What To Do?

[alanbradley]

Right... I'm a bit stuck with what to do car-wise at the moment. The Yaris is great - I need a reliable, practical, economical vehicle that will do the minimum of 250 miles I cover each week to and from work but I really want a bit more "oomph" and some better handling round some of the roundabouts and over some of the "twisties" there are up here.

Basically it comes down to 3 choices:-

1. Stop moaning - the Yaris is perfectly good as it is

2. Save up and get a sprorts car as well a the Yaris

3. Tweak the Yaris to improve grip and "oomph"

So, I'd appreciate your views on suitable sporty cars (not more than £2,000 ;) ) as well as what you think I should do

Cheers in advance,

Alan

PS tried to post this as a poll, but I couldn't get it to work

[Kerby]

sell the yaris and get a yaris t-sport. best of both worlds then ;)

[Demonic Angel]

I say tweak the Yaris - they are fab cars and you know it! You can spend that £2,000 easily on a few subtle tweaks!

I'm not going to say stop moaning - its our right to have a little moan occasionally (me probably more than most! lol) and I'm not going to say get a sporty car either because whats the point of having two cars when one is perfectly adequate!

UNLESS...... you get a Honda Accord Coupe ES 2.2i - you can pick one of those up for about £2,000 and they're brilliant apparently

[Moffmo]

get some uprated tyres and some coilovers alan and a remap and you're lauging mate

[alanbradley]

You can spend that £2,000 easily on a few subtle tweaks!

That's what worries me!

[Blue84]

I choose b as you can have the Yaris as the main "run around" - if thats the right word, and if you have a sports car then you'll have some fun for the weekend/more lively driving..but it's the cost of running two cars which can be offputting

[Kerby]

i still say get a t-sport

[reece]

Pop into Mr T and have some test drives. The yaris T Sport seems to fit your listed requirments!

[Al J]

Yes, I'm with Chris on this. Running two cars ain't cheap. Two Road taxes, two MOTs, fuel for both. Insurance for both! Good Grief! Not that there aren't many people with two or more cars, it's just not a cheap option. Don't know much about diesels but I don't think they'd be any more tuneable than the petrol Yarii.

A T Sport seems a good bet. I'd have had one myself but wanted new and couldn't (well, wouldn't!) afford it.

Your decision though, Alan. Time to get test driving, mate!

*Just spotted Reece's post. He just beat me to it! Looks like test driving is deffo the way to go.

Edited April 10, 2005 by Al J

[Demonic Angel]

You can spend that £2,000 easily on a few subtle tweaks!

That's what worries me!

←

Well its up to you my dear - T-Sport is a good option too - although you'll have to settle with petrol!

We will support you whatever you decide (and I will support you if you choose to buy said Honda Accord Coupe! lol)

[Al J]

I'll support you if you decide to go for a koenigsegg! :D

[cfc1]

Get a corsa! you know you want to.

[Demonic Angel]

Get a corsa! you know you want to.

←

Dont swear on this forum Davy!

Surely C**sa should be swear-filtered?

[Al J]

Get a corsa! you know you want to.

←

Dont swear on this forum Davy!

Surely C**sa should be swear-filtered?

←

Absolutely! After all, it means Vauxhall. :o

[jonbro2000]

Get it modded.. u will probably be disappointed with the tsport performance after the diesel

[scionic]

Chip it and perhaps fit a larger intercooler, front-mount if possible.

I would stop fretting about your warranty and just go for the chip, man. I chipped my Volkswagen TDI and it came to life. Never looked back, never had a problem in 4 years of driving it chipped and never had warranty service denied.

It's nothing short of amazing with a chip will do for a turbo car, especially diesels since they can vary the fuel/air ratio in a way gasoline engines can't due to the stoichiometric ratio they have to maintain.

If you want even more, you could always try fitting a larger turbo as well, though that's alot more involved.

I think 100-110 bhp is safely possible from the 1.4 D4-D.

[norm]

T-sport, Super charger and NOS. might be a bit over the £2k tho, but it'll be fun untill the bank manager catches you ;)

[scionic]

*duplicate post*

Edited April 10, 2005 by scionic

[scionic]

Don't know much about diesels but I don't think they'd be any more tuneable than the petrol Yarii.

A T Sport seems a good bet. I'd have had one myself but wanted new and couldn't (well, wouldn't!) afford it.

←

Actually the turbodiesel is alot more tuneable for less money. The key is the turbo. A modern turbodiesel can easily be tuned for 20+% more power safely and reliably, whereas with a modern naturally aspirated gasoline engine, especially a small one like the 1.5, has little in the way of real power gains unless you want to spend a fortune and fit a supercharger. I should know, I've got the 1.5 myself and I've done plenty of research.

All the cold air intakes, headers and exhausts in the world on a T-sport or other gas Yaris won't produce 1/4 the results that a chip alone would for his diesel and a chip is alot cheaper than all those other toys that do little else but make the car louder and give the illusion of a performance increase.

I'd be willing to bet that a chip tuned diesel Yaris would pace a T-sport on the highway no problem and it will get much better fuel economy to boot.

Alan, Keep the diesel and massage more power out of it with a chip and intake.

[Tom.B]

Lol soo many decisions eh!! Get a Celica..my advice!!

[alanbradley]

Cheers for the suggestions so far folks...

I knew that you guys would suggest a T-Sport, but although I could (with a few months saving) afford the sportier second car option - which is Gen 5 Celica GT btw - I still owe too much on this car.

The trouble with chipping the car is that once I have more power in it it all begins to spiral. The poxy Goodyear tyres squeal at every junction as it is so I'll need more grip, probably in the form of bigger wheels. Bigger wheels will make it look like a monster truck so I'll then need suspension mods...

Keep the thoughts and suggestions coming ;)

A

[alanbradley]

Cheers Tom - you posted at the same time as I was writing that :thumbs:

A

[scionic]

Well... I don't see the problem with a chip, tires/wheels and a mild suspension mod. It sounds like it would solve all your problems.

Am I missing something? :(

[Fidgits]

Your not going to get much of a sports car for 2 Grand, and any you would get, would probably cost more in the long run...

I'd say trade the Yaris in and get something sporty - depending on your budget - Integra Type R? depends what your after?

[sotal]

if you chip and mod the yaris, it will still be a yaris! I would sell it and get a a car that was meant to be a sports car. Once sold you could get yourself a nice gen 6 GT4 celica and that should give years of enjoyment!

From what I've learnt - it's always cheaper to get a car that was meant to do what you want it to rather than try and alter a lesser car to do what you want!