Is the Yaris mostly for Urban Transportation?

[GeneW]

Four bangers rev higher than v8s. What of it?

The Yaris is a fine highway car. Very agile, reasonable acceleration and fine responsiveness.

Gene

[Thirty-Nine]

Originally Posted by GeneW

Four bangers rev higher than v8s. What of it?

The Yaris is a fine highway car. Very agile, reasonable acceleration and fine responsiveness.

Gene

I concur. I drove from Milwaukee, WI to Portland, OR in my 2005 xB, which had the same engine (and probably worse wind resistance). It did fine. I've driven from Portland to Northern California in my Yaris, and it was fine.

Can I "light 'em up" at 60? Certainly not. Are there better cars for cross-country cruising? I suppose. Will a Yaris sustain a long road trip? You bet.

A lot of this is subjective. If you're used to driving a big, cushy vehicle that floats down the highway and has passing power to spare, then perhaps the Yaris would take a bit of getting used to. And yes, as Gene said, four-bangers rev higher due to less power and gearing. My dad's '06 Corvette spins 1,000 RPM at 70. My Yaris is probably more like 3,500.

If you're wondering if the Yaris is going to fail mechanically with lots of highway use, I wouldn't worry about it. The 1NZ-FE engine has been around for quite some time in the U.S. (The Echo had it in 1999, and the Tercel had a similar engine) and is pretty tried and true.

What's funny to me is a lot of people worry about whether or not some of the newer subcompacts are highway worthy. However, it wasn't too long ago (late 1970s, early 1980s) when there were plenty of cars on the road with less than 100 hp. In fact, just about all subcompacts back then didn't have much power. Heck--my parents had a 1981 Plymouth Champ with 78 hp. They had a 1982 Dodge Omni with 84 hp and drove it from Mississippi to Minnesota without problem. I had a 1979 Honda Civic with 53 hp and an automatic. It would drive on the Interstate.

The Yaris will do just fine on the highway.