Yaris Handling Lethal? Anybody Else Experienced This?

[kman1]

Mine is a standard 1.0 5dr GS rides on 175/65/14 rims with Goodyear GT2's tyres all round. As soon as I got the car I noticed how poor the handling was compared to my Ford Ka. I find the yaris suffers from bad understeer even at quite low speeds going round roundabouts etc not inspiring much confidence at all.

Anyway something happened just before christmas on the motorway that really made me question the handling of this car. In the middle lane I was forced to swerve at about 70mph. I'd say I went from quarter to 3 on the wheel to twenty to 2. This caused the caused the Yaris to go into a fishtailing oversteer. At which point I was off the gas and I managed to correct it several times but found it just started oversteering the other way. Eventually I spun off the road into the grass emabankment. Fortunately no other vehicles hit me and nobody was hurt. I came away really shaken by the handling of this car. I'm no novice when it comes to driving as part of my job involves testing cars at high speed on tracks. I've had advanced driver training in ride and handling.

The car was not a write off and has been repaired. I've had the tyres upgraded to a new tyre called Goodyear Duragrip, handling does seem to be better on this rubber but I certainly haven't been at the limit anywhere.

Anybody else think that the original Yaris has some dodgy handling traits?

[T V O R]

I think the “Handling Lethal” is a bit over the top.

Any invasive procedure at 70mph is potentially going to make you lose control no matter what car you drive, unless you have some form of stability control fitted which a 1 litre Yaris doesn’t have.

I think you may have answered your own question when you say the handling is better on new tyres.

My T Sport has Bridgestone Potenza’s fitted and it sticks like poo to a stick, but it is lowered and stiffer than the standard version (as standard).

No problems here from the handling. In fact it’s one of the best cars I’ve owned.

Obviously your car is second hand. How old is your car? What are the shock absorbers like? Has it got previous history that you are not aware off? There could be other issues that could be the reason for the poor handling.

[Yaris SR Kid]

I am not expert to knowing handling of cars but i have no complaints at the yaris's suspension and i have had many comments from friends and family about well it performs!

Maybe yours is in need of a service?!! Glad the new tyres are better!

Adam

[forde]

ive driven many ka's and yarises in all stages of tune, some standard, some with sports suspension, and the yaris always wins hands down.

You swerved hard and suddenly at 70 mph and you expect the car not to slide?

And as for the roundabouts, i dont know what speed youre attempting to go round them at but damn man, your obviously going too fast.

The standard GT2s are absolute dung, replace the tyres and you have one of the best handling wee cars available. But even on the standard tyres i wouldnt describe the handling as being "lethal". "Average" may be a better word to describe it on the standard tyres.

[Xertoz]

While driving the Yaris I got, I only manage to understeer when I floor the gas for about 1.5 laps around a roundabout. It looses the grip at 60~ kph! :P Only time during summer season I've lost to understeer. Never managed the oversteer, but I've felt it close doing quick sideways movement in 90kph, the car sucks at higher speeds! My father's been close to crashing it while moving out of the way for an ambulance :/

[Moffmo]

its the tyres. the gt2s ar craping terible

[stu0500]

best tyres toyo proxys t1r's or failing that yokohamas 380s due to ur thin wheels

[Mat-O]

Mines always been fine, and my Mum's 1.0 S seemed okay too... Maybe you should slow down a touch if you find it can't handle well at roundabouts, it is a city car after all...

[S.Kayani]

i had gt3s on the front of mine in the past, and they used to understeer slightly when going quick round roundabouts

hopefully they should be better with the new tyres

[Jlneonhug]

Glad your safe and sound. To be fair from what you described it sounded as if you was already unprepared and unready for the following events that was about to happen. Perhaps even with experience of advanced driving etc, it doesnt mean your 100% ready for the unexpected. Perhaps any other car without any new age safety equipment (traction control, ESP etc etc). it might perform something similar to what happened. If you purposely tried to past the limit of the car stability you perhaps you'll see a different perspective. Just a thought.

I thought all cars which are FWD and engined massively understeers because its a safety feature (front sway bar) to persuade people to stop trying to push the car's limits.

[Raeman]

Best thing to do would be to stiffen it up with lower springs or coilovers,then put some 15"wheels on with wider tyres.

Easy,but quite expensive mod.

[navygm]

my 1.0lt yaris behaves quiete well as I've got Trd shocks (which makes it just a little stiff and lowered,good for cornering :) ), and 15"alloys with Toyo T1-r tyres. the tyres are impressive in handling, going roundabouts with 80km/h is a normal thing with these new tyres!

hope this helps :)

[Ryan1985]

At which point I was off the gas

I've had advanced driver training in ride and handling.

Have you? Lift-off oversteer? No? :P

[nz_aj]

At which point I was off the gas

Lift-off oversteer?

