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[evooo]

Hey there.

The name's Darren, and I'm just introducing myself. My gf is quite close to buying a Yaris (NCP11?) for herself, and I'm using this website as a reference point.

We're both living in Perth, Western Australia at the moment. She's intending to buy a Yaris YRS, which is the 1.5L derivative without the YRX's cosmetic upgrades, and comes with 15" steelies. Most likely, it's going to be manual, 3door, and "Shadow" in colour (blue-grey).

Can I get some feedback on these items?

1. fly-by throttle linkage. first time using it, and it's annoying. how do you guys find it? I was tempted to do some heel-toeing but with the dealer agent in the car, I thought against it.

2. driving position - YAY for tilt and reach steering! BUT driving position is still a bit sucky. i prefer to be lower in the car, but alas, it's not to be (and I'm only 5"8/9, 174cm). It feels different being higher.

3. clutch - way too light. i couldn't find the friction point and subsequently stalled. The last time i stalled a normal car was my own, 9 yrs ago. And the last time i stalled a car was a R32 Skyline GTR with a twin plate.

4. gearbox - any issues with shifting? feels solid enough for a little car. The aussie 9th? gen (2nd latest) corolla sportivo (T-Sport in UK) with the 2zz, had a notchy feel, and a fair few people had to get toyota to fix something on there, of which I can't remember anymore.

5. no quick release for rear access on driver's side. A bit weird, I thought, as all other coupe's and 2drs had passenger and driver side quick release.

6. Rear Inner guard/fender, or lack thereof - Do you feel there's something missing here? I had a look at a few Yarises (h/b and sedan) and they are all missing. You can see the cover for the fuel tract from the filler to the tank. Is there an aftermarket product to address this issue? I found it slightly bemusing that there were pebbles and dirt accumulating in the crevices.

overall - car feels nippy in traffic, although coming from a 1.6L (I know, peanuts) there is no acceleration but it does feel planted when doing mid and low speed corners. Not bad on the switch-backs. Normal braking feels good, no idea about heavy braking.

***

Intended mods for the future:
- Sunroof (Hollandia 700)
- Tinting
- 17" and hopefully TRD springs (after running the new tyres into the ground).
- Should I also opt for the YRX rear wing? or a Sportivo rear wing? I see a fair few of you guys having just the rear spoiler on your cars, without the front lip and side skirts. Looks almost like a 1-make series race car.


Hope to contribute in some way in the future, but please excuse the no0b :)

Have a good day!


Ps. to the other aussies - is there not much activity on ozecho.com? YW is better for reference material naturally, but I thought the aussie yaris owners would still band together over there.