Does accelerating fast put wear and tear on your car? I have heard that redlining it a lot is not good, and I definitely do not do that, but I do get it up to around 4500-5000 RPM's while accelerating from a stop light or something. Is that bad? Thanks...(IMG:style_emoticons/default/smile.gif)

Your vehicle was probably built to sustain that performance but only for a limited time (maybe years).

Remember, there are only so many "up-and-downs" every engine has.

The higher the revs....the shorter the overall lifespan.

If you're young and don't care, and the vehicle is a "performance" vehicle....then don't worry about it.

If you're old like me...and you've got the vehicle for the long haul, I would be accelerating slower, driving at 55mph, coasting long before breaking, etc etc.

I agree with the above advice. IMHO, high rpm will cause faster wear and tear and worsen fuel economy. Occasional hard acceleration should, however, not be a problem. It is a Toyota anyway.
For spirited driving, regular car maintenance, including and not limited to oil changes, should be especially important.
Safe and happy motoring!

To answer your question, yes it will shoerten the life of the engine, but so does leaving it unatended in the garage. As long as you take good care of it as swng says, you should be fine. And to be honest, the main part that will suffer is not the engine, is the trans, and the other portions of the drivetrain that get that "smack" of torque on the takeoff.

Hope this paints a decent picture for ya! (IMG:style_emoticons/default/right.gif)

I assume you are driving a Yaris, in which case I say:

There is no point in trying to accelerate quickly, because the Yaris won't do it!!! It's an economy car, plain and simple. The VVTI engine tends to be noisy under hard acceleration, which gives the impression that you are going fast even though you are not.

Drive it easy and you will be better off.

So Cal