Blackzze

RuNx, Im in Vic, thats where Jim Murcott has the courses, I had mine at Sandown, and got to do 6 laps!! Much fun!!. Old school is cool, even without airbags Evl_50a! Put simply, lack of airbags wont stop me from getting my 1600 Datsun rally-weapon one day!! But as a daily driver, I reckon airbags are just (relativley) cheap insurance against cracking your skull at mid-speed accidents.

Point taken with the "insurance- it's not my problem" Buddha, and in some cases you are right. The reason I dislike this perspective, is not because I don't care about insurance preimums, but I look at the real picture here of how it happens. Let's say the stivo or yaris with 7 bags goes off in an accident, chances are it is a serious one, chances are you will have some sort of injuries from the accident, mabye major. The last thing i will be thinking of when I woke up in hospital would be my insurance preimum, I'd just be happy to be alive. AND, 7 airbags or 2 airbags, you WILL STILL HAVE TO MAKE A CLAIM anyway. Chances are with 2 bags or 7, if they go off for accident over 30kph, you car could be a write off anyway, even with NO bags. When someone needs treatment for cancer for example, do you find out what each person is going to bill you for before you proceed?? Do you weigh up the costs with the chance there will be no gains?? If you did, by this post rationale so far, you would say to yourself: $6,000 for a CHANCE to live, hmm, it's only a chance, and is a lot of money, I think I'll just die instead. I'm a careful driver, has anyone done defensive driving course to get a discount off their preimums?? Worked for me, and it taught me a lot in car control as well, which has saved my a s s several times!! If you guys are really serious about safety, do EVERYTHING you can (training) to avoid an accident in the first place, and if it does happen, try to be as safe as possible when it does. Jim Murcott has a $99 special for level 1 defensive driving at the moment. I did my stage 2 this week, and can highly recommend it.

Are most of us here insured?? The way some talk, it sounds like we are not insured and will be paying for repairs?? The Yaris would be expensive to fix for sure, chances are in a major accident with 7 bags going off- it would be a write-off anyway. For me, that is what insurance is for, its their problem if the car is expensive to fix, their 'deep pockets", also if it is my fault, it just doesn't matter. That's why i highly recommend insurance.

I have driven cars more without airbags than with. I don't worry about it because they can't be retro-fitted to my old XD falcon. So you are correct evl_50a, sort of. If I can afford to buy a car with airbags, then I do (I only wish side airbags were an option for stivo) I'm actullay thining of a Yaris (SHHH) cos for $680 extra you can get side & curtain & knee bags for a total of 7. The difference being, if you pull a perfectly good airbag out, you are choosing to injure yourself a lot more, and mabye even make the ULTIMATE SACRIFICE- death, to have a nice looking steering wheel. If your that keen, then perhaps look for an aftermarket wheel that your airbag module can go into, prob not cheap though, but what price do you put on betting you will NEVER have a head-on smash?? I don't intend on having one, but you cant rely on everyone else to drive ok!! But it's a free country, and everyone will die of something........

Airbag sensors are a steel ball in a cup. This is encapuslated as a single sensor unit. If the ball pops out (from sudden deceleration/shock) the the circuit is broken and the airbag goes off. The cup is aligned according to sensor placment/orientation. So hitting a car from behind (AKA parked car) will often cause the parked car to move/skid- even a little movement will cut the deceleration rate significantly. Airbags are (or should) be designed only to deploy if there is a chance of a life-threatening accident, SyxXPaC friend's accident was not a life threatening accident- even though unfortunatley she got whiplash. Hitting things like trees will deploy airbags at even moderate speeds of 40kph, because the object is solid, the car has to absorb ALL of the impact energy. late 80's/early 90's hodas were renowned for airbag deployment at 15kph (car-park speeds!), Though things are more consistent across brands nowadays. My20c :P

Hmmm, Let me See....... Potential for brain damage 10X....... or Insurance Excess going up..... Mabye getting to drive a car again......... or being stuck as a vegetable. Let's have 10 seconds of think music......................................................................................... I'll take the AirBag :lol

