RS vs LE handling question

[radu1976]

Gentlemen ,
I had quite a few km with this marvelous car Yaris - or Yaris II in Europe -, over 350,000 km put on my 3 Yarises I had.
I have been doing deliveries for 7+ years and those cars are such amazing vehicles for such job.

My first 2 were 2006 and 2007 both 4-doors hatch RS. My last and current one is a 2009 facelifted LE 4-doors hatch too.
Well , for 2 weeks I have driven both 2007 RS and 2009 LE.
I got the LE for its much lower km and heated mirros - I am in Canada -, aux input option being an nice extra too .
Initially I didn't like the LE but in the end after a few weeks I got used to it.

I know that the RS bolster seats are amazing comparative to the flat softer LE seats ... however I CLEARLY saw a difference in handling : with RS the car feel more planted on the road , I could have taken traffic circles a bit more aggresivly and the steering was definetly tighter and a bit harder to turn - still easy to manuver but LE was definetly softer -
I know that seats are making a difference but I can swear that I feel the RS being more sport tuned BESIDES the seats difference.

Does really RS have a tighter / sportier / slightly more rigid suspension than the LE / CE regular trims ?
Besides the leather wrapped steering wheel, shifter know, fogs, back seats MP3 player etc ?

At that time I didn't check but is it possible to the RS to have a TRD rear sway bar as LE for sure doesn't have it ?
I was looking to ad such bar for improved handling but maybe I should just wait for another RS with low mileage after I put more km on my current LE.
I definetely like the RS handling and seats so much more than the LE soft steering and suspension.

I had at a point a 2005 manual 5-speed Camry SE.
For 2002 - 2006 CAMRY , I know for sure that the SE version was sportier and had stiffer suspension and springs than the common LE CAMRY.
I question if it was the same for YARIS ....

[06YarisRS]

Those are good questions. I have a 2006 RS 5-door and I just sold my 2008 LE. I would say that the RS handled better than the LE when they were both stock. Keep in mind that the RS came with 185 tires and a lower aspect ratio vs the 175s the LE had. Frankly, I found that both cars handled well, but the RS, as you say, feels more planted. I really do not know if there are differences in shock metering for example, but given that most parts are interchangeable between the two trims, I'm guessing that there are few other differences. Not sure about other countries, but my RS did not come with the rear sway bar. I added one as well as 13 mm hub spacers. I totally agree about the seats. Night and day difference! BTW, if you find another RS, grab it! They're becoming quite rare.

[WeeYari]

The only difference is the RS came equipped with beefier tires. No changes to stock suspension or steering ratios and feedback over the CE/LE.

[06YarisRS]

Originally Posted by WeeYari

The only difference is the RS came equipped with beefier tires. No changes to stock suspension or steering ratios and feedback over the CE/LE.

Well, there we have it. Thanks, WeeYari.

[radu1976]

Originally Posted by 06YarisRS

Well, there we have it. Thanks, WeeYari.

Not very clear for me yet !
I have on my '09 LE the RS rims with 185 tires from my first '06 RS - for summer driving - ... if there's a difference from switching the winter tires 175 on steelies with 15' summer alloys , then it's very minimal as I don't feel any difference !

The difference is handling was clearly in my case : 07 RS vs 09 LE.
Obviously it wasn't a difference like BMW 3er vs LEXUS/TOYOTA but it was kinda of a difference '06-'07 Accord vs '05 Camry SE or almost such a difference . I have had 2 Accords , '06 2.4L manual and '07 V6-6speed .

Maybe I got a stiffer than normal steering on my '07 RS .
A too old power steering fluid cannot be to blame for that as our cars have an electric power steering
Wonder if adding a rear sway bar will make me feel my actual LE like the old '07 RS ; at least in tight turns less body roll as steering obviously won't change

Like a minor adnotation , it seems that my Yaris LE engine started to break it.
With my previous RS cars and the actual LE until a few months ago my summer fuel economy used to be between 5.6 and 6.2 l per 100km. Always checked very accurate by overfilling the tank up to maximum allowed . Winter was usually between 7 and 8l/100km depending on the quantity of snow and temperature.

The actual 'new reality' with much less cars on the streets cannot be blame for my newer fuel economy as I noticed a clear improvement about 4 months ago when the old normality was in place.
Starting with FEB I started to have fuel economy of around 6l/100km which was unusual for winter time. Then I constantly got under 6l/100km although the temps were around 0C .
The engine had 210k at that time.
My last fuel economy recorded was a new 'personal best' :)) : 5.4l/100km so 43.5 mpg beating my old personal best of 5.6l/100km which I recorded it for several times.

