2007 Yaris 3dr Opinions

[barchetta]

Hello all new to the forum and hopefully soon to be new to Yaris ownership. I have a few questions about general ownership of the car as well as some specific questions related to the 3 door 2007 model I am strongly considering.

Some background about my needs for the car: I am 6'4" and this will be my second car and first with a manual transmission. I play guitar and if anyone has any experience hauling music gear in one of these I'd be interested in what it could hold. How does it cruise at 75mph + ? I plan on going all over with this car and would like to know it can handle major interstates and freeways. I don't get much snow where I live but there are ridiculous and regular thunder storms in the summer so knowing how it does on generally slippery conditions would be good as I do drive on gravel too.

What is the cost of ownership like? What is the reliability like? Would it be a good car to learn how to drive manual on? Does the lack of ABS effect much? Is it fun to drive? Autoctross and rallycross fun? I never did either of those in my old car despite it being a slushbox and I really regret it.

Finally the specific Yaris. It is an '07 3 door Hatch/Liftback bayou blue, manual windows and locks, aftermarket radio with nice sound but has a subwoofer box/unit thing where the rear passenger legs should be. It is however not attached to the car anywhere besides the cable so it could be just taken out easily I think. The car has 88k miles and the seller already bought his replacement vehicle: an '08 hatchback Yaris with an automatic as he has a condition that is preventing him from driving a manual transmission now. He did use the car as a food delivery vehicle, so lots of city/sub urban mileage on it. Price is $4500 firm and I believe he is firm considering he had it listed at $5700 a few months ago. Went for a test drive with my dad and did enjoy it a lot in the passenger seat.