RuNx, I think YOU should stop taking yourself too seriously...... First, Having an opinion on a product/car is what this forum is about. Second, Recommending YanKim's shop for accessories IS DIFFERENT. WHY??????? You CAN buy TRD from anywhere, so it could be seen as sly promotion. You can buy a CES exhaust system from where?? CES........ Only 1 place Who Asked The Question???? You! Quote RuNx: "just out of interest where is this CES exhaust shop located???? Seen as how there is only 1 place to get it, is it shameless promotion???? I think not. And I don't have a CES system (or don't have the $$$)

Good News.... Car went in to Rick Wollany in Werribee, was there 5 days -some other parts had to be ordered, includng a passenger side plastic inner guard liner, as a clip had fallen out and the tyre had rubbed on it at some stage. They gave me a loaner for the time (I paid insurance) and now..... It rocks, no dramas ANYWHERE on up or down shift, you don't have to race it through, it just goes 'snickitty-snick' and in it slips, regardless of rpm. Thanks to Rick's for the excellent work under warranty.

Sportivos have larger discs (about 25mm) and bigger (jap spec celica GT) calipers with larger pads. And can't agree more, my first 40,000k's brakes were ***** e .

CTS03, I haven't tried my brakes at such different engine speeds as you, I will try tommrow and let you know. It is really worth remembering that brake accuation from your pedal is probably via vacuum assistance to the booster, so as your engine speeds increase, so will the vacuum, and therefore the pedal pressure, this is more apparent in older cars especially, but would normally make (guess here) 10-15% pedal pressure difference from what I have felt myself in driving older cars. I tried my pedal today when i was stationary with the car running, and I can get my pedal down to about 65-70% travel, but as I said yesterday, my abs would kick in before the pedal got to 50% when I am moving. And Otaku is right, unless you drive a commodore (or vauxhall omega to you!) :P

CTS03, If your pedal EVER goes to the floor, you have a problem that needs to be sorted pronto. I find with me the brake pedal can go down slightly if the A/C cuts in, I don't think this is a problem with the stivo, just a 'feature', i have noticed heaps of cars do it. i find my brakes generally responsive in the pedal (5cm os so in general driving) and i really think i have never taken it over half way, and trust me, Ive skimmed my discs 2 times in 40,000ks from flogging it, and the pedal has never got over half way, i have had my abs kick in a couple of times in genuine emergency stops, and even then the pedal didn't go over half way. I can't imagine trying to pull up in a hurry one day and have the pedal go the floor :o Though from what you already describe with your flushing already, it could really be an electronic fault, you should still be under warranty yes?? Perhaps try disconnecting the battery for 15 mins to reset the ABS/EBD module, could be a random glitch there. If no go: I'd dump it back on the dealer and refuse to drivre it (unsafe to operate) until they fix it (demand a loaner for free). Or at least insist they change the ABS/EBD box and the filler container, and you be the test driver. Just my 20c worth ;)

Just to update everyone, Monday week (24th oct) my car is in for 2 to 3 days for the new synchros and clutch, will keep posted after I get it back.

I had the same vibration at 90kph+, got my wheels balanced 3 times, with hub rings fitted and it was still there. I came to the conclusion Bridgestone in clayton can't balance wheels properly/ crap balancing machine. Not knocking anyones tyre/wheel/mechanic friends............. My problem was solved when I went to a DIFFERENT tyre place and got my wheels re-balanced....... problem solved. 1. If you change wheels and or tyres and get a vibration, its probably from the wheels/tyres!!!! 2. When was the last time the wheel balance machine was checked and calibrated at you dealer???? 3. I have found with lighter wheels, the balance is critical, because my wheels are 6kg lighter each, any SLIGHT imbalance is a lot more noticable. 4. I would guess eddies cv joint is worn out cos of the imbalance in the wheel tyre, as I haven't heard of cv joints wearing early on rollas. The tyre guys at Rick wollany toyota (don't know who he uses) did a fab job on my car, and no vibes at 90-218kph. :P

I think the fact the Stivo is manual only confirms the fact that it has to be driven!! With lift I find: Overtaking at 80kph- drop clutch in and rev to around 6500,downchange to 2nd, pop clutch....POW Overtaking at 100kph- drop clutch and same, downchange to third and.....POW. Torque is nice I admit, but if you want speed, you really need to drive the T**S of it, that's why we have over 8,000rpm to play with.

