome MPG!

I did a ton of research after that weekend at the end of April, devouring every last website review and lurking here on this forum. I was excited to learn of its stellar reliability, and I especially like that it was still made in Japan. I was considering the corolla, but something about "Made in Canada" just didn't sit right with me. Scurrying through all the local ads, I was discouraged to find mostly ex-rentals and base models (REALLY wanted cruise control after 5 years with my trusty 1993 Toyota Tercel!) until I found a nice little 2010 white LB at a dealership. It was certified pre-owned with 1 lease owner and 27,000 miles. Power package and cold weather package. Keyless entry and even an engine immobilizer! (This is the first car I've had with even an alarm!)

Now my search is over and I'm zipping around town with all the feverish excitement of a teenage boy driving his first set of wheels. I like everything about the Yaris and can't imagine finding a more complete vehicle for my needs. I don't know if it's possible to literally fall in love with a car, but I'm coming as close as anyone can...