Any Gotchas w/ the Yaris ?

[regal]

I have driven a 93 Honda Civic since new but the suspension is failing and I need a new car. Unfortunately Honda no longer makes a lightweight 2 door like the old civics.

The Yaris looks nice but are there any long term issues I should know about? For example I bought my wife a Hyandia once that had the brake disc as part of the hub, you actually had to spend a $1000 for new brake discs.

I generally do my own maintenance like plugs, timing belts, water pumps, etc, is the Yaris reasonable to work on?

Is the Yaris a typical 250k mile capable Toyota ?

[AlexNet0]

I generally do my own maintenance like plugs, timing belts, water pumps, etc, is the Yaris reasonable to work on?

I have had no issues with maintenance so far, ive put 56k on my 07, everything is straightforward if you know what you are doing (moderate mechanical knowledge), and is fairly inexpensive to maintain

[eTiMaGo]

The Yaris is a real Lego set to work on, it's real easy to take pretty much anything apart, and access all the regular maintenance parts

I'll let others chime in about long term issues, but as far as I know, nothing really unexpected!

[regal]

Thanks, Now I am trying to decide if I buy a '07 w/ 14k miles for $10K or get a new one for $12.2k. Both are the base hatchback.

[eTiMaGo]

no groundbreaking differences between the old ones and the facelifts, so it's really a matter of price, condition and looks

[SailDesign]

Originally Posted by regal

Thanks, Now I am trying to decide if I buy a '07 w/ 14k miles for $10K or get a new one for $12.2k. Both are the base hatchback.

My personal opinion - for the 2.2k extra, get the new one with a full warranty.

[SilverBack]

You have to pull the rip-cord 3-times to get it started

But seriously, 13.5K miles on mine and had it for almost a year. No problems so far.

There is a couple things you should know if you feel it's important. Some Y's in the past haven't had cabin air filters pre-installed, and you might get a weird smell coming out of the air vents frequently when the fan is on for the first few months of ownership. Other than that, the Y is a great car

IMO a brand new one has its' perks. Like Sail said, you get the warranty. You get also get more choices in color, options, and 2 extra doors if you want

[yaris-me]

Check this out.

http://www.yarisworld.com/forums/showthread.php?t=13471

[tomato]

Originally Posted by regal

I have driven a 93 Honda Civic since new but the suspension is failing and I need a new car. Unfortunately Honda no longer makes a lightweight 2 door like the old civics.

The Yaris looks nice but are there any long term issues I should know about? For example I bought my wife a Hyandia once that had the brake disc as part of the hub, you actually had to spend a $1000 for new brake discs.

I generally do my own maintenance like plugs, timing belts, water pumps, etc, is the Yaris reasonable to work on?

Is the Yaris a typical 250k mile capable Toyota ?

That's right, they don't! at least not in the US.

I just bought a used 2007 Yaris at the dealership, with 55K miles on it, one previous owner. There is no record of anything having gone wrong with the car, ever. The previous owner did regular maintenance on it, that's it. It looks and smells like new, despite the relatively high mileage.

I checked the Consumer Reports database for the Yaris's reliability for that year. The main thing people reported for 2007 Yarii was crappy paint job, otherwise, mechanically it says "good bet" with ratings of "good" to "excellent" under each section. I don't have access to 2008 or 2009 though, so can't help you there, sorry.

The Yaris doesn't handle quite as well, and doesn't have the acceleration of the Fit for instance, but for the money, I think it's a better value IMO, plus it looks a lot better.

If you buy a new car, you benefit from full manufacturer's warranty and of course, you get rid of the uncertainty of buying used. But you also take the depreciation hit of the first year and a half of owning a vehicle. If you buy a good car used, chances are you'll be fine, too, at least that's what I told myself :) and the Yaris is economical to maintain anyway.

I took the gamble because I prefer to spread the expense over several years (buy the car now, cheaper, and pay for repairs or add-ons, as needed, later on) if that makes sense. Buying new would have forced me to go through financing and that, too, can be a huge expense.

Well, this is just my opinoin! Good luck with your decision.

[churp]

Over 60k and no problems.

If you're a do it yourself type......check this site http://www.car-part.com/
Yaris parts are very reasonable. This site has 7 engines within 100 miles (I live in the sticks) ranging from $400 to $900. Should be able to drive this car until I'm 6 feet under.

[Tamago]

Originally Posted by regal

Thanks, Now I am trying to decide if I buy a '07 w/ 14k miles for $10K or get a new one for $12.2k. Both are the base hatchback.

not sure if you're into ABS or not, but the base models don't have it.. probably one of the last vehicles in america not to lol.

i believe the S models have ABS and possibly EBD (electronic brake distribution) which IMO is very well set up, at least on my xA. trail braking into a moderate sweeper can be tricky without it, especially with the semi solid rear axle.

[UTVitz]

I haven't discovered any gotchas with my 3 door in 18K miles yet. Oil and filter is super easy to do yourself-$5 filters at dealer, engine air filter is $15. The cabin filter is way expensive at the dealer-$32. But I got the same thing at PepBoys for $12. I'm sure the wiper blades will be pricy if I want the ones from Toyota. No timing belt to ever worry about-chain, and the iridium plugs are about $10-15 a piece depending on where you get them. Toyota says change them at 120K I'm going to do it at 60K. You should stick with Toyotas long life coolant-the red stuff, though I have not priced it. Compared to a lot of cars in this size group, the Yaris is a penny pincher when it comes to ownership costs. Edmunds.com lists the Yaris as the lowest in ownership costs.

[Tamago]

the red stuff should last 100K , costs about 35 for a gallon iirc, but you dilute it with water, and don't come close to using a full gallon of the fluid. maybe go halves with a buddy on a jug?

i've run the same set of denso iridium plugs in 3 different toyotas, totalling over 140Kmiles with no issues. maybe i'm lucky, maybe the denso's are that good.. who knows

[yarisugi]

If it's only suspension problems you're having on your 93 Civic, I'd say fix it and keep that car. There are tons of aftermarket parts to replace/improve the suspension for it. Yes, the Yaris is a nice, simple, no-frills kind of car, but the Civic that you have is definitely a keeper for great fuel economy, easy to work on, abundance of parts, etc.

[rningonfumes]

Originally Posted by Tamago

not sure if you're into ABS or not, but the base models don't have it.. probably one of the last vehicles in america not to lol.

i believe the S models have ABS and possibly EBD (electronic brake distribution) which IMO is very well set up, at least on my xA. trail braking into a moderate sweeper can be tricky without it, especially with the semi solid rear axle.

The 08's and on have ABS. Don't know about EBD. For 09, You get the side airbags and does it come with stability control? VS 07, the 08s have DFCO in all gears vs 1-3.

[firebob]

Originally Posted by k r a y z e e . j o j o

You have to pull the rip-cord 3-times to get it started

I got the kick start on mine. If you do it right you can get it on the first try when it’s 10* out side. Lower than that and it takes 2 tries.

I test drove one with ABS. There were 3 people with a combined weight of 570. 2295 for the car. So we had 2865 pounds with 106 hp. I could not see any reason for it to need ABS. The EDB handled better under herd breaking situations IMO.