I am Sir Toyota & have come to claim what is mine! (Toyota Yaris in general)

Member Name: KatiePuckrik

Product:	Toyota Yaris in general
Date:	09/11/07 (1258 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Great price and great extras

Disadvantages: Engine is a bit sluggish

The Toyota Motor Corporation is currently ranked number 2 in the world motor market in terms of sales. It recently superseded Ford, who were number 2 before Toyota, last year and if current trends continue, the Toyota Motor Corporation will become number 1 in the world beating General Motors into second place by 2007. So what is spurring Japan's biggest company to surge ahead of the competition? In my humble opinion it's because they are building cars like the Toyota Yaris T-Spirit!
The Yaris T-Spirit is the top model of the Yaris range. All of Europe's Yarises are made in Toyota's manufacturing plant in France. I recently bought one and decided to do this review.

Price:
As I mentioned earlier, the Yaris T-Spirit is the top model in the Yaris range. If you buy it direct from Toyota they will charge you somewhere in the region £12500. However, my advice to you, the customer, would be to buy it from a 3rd party broker like Jamjar.com or virgincars.com. I managed to buy my car for £10000. Nearly £2500 cheaper than if I bought it direct from Toyota.

Extras:
The Yaris T-spirit comes with a whole host extras (some of which are reviewed below) but my favourite out of all of the extras is the digital display. Say goodbye to analogue speed dials, tachometers and fuel gauges and say hello to one computer display with all the above information in one place. This particular feature is a feature which not many cars in its class have. In fact, according to my research I'm not aware of any small car which boasts this digital display feature. Though if someone is aware of a car which does have this as an option please mail me.

Trip computer:
Along with the digital display feature, the Yaris T-Spirit also has a trip computer. This display tells you how many miles (roughly) you have left with the amount of fuel you have left. A bit of a gimmick, I accept, but it is rather handy when you want to figure out if you make your 5 mile trip without having to fill up. However, the Yaris' trip computer has a flaw. Most trip computers (eg. Volvo's, Lexus', Peugeot) have a piece of software in the trip computer which calculates, in real time, the amount of miles you can get to the amount of fuel you have in your tank. This will adjust to your driving habits. So if you're driving on a motorway the software will adjust the calculations automatically, to reflect a better mpg and vice versa with urban driving conditions. The Yaris T-Spirit does not have this piece of software and you have to manually recalculate the mpg by holding the "trip" button down. Rather annoying as you've forked out for the top model, it wouldn't have cost that much more to install this piece of software.

Power steering:
The power steering is light and easily manoeuvrable when going at slower speeds and eases off at higher speeds. This makes efficient used of the power steering motor giving you easy steering in urban conditions and rests itself on motorway conditions to prevent the motor burning out or overheating.

ABS:
Prior to buying the Yaris, I'd never seen or heard ABS "in action" and was extremely curious to find out what happened. Then a friend of mine decided to show me in his ABS in action in his Peugeot 406 coupe. All I could hear was an extremely loud grinding noise which, ironically, sounded like wheels locking up! In fact, if the truth be told, I was quite scared! But when I bought the Yaris I was driving in some extremely wet conditions and had to hit the brakes. The ABS kicked in and I was pleasantly surprised at the results. There was a slow whirring noise followed by a click. This was far more reassuring than the other ABS system! Thus, the Yaris wins more points for a quiet efficient ABS system.

Air Conditioning (A/C):
The A/C on the Yaris is extremely efficient and takes 2 minutes to reach full working capacity. On a hot day the A/C is a complete godsend. However, one drawback to the A/C on a Yaris is that you must run the A/C for, at least, 10 minutes each week. This is to keep the gas circulated to keep the seals in the A/C system moist. Also, when you've run the A/C on cold for 10 minutes run it for 10 minutes on hot to dry out the A/C pipes of moistures and water. Without doing this bacteria and microbes can breed leaving your car (technically) a biohazard! Legionnaires' disease has been known to breed in unkempt A/C systems.

Engine:
This is where the Yaris falls flat on its face. Where the car wins points on comfort and luxury, it loses points on engine power. While the engine is very economical and you can get very good MPG, the acceleration and speed of the car is very sluggish. I've noticed I had real trouble trying to pull away from junctions and traffic lights. The only way to pull away from junctions and traffic light with a good degree of speed is to push the accelerator down almost half way! This, of course, messes your fuel economy up in a big way!

Residual value:
When it comes to selling on your Yaris T-Spirit, it is vital you keep it in good condition. The better the condition, the better your chances of selling it on at a good price. But because the Toyota Yaris is one of the most popular small cars in the UK that means the second hand market for Yarises is virtually saturated and very difficult to get a good price if you are a seller. However, the Yaris T-Spirit is an exception! The Yaris T-Spirit is actually quite a rare model on the UK market so this will give you an edge in this market. Because of the rarity of this model, this has driven the price up to good levels. If you are buying a second hand Yaris T-Spirit, look to pay about £8000 for a 3 year old model. For more on residual value go to www.parkers.co.uk.

Car maintenance:
The Toyota Yaris T-Spirit was designed to be practically maintenance-free. The ABS has a self check mode, the car needs a full service every 2 years, not 1 and the car only needs an oil change every year. There is also little excuse to be lifting the bonnet up (unless you want to admire the beauty of a clean, grease-free engine!). The windscreen washer reservoir can hold up to 2.3L of fluid so it should only need topping up when you come to servicing. All Toyota's come with 3 years or 60000 miles (whichever is soonest) guarantee and servicing. However, I should make a point, not just with Toyotas but all Japanese cars, which could save you a bundle money and trouble. When changing the engine coolant on any Japanese car, NEVER EVER use an engine coolant which hasn't been approved by the manufacturer. The reason being is that Japanese cars use a different sealant in their cars' cooling systems compared to their European and North American counterparts. The Japanese sealants are prone to eroding if an engine coolant containing silicates is used. Silicates will eat away at the engine's seals cause the whole system to break causing hundreds of pounds of damage. In short, always use the manufacturer's own coolant which is a silicate-free formulation and won't eat away at the seals. This applies to ALL Japanese cars, not just Toyota.

Overall, this is a car I highly recommend. For your money you get loads of extras which you wouldn't normally find on other smaller cars in its class. Also, with it being Toyota you get the peace of mind when it comes to reliability. Toyotas, in my opinion, are the most reliable cars on the market. Admittedly, this isn't a car for boy racers as the engine isn't as strong as I'd like it to be; this is a car designer for luxury and comfort. You want a cheap, poorly built racing car? Buy a Renault Clio. If you want a well built, low priced, comfortable car with loads of cool extras then buy a Toyota Yaris T-Spirit.
So, go forward Toyota Motor Corporation and claim your rightful place as King of the motor world. If you carry on building cars like this you deserve the crown! All hail the King!

P.S. If at any point in this review, I sounded like Jeremy Clarkson, I wholly and duly apologize!

Summary: A great little city car.

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