I had the same thoughts...

[eiriksmil]

Anybody else think that the original Yaris has some dodgy handling traits?

Nope. I have a Verso, it's tall and has therefore a lot of body roll through corners. But suffering from bad understeering in roundabouts? What turbo kit have you installed? For me, problem is the body roll of the Verso. Only this morning I had serious fun on back roads.

Okay, next subject. My neighbour got her Yaris when she was 18, i.e. novice driver. She hasn't killed herself in this lethal car yet. Why should you?

Start taking the bus, mate ;)

[Benno_uk]

My Yaris handled crap on the standard wheels & tyres. But since fitting 15" alloys and 50 series tyres the handling is transformed. The car only slides, all 4 wheels, if pushed stupidly hard.

[cmia]

Install 19" 45 255

for better performance and grip

Not menting the bling factor

[Big_Sid]

My Celica went in for some work, and Toyota loaned me a Yaris 1.0 GS, which had a breakfast pack on the passenger seat. Once I had scoffed my Rice Crispy square and downed my Capri Sun, I thrashed the little bleeder all the way home and actually found the handling to be quite good... despite feeling a bit high up, it went round islands nice without too much roll and gripped well, except when I got intentional understeer from flooring it on the exits (roads were a tad damp). My girlfriend has a Ford Ka, and I think the handling of the two cars is quite similar, except the driving position is lower down in the Ka it seems. All these little superminis with a wheel on each corner seem to handle well in my opinion (except Corsas...yuk!).

[Johan007]

...really I found the Corsa well balanced after trashing one about at low speeds last year.

[lucky_number_16]

Mine is a standard 1.0 5dr GS rides on 175/65/14 rims with Goodyear GT2's tyres all round. As soon as I got the car I noticed how poor the handling was compared to my Ford Ka. I find the yaris suffers from bad understeer even at quite low speeds going round roundabouts etc not inspiring much confidence at all.

Anyway something happened just before christmas on the motorway that really made me question the handling of this car. In the middle lane I was forced to swerve at about 70mph. I'd say I went from quarter to 3 on the wheel to twenty to 2. This caused the caused the Yaris to go into a fishtailing oversteer. At which point I was off the gas and I managed to correct it several times but found it just started oversteering the other way. Eventually I spun off the road into the grass emabankment. Fortunately no other vehicles hit me and nobody was hurt. I came away really shaken by the handling of this car. I'm no novice when it comes to driving as part of my job involves testing cars at high speed on tracks. I've had advanced driver training in ride and handling.

The car was not a write off and has been repaired. I've had the tyres upgraded to a new tyre called Goodyear Duragrip, handling does seem to be better on this rubber but I certainly haven't been at the limit anywhere.

Anybody else think that the original Yaris has some dodgy handling traits?

I agree with you here :) I have a Yaris T3 1.0 2004, which has had its tyres since new and my dad thinks it doesn't need new ones for a long time yet. BUT I can't seem to go around roundabouts without sliding my way around it, or go around corners without nearly hitting oncoming cars even at low speeds. Lately it's got worse, taking a bend at about 20 that I can usually take at 25-30, I nearly came off the road. It's probably just the condition of the road making it harder for my tyres to cope, but either way this car has a frightening amount of body-roll and just can't grip the road. The car was never my choice, it's far too tall for a small car. I also find it hard to pull away at junctions without skidding furiously (mostly due to the road conditions, but even on dry roads)...(Was my money but my parents choice... don't ask...). I'm glad to see I'm not the only one who has experienced this problem.

[dawesy]

just sounds like lift off oversteer (which is cool in the right place)

could even have been some oil on the road or anything

[kman1]

I think the electric power steering on the yaris doesn't give enough feedback to the driver as compared to a regular PAS set set up.

[Red Yaris 54]

I think the electric power steering on the yaris doesn't give enough feedback to the driver as compared to a regular PAS set set up.

I must disagree there.............The Yaris electric power steering is a well balanced system that provides adequate feedback if the cars tyres are inflated correctly.

Most of the modern hatchback cars have now adopted electric power steering and following many years of development it is just about as good as it gets :)

[alan589]

just sounds like lift off oversteer (which is cool in the right place)

could even have been some oil on the road or anything

It does sound like lift off oversteer. This can be a useful handling trait but usually it is engineered out of modern supemini's because it can cause problems like the one described. My 2006 t3 displays a bit of this which I like but maybe not in an emergency!

[Rayburn]

On my 1.4D4D it has the alloy wheels and larger tyres.

Compared to my daughters 1.0Ltr T3 the handling is realy noticeably different.

Buy yourself a set of Standard alloys and tyres, (T Spirit ) set pressures correctly and see/feel the difference.

Unless of course you have a problem underneath the car, in which case get it checked out.

R