Why Mod a Cheap Car?

[acrbill]

Originally Posted by YarisGuy

The better question is why mod a car at all? Some of us have it in our blood. We will mod any car we own because we are not satisfied with the stock form, no matter what the original cost may have been. A modified car is more fun regardless.

I feel the same way. I have to mod whatever I have.

You should see my Hotwheels case. I made targa top cars from coupes, put different wheels on cars and even new paint jobs.

The way I see the Yaris as it sits is that I can out drive the suspension. If I take a nice long sweeper the car pushes like crazy. The car needs suspension tuning bad. The suspension can't even keep up with 106 HP so I certainly don't feel the need to make it any faster.

I will say that I sometimes miss having the power my PT had. In the time it takes the Yaris to go from 50-75 the PT would be at 120+.

I wouldn't mind having that kind of power, but I realize that it would be impossible so I'm not even going to try.

[Pars]

Originally Posted by acrbill

I feel the same way. I have to mod whatever I have.

You should see my Hotwheels case. I made targa top cars from coupes, put different wheels on cars and even new paint jobs.

The way I see the Yaris as it sits is that I can out drive the suspension. If I take a nice long sweeper the car pushes like crazy. The car needs suspension tuning bad. The suspension can't even keep up with 106 HP so I certainly don't feel the need to make it any faster.

I will say that I sometimes miss having the power my PT had. In the time it takes the Yaris to go from 50-75 the PT would be at 120+.

I wouldn't mind having that kind of power, but I realize that it would be impossible so I'm not even going to try.

Accelerating at 50-75 mph isn't that bad when you do it in 3rd gear. The other day, I was full throttle on a long sweeper and the front end was about to brake loose (salt coated roads). I was in 3rd gear and coming up on the redline and all I need to do was ease off and maintain the revvs to complete the turn. I think chassis dynamic on the Yaris liftback is fine, but a good set of summer tires would be ideal to go with the good dynamics. And with the bigger tires, the 106hp shouldn't be enough to outdrive the car.

My old 98 Civic Hatch only had 103hp, but it had the kind of dynamics that totally out matched the engine...I've yet to come across a car that handle better (My friends Celica GTS on TRD springs came close). The old car had Tokico shock, Pro-Kit springs, wide rims and a bunch of strut bars to tweak the car's dynamic. I doubt the Yaris could be made to hand that well, but in stock form, my 5dr Yaris is already a little Jem, but could realy use some bigger shoes.