Pocket rocket (Toyota Yaris 1.0 VVT-i CDX 5dr)

Member Name: 0602409

Product:	Toyota Yaris 1.0 VVT-i CDX 5dr
Date:	18/04/08 (157 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Reliable, smart choice

Disadvantages: Feels underpowered due to lack of torque

This is one of them cars that you wont fully appreciate for maybe the whole time of ownership of the car until maybe you buy another car, this is especially true for first time car buyers. This is because when driving the yaris as a first car, your overall expectations of how useful and reliable a car may or should be, are raised. You will also think the petrol consumption on this thing is not anything special and it doesnt pick up in speed because your subconscience is yelling 999cc !!!! For someone to fully appreciate the beauty and originallity of this car they would have to be an experienced driver on maybe their 9 on 10th car. Thats when someone can make an all around judgement on the yaris because when it is compared to any other similar type of car in the same price range, no other car is better on fuel econemy, no other car will fool you into thinking this car has an engine of at least 1. ???? + (one point something and higher that is) and not many other cars will fool you into thinking the car is small when the car is quite spacious inside and is very comfortable.

When pushed to its limits in a race (meaning you dont change gear too early, but you wait until you achieve a higher RPM to activate all 16 Valves) the car can take on bigger engine sized cars up to around 35mph before it starts to fall behind slightly. But the important thing for any first car is that it should at least pick up quickly in the lower speed range for safety reasons? yeah safety reasons, because its fairly unsafe to enter say a dual carriage or moterway or round about at snails pace, with that being said, the yaris does not find this a challange if driven properly. The clever VVTI technology in this car is a sort of hybrid setup at a cheap price for a first time buyer which is great, let me explain. Altogether there are 16valves, yeah I know, 16 valves is a bit much for a 1 litre, but toyota are generous :). However the drawback would be that all those valves make a 1 litre not a sensible option because it will still drink petrol, but this is not the case with the yaris. Because of its clever implementation of the VVTI, the car locks the valves that are not really needed or in demand for a given situation. For example, when in traffic, the car will only need two valves (as the people at toyota know their stuff) so every other valve closes off to save a lot of petrol in traffic, when pushed for cruising, 8 valves are open, but when you pass around just above 3krpm all 16valves open because only a driver in race mode would be pushing the revs that far. You get this sort of super charger feel when this happens, although it would be nice for the average boy racer to have all 16 valves for the torque and response in power, any clever driver would just drop the gear to what ever ratio would be needed to instantly hit much higher revs for sudden pick up (thats what i do). This care is very light weight.

Secondly, the petrol, iv noticed that it does consume very little compared to other cars in the family, but in order to really save petrol you have to be clever. For example, when in a relaxed road where you can only achieve a maintained speed of say 30 - 35mph, staying in the highest gear at such low speeds wouldnt do any harm to the car as long as you dont push it and try to gain speed in fifth gear, just keep the pedal tapped at this speed if its consistently the same speed you are going to be cruising at, but should you need to suddenly pick up, i dont see the harm in even going down to 3 quickly for an energetic boost, and after you gain the speed the want, go right back up to fifth. Petrols very cheap on this car!!! The drawback of this is that everyone will want to borrow your car because it runs on air (joke) but its just annoying when I get home from college to find my baby in more demand for shopping etc, and i still have to pay for the petrol they use!!! but granted its not much.

Another nice thing about the car is the gear box, the range of movement required is little so theres less chance of miss gear change, it feels kind of sporty to me because i can quickly go from £rd to 2nd or 3rd to 4th with little finger movements. Some people might not like this, but as a driver with slight racing mentality, i love it.

The equipments on mine is pretty standard, the sound system isnt great, but can be useful because the on board computer can tell you statistics like avg mph avg mpg etc on the screen of the radio.

The Speedometer is nice on this car because it is an electronic read not analogue, and speed readings are spot on as mine has been tested. The screen is not directly in front of you but towards the centre angled towards your view. Some people might think that is is a hazard because eyes are not on the road, but this is not the case, its actually not that different, its sometimes better not to have a lump of dash in front of your steering wheel. It improves visibility of both the road and what speed you are doing. The car red lines at 6 and a half by the way, so no worries about blowing it up, its a very capable car.
The comfort on th front two seats are superb, almost hug you on corners, and are good for longer journeys, although i would say, stay off the moterway or atleast stay in the slow lanes because the soft high up suspension on sucha little light weight car are the perfect ingredients to take off on a moterway :). Back to comfort, i cannot say the same for the back seats, there is less room in the back and the seats are not big enough to comfort big people (im small though, so its all good)

The body work is not of the best quality, the pain can be chipped easily,the styling is ok for me, but isnt all that to be honest, but it does feel nice to role into college with such a highly equipted sensible car that will last longer than any other boy racers car in the car park. Apart from the styling (which is improved in newer models, i have the first ever model of yaris by the way, sorry i didnt mention this before, i was affraid you would skip the read) the car does carry that image i was saying just a moment ago, you will get respect for it.

There is the minor issue of some unusual cabin noise which i cannot get around to fixing because i dont know where small rattles come from when launching off from the lights and beating a ford escort full of chavs. The yaris is soo underestimated by other racers, try putting Vpower fuel into it for a good boost in power, for some reason this car loves it, it runs smoother annd you will for sure notice the difference. Also when used economically, the Vpower fuel gives you more miles per gallon, so even though its more expensive, it does pay for itself to bbe competitive with regular fuel, and it leaves behind medicinal properties in the engine to keep it running smoother for longer. Use Vpower in this car once a fortnight to once a month to reap its benefits.

This reviewer is the proud owner of the yaris 1.0 (999 cc or something) expecially because people underestimate the smart and good boy looking car that will even start in cold conditions where the average corsa or ford focus will strugle. Its started EVERY time i turn the key.

Word of advice, in cold conditions, give the car 20 seconds to settle down and let the revs fall to idle before pushing it to much, this can do damage to any car, especially smaller engines.
Also, you can lower the steering colum for much better handling of the wheel (ok sorry to state the obvious)

Its really up to you, what are your needs is what will determine whether this car is the one for you or not.

Thanks for reading, good luck!

Summary: Overall great little car that needs to be driven properly to unlease its potential, will take time

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