Is this going to be as awful as I imagine?

[Somewhatfoolish]

Next week I have to drive a 1 litre Y-reg Yaris... not a massive distance but around 800 miles min... a couple of days will be 300 mile journies, majority single carrigeway on busy-ish roads. Is this going to be as bad as I think? Not driven one before but I can imagine it'll struggle to do the legal limit on hills

[ewenm]

There are no truly bad cars on sale in the UK anymore. Treat it as an opportunity to practice your momentum-conservation and traffic-prediction skills.

[EDLT]

Don't worry, they will easily cruise at "motorway speeds" it just takes a while to get there.

[Diderot]

Somewhatfoolish said:

Next week I have to drive a 1 litre Y-reg Yaris... not a massive distance but around 800 miles min... a couple of days will be 300 mile journies, majority single carrigeway on busy-ish roads. Is this going to be as bad as I think? Not driven one before but I can imagine it'll struggle to do the legal limit on hills

Yes.

[FreeLitres]

Driving a slow car will make you appreciate the performance of a normal car!

(However, driving a performance car will make your normal car seem really slow )

[yazza54]

Wring it's neck!

[Dangerous Dan]

ewenm said:

There are no truly bad cars on sale in the UK anymore. Treat it as an opportunity to practice your momentum-conservation and traffic-prediction skills.

+1

You can make even a small 1 ltr car fly if you coax it enough. Acceleration will not be as great as what you are probably used to, so make a concious effort to double check things like junctions/overtakes before committing, as you do not have the level of acceleration available that you have previously been used to (and thus taken for granted).

[carmadgaz]

yazza54 said:

Wring it's neck!

Driving a slow car fast as possible (safe!) is much more fun than driving a faster car at 30, you learn to read the road to maintain speed, I can worry faster cars (read almost anything else) in my old truck because I've (almost) got the hang of that skill

[pinchmeimdreamin]

carmadgaz said:

I can worry faster cars (read almost anything else) in my old truck because I've (almost) got the hang of that skill

Unless they have a faster car and have too

[carmadgaz]

pinchmeimdreamin said:

carmadgaz said:

I can worry faster cars (read almost anything else) in my old truck because I've (almost) got the hang of that skill

Unless they have a faster car and have too

I said I can, didn't say I always do

[sklar]

I absolutely love driving the missus's 1.2 Fiat 500. I absolutely wring its neck and it just laps it up. Catches drivers unaware for sure!

[Urban Sports]

All cars are fun in a certain way, it's just that some are more fun than others.

[Balmoral Green]

Did Derby to Brittany last year in a boggo Panda 1.1 Active, one hit each way, no problem. Didn't have to leave at stupid O'Clock in the morning and we were there by late afternoon. Taking it to Berlin soon too as the preferred choice from my small stable. It's great in towns and City's, can park it easily anywhere without worry. It does 90 on the level, 80 up a gradient and 100 down a gradient. I've not found acceleration or overtaking a problem. Anyone who says you can't do long trips in a small car, or that their lack of performance is dangerous simply can't drive.

[PHmember]

You'll probably have loads of fun ragging the arse of it & reading the road to maintain speed - although after a couple of days you will have had enough. It'll remind you how good your own car is though.

[sklar]

Actually, the only time I drove a Yaris 1.0 was when I hired one from Dortmund airport. I topped it out on the autobahn between there and Düsseldorf at an indicated 160kph.. A delight!

[sherman]

Just remember nothing handles like a hire car.

[RobboC]

I had a 60bhp Polo the other day, was dreading it, but it was actually great fun. Was fine on motorways and quite revvy. And I'm used to 9000rpm and 240bhp!

[Tunku]

Remember it's got Vtec Yo! Run it like a bike, keep the revs up and it's not a bad little shifter.

[Somewhatfoolish]

I can't drive it like a hire car, it isn't one... in fact half of the time going to have female passenger who won't like it if revs are above 3000rpm

Mind you, other half of the time, I can probably do it some good cleaning the valves out...

Edit: Seriously - VTEC in a Toyota 1.0?

Edited by Somewhatfoolish on Wednesday 18th August 22:13

[Justin S]

Just been out in our fiesta 1.25................ great fun, nipping around roundabouts and even managed .9 leptons apparently later on that evening..................Just a laugh, although straight line acceleration is not under the bonnet and don't switch on the aircon, that brings all travel to an abrupt halt LOL............