So apparently this Yaris engine broke in after 210,000 km.
The old Yarises were sold with 200k respectively 150k on odometer .
So far I always wanted to have a lower car mileage to be sure about the reliability in the field of deliveries but having for so many years Yarises I realized that my fears were not realistic.
Instead of paying more for low mileage Yaris I am gonna keep this car forever as apparently the fuel economy is improving , there are virtually almost no bad things which can happen - maybe the starter will fail one day as it happened to my RS at 170k but back then I was at the beginning and I was turning off the engine more often - , oil consumption is next to nothing at 300-400 gr for 10,000km always using syntetic -
Plus that the clutch - LUK , german brand - replaced at 170k still feels like new after 55k+ done and definitely better , springier than the original one.
for this amazing reliable little city car !

[Desircustoms]

Its the RS badge that makes it handle better! Lol

No sway bar, I'm pretty sure the only difference is the tires as WeeYari mentioned, and that they're made in Japan, not sure where the other ones are made, never paid attention on the door stickers.

5 years ago, I bought a turbo yaris from some guy in Mtl, and he told me that he chose to do the setup on a RS because they came with a 1.5-way LSD, I have yet to confirm this, will know whenever i find a manual RS at the scrapyard.

And I wonder why Kaaz lists their LSD for the ncp91 body code, and not xp90...

https://www.rhdjapan.com/kaaz-lsd-li...p13-ncp91.html

[radu1976]

I am bringing to life this thread again !

So 3 years ago the handling difference was clear when I had my 07 RS and my current 09 LE for 2-3 weeks until I sold my 07 RS and kept the lower mileage 09 LE.
07 RS had a tighter steering and it felt more stable and NO , this wasn't because of better seats . It was like a Honda steering vs Camry steering , pure and simple a bit stiffer, tighter and definitely better .

Now I have almost 150,000 miles on my 09 LE and although cars runs perfectly - no oil consumption between my 6,000 miles oil change when I use syntethic - , clutch is still amazing ... done the clutch 45,000 miles ago and for sure the LUK clutch is better than the original one , very springy with very positive feedback as car looks more alive with LUK clutch vs the original one

I found a 08 RS - cobalt blue, gorgeous color - with only 65,000 miles so I wanted to upgrade again .
I won the car in an auction and everything was good but when I was gonna leave the car seemed to have no life and clutch was slipping SO BAD in ALL GEARS ... barely you can take off or reverse it , in higher gears you rev it and car barely gains some speed

So because of buyers protection plan , they will refund me all the $ unless the seller will completely agree to cover the clutch job cost FULLY ... in this case I will probably keep it

Anyway , once again I have seen the same differences noticed 3 years ago :
08 YARIS RS besides the much better seats has DEFINITELY a tighter steering and better handling than my 09 LE .
So unless they made some differences in steering between 06-08 and 09-11 facelifted models .... RS is a nicer car steering wise ! Out of question !
Unfortunately I didn't drive any regular 06-08 or any 09-11 RS to confirm that steering changes were made between prefacelift and facelift hatch versions.
But more likely it's the RS that got the 'premium' steering feel besides mp3 player, fogs, skirts, leather wrapped steering and shifter know etc !

I ordered a TRD sway bar and I hope that will make my LE better but i will still be for a hunt of a lower mileage RS .
RS with a TRD rear sway bar ... great combo !

[radu1976]

Originally Posted by WeeYari

The only difference is the RS came equipped with beefier tires. No changes to stock suspension or steering ratios and feedback over the CE/LE.

I kept driving my 09 LE on 15' alloy RS rims from the previous sold RS and 15' steel rims too in the winter and the steering is soft , very soft !
100% Steering ratio is different in RS vs the LE !
At least in my 2 cases , 3 years ago and ... today comparison ! The difference is VERY CLEAR ! RS is a much more enjoyable car

[kevinj93]

I'm not sure about Gen 1 or 2, but there are definitely 2 different steering racks for the Gen 3.

The Australian version is listed with a different steering ratio to the rest of the world. Australia lists as 1:12.8 ratio, with 2.69 turns lock to lock. The other listing says 1:14.3 ratio, with 3.02 turns lock to lock.

There are also slightly different wheel alignment settings listed for different tyre sizes.