my car relativity theory

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this is based on my observations on one specific car model: toyota yaris, but you can apply to anything else.

1. first drove a rental yaris in 2006 when it was very new on the USA market. i thought: what a gutless noisy little POS (corolla was my daily driver and felt a whole more refined).

2. when my kid crashed the hand me down corolla, i wanted to buy her a cheap penalty box for her mostly city driving. i test drove a 2007 yaris and indeed it drove like a POS with the added qualification of very noisy and wandering on hwy when i took it home (my daily driver was prius at that time and felt like a very fine car in comparison).

3. couple of years later i bought 03 saturn ion for my son as a disposable first teenager car. i drove this POS to work for 3 weeks to burn old gas and diagnose any problems (there were plenty). after that was over, i took my kid's yaris to work as she was out of town. WOW, suddenly nice crisp steering, decent power, and smooth shifting. I was shocked how nice the ride was (in comparison to the ion).

4. then i went back to commute in RAV4 that is mine after we swapped cars with wifey. when my kid was out of town, i took her yaris again to check it. WOW, what a gutless noisy little POS again.

So the cycle ends here.
 
Yup. It is all relative and depends on one's point of reference. It certainly can be applied to just about anything in life.
smile.gif


This is one reason why I pay no attention to TireRack's user reviews. Many of the reviewers have very limited experience and no good point of reference, so I cannot take their feedback seriously.
 
When I had the Taurus, I never thought I'd get anything smaller. I *knew* I hated small cars and that they just weren't for me.

Now? I'm complaining that the newest generation of Focus is "too big" and I will likely end up replacing the Focus with a Spark/Mirage.

Mine is a backwards theory of relativity apparently. I'm sure once I own a Microcar I'll buy the biggest boat on the market.
 
The biggest boat would be the S class Mercedes. Go check out that thread, a 2004 S430 with 82k miles for $14k. I'm sure that would be like night and day.
 
My yaris 5 manual was peppy until the VVT stopped working properly. The steering was always rubbery/mystery . Cheapest design, mostly unlocated, rubbery strut front suspension you could put on a car. Should be a law. Honda Fit was not much better at all. At least you canget a yarius for 10 grandnot 15 +for a WAY overpriced Honda with a junk design engine also.

I miss my 86 Yugo GV.
 
Originally Posted By: Miller88
When I had the Taurus, I never thought I'd get anything smaller. I *knew* I hated small cars and that they just weren't for me.

Now? I'm complaining that the newest generation of Focus is "too big" and I will likely end up replacing the Focus with a Spark/Mirage.

Mine is a backwards theory of relativity apparently. I'm sure once I own a Microcar I'll buy the biggest boat on the market.
Spark and mirage are absolute garbage - I would go no lower than a Kia Forte - Thats a very good car. AT least the 2013 was before the pukey swoopy overstyle kicked in at KIA. Ive owned Garbage 2008 Yaris, 2012? Honda Fit and 2014 Nissan Versa.
 
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Now you know why it's easy to sell cars by "OOMPH" (power once the light turns green!).

At least here the members actually feel and qualify attributes other than just "OOMPH".Kira
 
I drove my neighbor's GMC Envoy a couple of years ago, running errands for him while he was in the hospital. It ran nice and had all kinds of features but overall was absolutely boring to drive. It did a good job of isolating you from the experience of driving and protecting you from any feedback. This Envoy could put a meth addict to sleep. Lots of little things were troublesome. Switches needed to be wiggled sometimes to work. The steering felt completely numb. Trying to guess when it would shift was a loss cause. It would sometimes shift down and back up on the freeway with the cruise control on and a level road. The various windows would go up and down at different speeds and sometimes change speeds while operating. The A/C would moan and whistle. The view through the windshield was distorted in a couple of places. From more than 20 feet away this Envoy looked pretty good but any closer and you notice that the trim did not fit well and the paint was rough and flat in places and rust was already showing up around door edges and hinges and this is S. Cal where we don't have weather or rust. The spacing around the doors was uneven. In some places you could hardly slide a coin into the space and in others you could insert your little finger. This is a vehicle that was not assembled with care and it shows everywhere.

He was completely happy and satisfied with his Envoy and I was thrilled to get back to my 31 year old Honda and enjoy driving, again. I like being involved in the process.

So you are correct. Ownership is a relative experience.
 
I agree with your car relativity theory. It helps me stay happy with what we've got. 99% of the time were puttering around at 55mph anyways so nothing fancy is needed.
It was funny though, after driving a Viper for nearly an hour, my Tracker seemed a little weak! Like an inline 4 of 5hp briggs and Stratton lawn mower engines weak... Also it seemed as quiet as a Lexus, even WO. But after a few days you get used to it again and life goes on.
 
I've driven a lot of brand new cars,some high end and some low end. None of them feel anywhere near as solid and refined as my 20 year old Nissan.
 
Originally Posted By: Quattro Pete
Yup. It is all relative and depends on one's point of reference. It certainly can be applied to just about anything in life.
smile.gif


Agree.
From '91 Accord to '94 LS400 the performance/handling was much better(of course much better ride).

Some years later the '00 E430 was more like a performance sedan compared with LS400 with much tighter steering and the ride was much more controlled(firmer but much more stable) at triple digits speed.

Then '04 S2000 defined the true performance/handling on mountain winding roads. The E430 was so good few years before was so loose on same mountain road vs S2000. The LS400 was almost undriveable at similar speed as S2000 at the same mountain road, it is okay on interstate highway and in city.
 
This is why kid's first car should be slow as heck and a POS.
Everything seems nicer afterwards.

After driving my Civic for a while, my 2.2L Vue feels like it has TORQUE! Ha! but true and my Civic feels like a gutless canyon carver after driving the Vue.
 
Yup. I always appreciate how smooth and comfortable my VW is after I've driven my grandfathers Jeep, which when I do it's for about 4 hours of interstate driving and 2 hours of off-roading.
 
My parents had real horrid cars... Vegas, Omni Misers, Fairmonts. I never wanted for more.

I can understand a brain dead spoiled driver who grew up with V8s and simply "has to" have tons of pep, because they never plan ahead when merging, etc. Don't let your kids become this next generation, give them something they can drive to its limits in day to day traffic.
 
Originally Posted By: Falken
Works for Girlfriends too...


i guess. i just never went back to the same girlfriend to compare.
but if you have a story, do tell.
 
ok ok... I'm only going to say that I had a beautiful daughter with the Yaris... And I still love that Yaris more than anything.
 
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