New Yaris Owner (2009 RS Manual)

[Zohzo]

Hey everyone, just wanted to explain my situation to some yaris owners and get some sort of confirmation about the car.

I currently own a 2009 RS manual with 140,000 km that I sold my 03 mini cooper S for (due to fuel economy reasons). I loved my mini, and the yaris sure aint one but unfortunately because of my long commutes I needed something good on gas.

I think the RS is a fantastic looking car with some great utility capabilities (that are better than the mini) but I'm having some issues with the car that I'd like to know is just 'normal' for a yaris or not.

First all, the sensitivity for first gear is just ridiculous. I'm used to an electronic gas pedal from the mini, but the yaris is far more sensitive. I'm always over revving just to move out of stand still. If I try to rev less I stall or it chugs along. It's incredibly annoying and I'm wondering if this is just normal for the yaris and if so, if there are any mods that can be done to work around it?

Secondly, the serpentine belt squeals like crazy regardless of temperature. In the cold it will make more noise warming up, but even on a hot day it will squeal but only after driving around for a while, then coming to a stop for some time. After the car has cooled down a bit, starting it up again will guarantee squealing. The problem with this is that the serpentine belt is brand new.

Third problem is fog. The car fogs up very badly and I'm even noticing built up moisture from inside the car itself (namely from the top of the main windshield). It's enough that it will drip water as if there's a leak (but I couldn't find any). This is obviously more of a winter problem, but just wanted to know if this is a common occurrence.

And finally and probably the most problematic issue I'm having with the car is the lack of grip I get when driving. I've got a full set of all seasons, brand new, highly rated good tires yet with even the slightest of damp roads, there will be no grip in the tires. When I bought the car it had worn out fronts, but good all season rears. The front tires would constantly lock up even on dry roads. I switched the better conditioned rears to the front to stop the lock ups. Unfortunately when cornering on wet roads, the bad rears would cause the car to slide sideways. It almost put me into a wall, so I decided to replace the tires thinking it would solve the issue. I've now got brand new tires and although the problem is not near as bad as it was before I'm still noticing the car lacks any kind of grip especially in rain.

Would appreciate any kind of advice or info. Thanks for your time!