New 2009 Sedan Purchase (oh so touchy!)

[Ennea]

Hi folks. I'm new on here and I just purchased my first car and it's a... 2009 Yaris Sedan 4D (automatic). It has 167K on it, bought if for $3.7K. Did't really need a car for last 15 years as I lived in US cities with transit as well as in Europe. Now we, me and the car that is, are in southern Vermont.

I've started driving recently and noticed that the accelerator is extremely sensitive! I touch the pedal barely and the car goes...whoosh, to a point of me no feeling extremely safe. I used to drive a VW Beetle before this and when I get behind that wheel, the accelerator feels so much slower and the car accelerates like a tank. Is anyone else having issues like this? Is it a safety issue? Anything I should do? I'm living on a budget right now, pretty simply, so I'd love to avoid putting much money into this old girl.

Any tips on what to watch out for, repairs & maintenance wise, to a first time car owner (woman and an engineer) would be oh so welcome! Looking forward to learning from old timers and sharing from my experience with you all as well!