Quote:
Originally Posted by some_other_dave
"Should"? Perhaps if you said that "it ought to be engineered to be able to". But I don't think you can make much of a case that a car with all of the features of the Yaris should be able to get Geo Metro FE. Check some of the more interesting differences between the two.
Yaris: 1.5 liter 4-cylinder; 106 hp and 103 lb·ft
Metro: 1.0 liter 3-cylinder; 49 HP (early XFi model)
Yaris: 2300 lb curb weight
Metro: 1620 lb curb weight
Yaris: • Child Seat Lower Anchorage • Adjustable Upper Belt - Front • Pretensioner
• Energy Management Feature [AKA "lots of well-designed crumple zones"] • Rear Center Lap/Shoulder Belt • Advanced Air Bag Features • Side Airbag - Front • Head Airbag - Front • Rear Seat Head Restraint • Trunk Release • Tire Pressure Monitor
Metro: Some crumple zones; possibly rear-seat headrests
The Yaris is a more luxurious-feeling car than the Metro. It is faster. It has lots more "features" of all kinds, from safety to comfort to... Its suspension pickup points won't rust away within 10 years.
In every way (except one!) that "most" consumers care about, the Yaris is an infinitely "better" car than the Metro was. We are the exception, in that we care about that one way (the fuel economy) much more than most consumers do. Until enough people start putting FE above elbow room, or cupholders, or six-layer crash protection, or the need to get to 60 MPH before that guy in the next lane, chances are slim that we'll see anything like the Metro again.
-soD
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Yaris, produced decades after the Metro became a canidate for social security payments (heh ok so I exaggerate) yet where are the actual improvements? Creature comforts like a trunk release? Metro owners check my memory, for I seem to recall seeing one of those in a Metro before. Airbags were a gleam in someone's eye back in the Metro days, and I would suspect that if you added the "luxury" items from the Yaris to the Metro, you would be at almost the same weight... go figure huh? Main thing I am thinking here, is that the Yaris "should" be a much better vehicle than what it is, especially since it is marketed as a fuel efficient vehicle (read econobox).
