Finally driving the Yaris :)

Back on 31 Aug 2007, we ordered a 2008 Yaris. We picked it up this past Wednesday. The reason why it took 4+ months is that Toyota had stopped making the '07 models when we ordered ...and they'd not yet started making the '08 models. The reason for the special order was because we insisted on getting ABS. The target demographic for this car is apparently younger folks looking for an inexpensive car, and to help keep the cost down, few if any dealers stock Yarii with ABS. Sheesh, it's only a $300 option. Well, I ordered it with ABS, side curtain airbags, and various other options (doing a special order means you order exactly what you want :)

And what's the best thing to do when you get a brand new car? Start taking it apart! The stock horn sounds like the old RoadRunner cartoon - just a little *beep*. I wanted something safer. So I pulled off the front bumper assembly (have to do that to get to the horn - which sits front of the radiator) and installed dual FIAMM horns - 130 decibels of dissonance (one low tone and one high tone). NOW it sounds like a real car, and the horn has already helped a few times when folks didn't see this little car tooling along the road.

Here's a shot of the finished horn install ...it worked out quite nicely that there was the perfect sized hole - sitting unused - just waiting for me to take advantage of it for the mounting of the 2nd of the 2 new horns.

And here's the view from the outside after everything was back together. I guess the first change to the car was the blind spot mirrors I added before we even left the dealer. The horn swap was the second. More mods are in store, mostly geared toward improving safety and fuel efficiency. And speaking of fuel efficiency, I filled up when it got down to 1/2 of a tank. On the first bit of miles, I've gotten 37.6 miles per gallon. My goal is to average over 40, but I won't worry about that too much until after the break-in period (after which I plan to switch to synthetic oil, a higher quality air filter, swap out the crank pulley for a lighter one, etc :)

Comments

[Barry in Portland]

What a geek: he does software! he does hardware!

And I feel accomplished if I can just manage to keep the gutters clean. I am shamed.