Just an observation...

[Captain Slow]

Likely when these cars are a little older and you can find a used 1.8L a little easier it will be a more popular mod. For now I'm plenty impressed with the bolt-ons. Just can't wait to see a dyno showing the new MI manifold along with some other mods.

[why?]

you make me want to get my car on a scale and then go dyno it.

I can't use the power and handling ability my car has now. I'm just not the type to drive 3 hours for an event full of people i don't know to spend who knows how much to autocross or get on a drag strip.

The Yaris is just so dirt cheap to do everything. My Viggin was $1000 to do anything with. The wheels were a mandatory swap because they were garbage. If you full throttled the thing on take off it would go sideways, not forward. And don't start with mods. And then the price for 93 octane gas and 29 mpg at best.

More to the point, they cost $13 grand brand new. Most cars, even used, that we would want would be more, so mods still don't break the bank compared to buying a BRZ, a used TT Supra, or basically any sporty vehicle.

How many cars can you say you bought brand new, and including all maintenance and mods has still cost less than $20 grand in this day and age?

and honda's are overrated, even with the decades of tech they have had to put into mods. And even then, with so called turned key engine swaps, they are not cheap at all.

[UberSilver]

So me and my Yaris come in at 2500lb. So all I need is 250hp to get a nice 1:10 ratio If I had no concern about mpg, a rotary out of a RX8 would do it.

But I do like the near 40 mpg I get, so I'll leave it alone. Plus my bike is 1:3.5 with me on it. And thats my extreme fun ride.

Originally Posted by Captain Slow

Yeah, I really don't have a problem with the $ per hp cost of modifying this little car. Sure there are less cheap eBay versions of stuff around but still lots of good quality parts.

Take into account the fact that the 1990 Mazda Miata made 115hp and weighed around 2100lbs...that puts the Yaris (especially modified) solidly into Miata quickness territory. I owned 2 Miatas and neither were 'fast" but they certainly surprised a lot of people too.

Power to weight ratios mean a hell of a lot in the real world. Below 1:21 means 1 horsepower for every 21 pounds of weight.

Yaris (unmodified) 1:21
Yaris (I/H/E) 1:17.9
Miata (1.6L) 1:18.3
Honda Fit (2013) 1:21.3
Mazda 2 (2012) 1:23.1
Nissan Versa 1:21.6
1996 Civic hb 1:21.2
1998 Mustang v6 1:20.4
1992 240sx 1:17.7

Take a long look at that list, the Yaris has one of the best power to weight ratios of any recent hatchback (other than special models like Civic Si, etc...) even when in stock form. Very impressive.

Imagine with some lightweight wheels and pulleys, remove the rear seats and spare tire, intake, exhaust, header, MI manifold, 1ZZ tb and a free flowing midpipe...I think the Yaris could easily hit 1:15 or 1:16.

[tooter]

Originally Posted by UberSilver

But I do like the near 40 mpg I get, so I'll leave it alone. Plus my bike is 1:3.5 with me on it. And thats my extreme fun ride.

Wow... what bike do you ride?
My 400 is a pitiful 1:12.5!

[cali yaris]

Is it whp to weight? 1:5.6

Or do you count bhp? 1:5.0

[mr_miles]

Originally Posted by UberSilver

So me and my Yaris come in at 2500lb. So all I need is 250hp to get a nice 1:10 ratio If I had no concern about mpg, a rotary out of a RX8 would do it.

But I do like the near 40 mpg I get, so I'll leave it alone. Plus my bike is 1:3.5 with me on it. And thats my extreme fun ride.

Oh god don't get the renesis. Lol Mazda destroyed rotaries with that engine, in my opinion. they do fly pretty good when they're totally stripped and let free - but for less money you can get a 20b from a cosmo, which = lots more power :)

my yar comes in at 2100 pounds without me, yayyyyy. need more power to balance it out!

[Captain Slow]

I always measure everything in flywheel horsepower. Why? Because if I'm comparing it to a new car using the manufacturer's specs they're always listed that way. I want to know how much the MOTOR makes, not what gets to the ground. You always have to assume a 10-20% drivetrain loss on any vehicle.

As for the comment on Hondas, the 1980s and 1990s Hondas were good, massive horsepower (albeit shitty torque numbers) from very small I4 engines. After the year 2000 though most Hondas are shit, they turned into granny cars that are difficult to mod. Not only that but the build quality has gone down significantly. I disliked Toyotas from the 90s (except for Supra obviously) but in the last 4-5 years they've gotten much sportier.

[BEEF]

I think the biggest thing for me (on hondas) are they have gotten very fat.

I think most car companies have done that though. gone are the days of the 1800lb car. I would love to have a new car that was 1600lbs.

side note: first car was a 3 cylinder geo metro (1650lbs)