Hey Mintos, I know you only said 'what are the possibilities'....... And I meant to say I think you would be crazy to TRY it. That said, I also noted that ANYTHING is possible. I have no doubt it could be done, but at what overall cost?? IMO, Cheaper to turbo a 1ZZGE and have more REAL DRIVEABILITY than me! OZ- useless fact for the day, I got over 0.8g's in my stock magna 3.5 '02 model.... with the aid of the handbrake The only reason I know this is because in the magna ralliart they had to put an extra baffle in the fuel tank to stop the mysterious fuel cutout at 0.8G's+

Too tempting to pass up the offer: YOU ARE CRAZY!! Although anything is possible, the 2zz development makes it an (almost) entirley different engine! The block material is different for a start, different bore and stroke etc, BUT, for a thorugh understanding of the 2ZZGE engine, here is the white paper: www.m-msport.com.au/Downloads/2zzGE%20Engine.pdf As you can see, there is a big diff. Better to look out for a wrecked sportivo and perhaps do a transplant, or look at an imported jap engine, but you better know some good mechanics/electronics guys to get it to 100%, plus you may need a new gearbox, I'm not sure if the 5 and 6 speed are directly interchangable..... anyone else help on this?

Why not just swap our rolla one for the crv one??? Is that a crime? Do you really think an average crv driver/mum would even notice?? :P **No offence meant to the lots of crv drivers, I even got one for my sister, but its first series with the antenna on the a pillar

hey Lucio, I dont have to call werribee to get you guys a good price......... it's their standard price for everyone, said before, there 20+% cheaper usually on big services. go rick's.

FYI 2. Toyota charged me $27.20 (incl a filter) to change the oil that I supplied. Hardly worth driving to toyota to pick up a trans filter and then jack the car up!!

F.Y.I, the castrol was $20/L at autobarn, not the cheapest place for oils!! The castrol works for me, but no doubt, the redline shockproof is the best...... and like always, you get what you pay for. I was just after something that will feel nice and go for 50,000k's+, which is why I bought the castrol.

IZZ FE, the cost would likley end up around $1500-2K, thats my guess. With what 2ZZ GE says, perhaps my clutch is misaligned? Thanks for the info.

I had the gear selector cables changed at 40,000 but it made no difference.

After all the complaining of my 'faulty gear change' 1st to 2nd, and Toyota telling me NOTHING is wrong with my gearbox...... it now crunches EVERYTIME i downshift into second...... Just had a 60,000k service yesterday, and the synchros on second gear (they are DOUBLE synchros) are stuffed- the gearbox is coming out and synchros are getting changed, a big job for toyota under warranty. If your gearbox crunches 1st to 2nd..... the synchros on 2nd gear days may be numbered!!!!! I guess overall I'm lucky, as it gets fixed by toyota. And my gearbox should FINALLY change gears like it should. Anyone else had this done yet?? PS, for the upshift side of things, castrol full synthetic 75w90 has never made my gearbox feel better, I got it put in this service, and the changes are very smooth. I will put the same back in after they do the repair (in 8 weeks, parts ex japan).

I will also add, that the stivo DRANK 0.4L of the mobil1 in 1200k's when i first changed it over........ it was a bit strange. When I ran the next batch for 10,000k it only used 0.5L, and has stayed that way since. Now the engine has done 60,000k's and never felt better.

Flush oils are a thin mineral-base oil. They are too thin for our high rpm engines. If you want to do a flush (I reckon its a good idea, and did it to my stivo when i switched to mobil1 after the 30,000 service- when the engine was fully run in) do it with the oil you intend to use in the long run, with filter, and change it after 1000 to 1500 k's. Its an expensive way to do it, but i can't think of a better way.