The official "my Yaris handles bad on the highway/with crosswinds" thread

[brickhardmeat]

barely made it home from the dealer, this car handles like crap on stilts

I lowered mine and felt a huge difference. Much better.

[blacksan]

Originally Posted by brickhardmeat

barely made it home from the dealer, this car handles like crap on stilts

I lowered mine and felt a huge difference. Much better.

Hmmmm, I really do believe that folks are just not use to the sensitive steering input. I drive for a living and found my Yaris groove after about 50 miles. Yes, I am in the process of upgrading my suspension too, but not as radical as some of the folks here.

[Pavel Olavich]

Originally Posted by blacksan

Hmmmm, I really do believe that folks are just not use to the sensitive steering input. I drive for a living and found my Yaris groove after about 50 miles. Yes, I am in the process of upgrading my suspension too, but not as radical as some of the folks here.

The Yaris steering is no more or less sensitive then most other cars. The only difference is that it uses an electric motor for assistence. That aside, it's functionality and performance is the same as 90% of all cars Japanese or domestic. I air travel and rent too many different cars to think otherwise.

I think part of the problem is that the newness of the coil sprints, suspension and tires conspire to make a new Yaris jumpy and twitchy, all of which will go away as everything seats in.

[arcath]

Originally Posted by brickhardmeat

barely made it home from the dealer, this car handles like crap on stilts

I lowered mine and felt a huge difference. Much better.

being strapped for cash, and this being a family vehicle, im not comfortable with lowering it.

Im considering new tires, but the whole strapped for cash thing.....

Maybe if the insurance money from my "Act of God" car claim comes in. :)

[brickhardmeat]

oh, your in a sedan

[blacksan]

Originally Posted by arcath

being strapped for cash, and this being a family vehicle, im not comfortable with lowering it.

Im considering new tires, but the whole strapped for cash thing.....

Maybe if the insurance money from my "Act of God" car claim comes in. :)

Personally I am going with the TRD springs that only dump your ride about 1.5" front & rear. You don't even need new dampers with this setup. As far as new rubber is concerned unless you are doing some serious driving it would not benefit you. On that note let he flaming begin!

[Mead]

"has me scared to drive on the interstate now"

"60-80mph the car is ALL OVER the road. almost uncontrollable"

"barely made it home from the dealer"

"the interstate driving is killing me"



C'mon, if the Yaris is such a liability, the DOT would never legalize it, hwy fatalities would be all over the news, Toyota stock would plummet on the bad press...

There is nothing wrong with this car and NO you don't have to TRD it to make it track straight. Did you guys come from a Lexus LS or Bentley? making the Yaris so hard to get used to? Sure the Yaris is buzzy but it's damn smooth for a sub 2300lb car. Short wheel base? same as the Fit.

I also have a Jeep wrangler with 93" wheelbase and high CG, I've passed semis doing 85mph in Texas crosswinds Quite frankly y'all don't know how good you have it.

ON a serious note, if you're really scared to drive the Yaris on the hwy you need a new car. Dont' mess with tire pressure or feel you have to lower it 2" to feel stable. Get a 3300 lb Camry with 110 in wheel base

[blacksan]

Originally Posted by Mead

"has me scared to drive on the interstate now"

"barely made it home from the dealer"

"the interstate driving is killing me"



C'mon, if the Yaris is such a liability, the DOT would never legalize it, hwy fatalities would be all over the news, Toyota stock would plummet on the bad press...

There is nothing wrong with this car and NO you don't have to TRD it to make it track straight. Did you guys come from a Lexus LS or Bentley? making the Yaris so hard to get used to? Sure the Yaris is buzzy but it's damn smooth for a sub 2300lb car. Short wheel base? same as the Fit.

I also have a Jeep wrangler with 93" wheelbase and high CG, I've passed semis doing 85mph in Texas crosswinds Quite frankly y'all don't know how good you have it.

ON a serious note, if you're really scared to drive the Yaris on the hwy you need a new car. Dont' mess with tire pressure or feel you have to lower it 2" to feel stable. Get a 3300 lb Camry with 110 in wheel base

Dude, my old CJ 5 would take about half turn port-n-starboard just to keep her straight on the interstate! It's kind of hard to explain to folks that have never driven short wheelbase/high center of gravity vehicles before.

