2 Year Anniversary FE Report

[NYC-SE]

So I took my car in today for the final free ToyotaCare scheduled maintenance. Seems like a good time to reflect on my 2 years of ownership.

As of today I have 14.5K miles on the car and overall I am very pleased with it. I have had no issues attributable to Toyota. (There was one issue with the first ToyotaCare maintenance but that was a dealer fault, not Toyota proper. I used a different dealer after that.)

I did have one SLIGHT accident where someone hit me from behind and dislodged the bumper cover. I snapped it back into place. No one would ever know. Also one SLIGHT door ding from some parking lot idiot. About par for the course in NYC.

As for mods I have added a TRD rear sway bar and have installed mirror turn signals. Now my car looks like a proper ROTW Yaris.

I have tracked my Fuel Economy since my first tank. My overall average to this point is 33.8 MPG. The vast majority of my driving is city stop and go traffic, (not necessarily gridlock but I've had my share of that as well) but I do get on the highway about 2-3 times a month. Also my car is automatic transmission. Pretty good as far as I am concerned.

My best tank was 41.2 MPG. That was an all highway trip. My worst tank was 28.8 MPG. That was an all city tank in the dead of winter. I have only had one other tank below 30 MPG and that was also during winter.

Love the car. Definitely made the right choice.

[Kalispel]

Originally Posted by NYC-SE

So I took my car in today for the final free ToyotaCare scheduled maintenance. Seems like a good time to reflect on my 2 years of ownership.

As of today I have 14.5K miles on the car and overall I am very pleased with it. I have had no issues attributable to Toyota. (There was one issue with the first ToyotaCare maintenance but that was a dealer fault, not Toyota proper. I used a different dealer after that.)

I did have one SLIGHT accident where someone hit me from behind and dislodged the bumper cover. I snapped it back into place. No one would ever know. Also one SLIGHT door ding from some parking lot idiot. About par for the course in NYC.

As for mods I have added a TRD rear sway bar and have installed mirror turn signals. Now my car looks like a proper ROTW Yaris.

I have tracked my Fuel Economy since my first tank. My overall average to this point is 33.8 MPG. The vast majority of my driving is city stop and go traffic, (not necessarily gridlock but I've had my share of that as well) but I do get on the highway about 2-3 times a month. Also my car is automatic transmission. Pretty good as far as I am concerned.

My best tank was 41.2 MPG. That was an all highway trip. My worst tank was 28.8 MPG. That was an all city tank in the dead of winter. I have only had one other tank below 30 MPG and that was also during winter.

Love the car. Definitely made the right choice.

Happy 2-YR Anniversary! I envy your low-mileage odometer situation, but not where you live (NYC). Hell, I don't even envy where I live - especially in the spring/summer (wish I was back in Atlanta) It's a great looking little car. What color is yours anyway? Is it gray like the stock pic for your Avatar?

On your TRD rear-sway-bar, was it direct "plug-and-play" for your 2014 SE or did you need to buy longer bolts? I recall reading something about that somewhere regarding 2nd vs 3rd gen fitment, but can't remember. I just wanted to know what to expect when I purchase my TRD rear-sway-bar later this month.

I would love to have side-mirror turn-signals also, but I'm not sure it's worth the headache to obtain the parts and then try to install and wire-all-up. That should have been standard on the SE, damnit. I don't trust myself around auto electronics.

[NYC-SE]

Originally Posted by Kalispel

Happy 2-YR Anniversary! I envy your low-mileage odometer situation, but not where you live (NYC). Hell, I don't even envy where I live - especially in the spring/summer (wish I was back in Atlanta) It's a great looking little car. What color is yours anyway? Is it gray like the stock pic for your Avatar?

Thank you Kalispel. Car is Magnetic Gray Metallic. I originally wanted Lagoon Blue Mica but could only find one car in my area in that color and I couldn't get the dealership to deal. Was able to get a great deal on this car at another dealership, so Gray it is.

Originally Posted by Kalispel

On your TRD rear-sway-bar, was it direct "plug-and-play" for your 2014 SE or did you need to buy longer bolts? I recall reading something about that somewhere regarding 2nd vs 3rd gen fitment, but can't remember. I just wanted to know what to expect when I purchase my TRD rear-sway-bar later this month.

There is some finagling involved in installing a rear sway bar on an SE model due to the presence of “rear axle beam dynamic dampers”. At least this is the case with 2012-2014 models. I suspect it is also true for 2015+ facelift models but do not know for sure. If you want to keep the dampers you have to buy longer bolts, if you wish to use the supplied bolts you will have to uninstall the dampers. All of this is discussed in greater detail here:

http://www.yarisworld.com/forums/showthread.php?t=52593

Originally Posted by Kalispel

I would love to have side-mirror turn-signals also, but I'm not sure it's worth the headache to obtain the parts and then try to install and wire-all-up. That should have been standard on the SE, damnit. I don't trust myself around auto electronics.

I agree it should be standard but it is doable, although somewhat involved. More time consuming than technically difficult. (CTScott took care of the difficult part of determining what wires to splice. Thanks Scott.) My thread detailing this mod:

http://www.yarisworld.com/forums/showthread.php?t=54875

If you do want to give it a try I have the signals and terminal wires for sale here:

http://www.yarisworld.com/forums/showthread.php?t=55574

Other parts are required as well (as discussed in previous thread).

[Kalispel]

Thanks for the links!