[Mead]

Originally Posted by blacksan

Dude, my old CJ 5 would take about half turn port-n-starboard just to keep her straight on the interstate! It's kind of hard to explain to folks that have never driven short wheelbase/high center of gravity vehicles before.

yep I love the CJs... too rough around the edges for me to own one, guess I'm too old but yeah, SWB, high CG, and going doorless really teaches a you about physics

[gm830]

Originally Posted by Mead

"has me scared to drive on the interstate now"

"60-80mph the car is ALL OVER the road. almost uncontrollable"

"barely made it home from the dealer"

"the interstate driving is killing me"



C'mon, if the Yaris is such a liability, the DOT would never legalize it, hwy fatalities would be all over the news, Toyota stock would plummet on the bad press...

There is nothing wrong with this car and NO you don't have to TRD it to make it track straight. Did you guys come from a Lexus LS or Bentley? making the Yaris so hard to get used to? Sure the Yaris is buzzy but it's damn smooth for a sub 2300lb car. Short wheel base? same as the Fit.

I also have a Jeep wrangler with 93" wheelbase and high CG, I've passed semis doing 85mph in Texas crosswinds Quite frankly y'all don't know how good you have it.

ON a serious note, if you're really scared to drive the Yaris on the hwy you need a new car. Dont' mess with tire pressure or feel you have to lower it 2" to feel stable. Get a 3300 lb Camry with 110 in wheel base

I'm really hoping you're right about all of this because after reading all these posts I'm scared to buy my yaris liftback lol

[blacksan]

Originally Posted by gm830

I'm really hoping you're right about all of this because after reading all these posts I'm scared to buy my yaris liftback lol

You will find it enjoyable after getting use to the car. I only notice heavy cross winds, but they are even worse in truck which has a lot more metal and a higher center of gravity.

[Mead]

Originally Posted by gm830

I'm really hoping you're right about all of this because after reading all these posts I'm scared to buy my yaris liftback lol

my only complaint about high speed driving in the Yaris is it gets a little noisy, mainly due to the lack of insulation but it keeps the car light. Other than that the car handles great on the hwy, it's very peppy. I'm confident next to semis.

Sure, the steering is probably a little light but it's not a danger to society. IMO if anyone thinks the Yaris is uncontrollable at speed, then they either don't have enough expereince with other cars or just don't know how to drive. (assuming there's no mechanical issues and the tire pressure is correct)

[Pars]

Originally Posted by gm830

I'm really hoping you're right about all of this because after reading all these posts I'm scared to buy my yaris liftback lol

Did I miss something? I don't recall anyone saying that the liftback was more susceptible to cross-wind then the Yaris sedan. btw, the original post was a sedan owner, not a liftback.

I drive a 5dr liftback and the only time my trance-like stupor is interrupted by cross-wind is when half of the other cars on the road are also getting tossed around in their lane. Usually when I'm wakened from the cross-wind, I'll jack up the speed since the car seems to cut through the wind better at higher speeds (but not too high, like above 90mph).

I recently changed my tires from the stock potenza to Toyo Spectrum. The new Spectrum are more quiet (but old tires tend to get noisy), seem to be a bit more stable at extreme speeds (above 90mph) and does a better job at handling the g-force. Hopefully it's just as good as the Potenza in the braking department. If so, win-win.

Anyways, the tires are going to play a significant factor in the cross-wind. My old car (which was also a hatchback and weighted as much as the Yaris) were running on Toyo Proxies FZ4 (I hope to get these tires when I finally move up in wheel size) and the Proxies have an amazing centred feel and I suspect would be significantly better against the cross-wind. The only problem, is that they're directional tires and tend to need frequent rotating (to keep them from getting noisy).

[ECHOKnight2000]

Originally Posted by brickhardmeat

barely made it home from the dealer, this car handles like crap on stilts

Yeah, my ECHO is the same although I know the suspension is different but similar attributes as far as what you guys are saying. I hate it personally. Its a floaty, darty design. It sucks going around corners even when its not that bad and crosswinds...don't get me started. I love my car but, man that suspension gets to me. I would love to upgrade the suspension and lower the car but I need $$$ and be smart about my $$$ at the moment. Maybe later or just get another car eventually. I hate slowing so much just when I go on the highway or get off, you know the clover leaf design?? I digress...