A little car that thinks its bigger (Toyota Yaris in general)

Member Name: ScottishWestie

Product:	Toyota Yaris in general
Date:	07/07/09 (356 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Space, looks, quality, running costs, reliability, resale value, features

Disadvantages: Can't see the bonnet from the drivers seat

After running company cars for many years I suffered redundancy earlier in the year & had to surrender the company vehicle. Now I had to look for a replacement vehicle for family use, something that was cheap to run & be ideal for town/city use & the odd weekend away.

As an ex mechanic I know the vehicles to avoid & the desirable ones to buy, there are no 'bad' cars out there any longer but there are some better than others.
My needs were quite simple, a car with five doors, small but roomy, economical, reliable & my only must have is air conditioning. I couldn't have chosen a worse time to look for a used small car, during these depressive times it's exactly the type of vehicle most people are currently looking for & many car dealers are paying up to an extra £500 over current values just to source good quality small vehicles for stock.

Small town/city cars come in two classes, city cars & super mini, the 'city cars' class includes those small four seaters models such as the Ford Ka, Suzuki Alto, Nissan Pixo, Kia Picanto & Proton Savvy, all good cars but they are just too small for me.
The cars that fall into the 'Super Mini' category include the new Vauxhall Corsa, new Ford Fiesta, Volkswagen Polo & the Toyota Yaris. I chose the Yaris purely as it was good looking, roomy, reliable & cheap to insure & run.

There are a number of different engine options including the 1000cc model, 1300cc & 1400cc diesel. I would have loved a diesel but most places selling them were asking about £1000 more than the 1300cc version, so for me the 1300cc was the choice.

HISTORY OF THE YARIS

The original Yaris won the International Car of the Year award in the year 2000; for once it was a car that actually deserved to win it as it became a firm favourite with the buying public. It was roomy, cheap to run & very reliable. The second version (the one I bought) was introduced in 2006 & featured improvements on the old model. It's slightly bigger, has more safety features but was more expensive when it was introduced.

FINDING THE ROOM

Despite being only a few centimetres longer, wider & higher than the old model, the new Yaris has significantly more space inside thanks to the Toyota engineers designing some clever ideas.
If you look at he profile of the model you'll notice the bonnet is very short, the engineers have designed the car to have a 'cab forward' design where by the engine is tucked under the line of the windscreen giving the car a short bonnet length.
It does leave the room under the bonnet for the mechanics a little tight but frees up space inside. The Toyota engineers also designed sliding rear seats so if you didn't worry about leg room in the back you can slide the rear seats forward & increase boot space. If that's not enough the 60/40 split rear seats can be folded down to make the Yaris a two/three/four seater.

If that's not enough the boot floor can be removed to reveal another boot floor below, this is also carpeted & features two removable cubby boxes to increase boot space. The space saver spare wheel sits in another level below this floor. All clever stuff, so despite the cars outside dimensions being quite small there is bags of room inside. My friend is 6'4" tall & he tells me it is one of the few cars he can sit in where his head doesn't touch the roof.

The days of just having a glove box & parcel shelf to store your driving gloves & a torch are over, today we require space inside a car for mobile phones, i-pods, coins, cables, CDs, cups, bottles & so much more. Ask any busy mum with a family to carry around & they'll tell you what they use the space inside a car for.
The engineers at Toyota excelled themselves with the Yaris with 20 storage areas in this little car. There are three glove boxes, two in front of the front passenger & one in front of the driver where the dials are usually mounted with a coin holder inside. There are two large open cubby holes next to those glove boxes for tissues/dusters etc, a hinged box on the drivers side, one area on the centre console, a CD holder next to the handbrake, a sliding out drawer under the passengers seat, two seat pockets, four door pockets all with bottle holders, two hinged cup holders on the dash & one fixed holder on the centre console & two cubby boxes in the boot along with a parcel shelf. The Yaris is like a mobile Tardis on wheels.

SAFETY FEATURES

Safety features don't sell cars but if you have ever been in an accident you will appreciate that this model of Yaris was one of the first small cars to get a five star safety rating in Europe.
This model features nine air bags, two up front for the driver & passenger, two fitted to the outer sections of the front seats. Four curtain bags to protect the passenger's heads built in to all four roof pillars & a unique feature on a small car, a knee bag for the driver.
Added to this each of the five seat belts are all pre tensioned & the car also comes with anti lock brakes, brake assist & re-enforcement bars in all four doors.

THE ENVIRONMENT

Being such a small car with such a small engine the emissions readings are quite small. Latest Yaris models fall into the £35.00 a year road tax banding but the age of car is slightly higher at £125.00 a year due to its 141gCo/km reading.

SMART KEY SYSTEM

This particular model of Yaris (T-Sprit model) doesn't have a key, all you get are two plastic fobs & inside the car a starter button. At first it put me off a little as Renault has a similar system on some of their models which has proved problematic over the years. However apparently Toyota's system works well albeit it does take a little while to get used to.
To gain entry to the car you slip the key fob in your pocket, handbag or rucksack, as your hand slips behind the door handle to open the car it very quickly unlocks all the doors before you get a chance to touch the handle.
Once inside you simply press the clutch pedal to the floor & press the starter button & it fires up. To switch off, press the button again & exit the car. There is a little plastic button built into the outer door handles, just press it once & all the doors lock. Simple & smart.
If you come back from a shopping trip with loads of bags destined for the boot, simply touch the button on the boot handle & the boot & all doors unlock. You can lock the all the doors from the boot if you want by just touching the small lock button on the tailgate.
You can't lock your fob in the car as the doors won't lock until the fob is taken out of the car & if you don't close the doors or tailgate properly
it will gently buzz to let you now.
However, what if the battery in the key fob fails? Inside the key fob is an emergency key just for that purpose, you still have a conventional lock in the front doors just in case the system fails. If you don't like the idea of using this system it can be disabled & just use the two buttons on the fob for locking & unlocking the car.

THIS MODEL

The model I choose was the T-Sprit version which comes with alloy wheels, front fog lamps, tinted windows, climate control, electric front windows, smart entry system, electric mirrors & a rather good quality radio CD. The previous owner had a tailgate spoiler fitted which is an optional extra.

PREPARE FOR DRIVING

The general quality of the Yaris is very good with double sealed doors to eliminate wind & road noise & to give the doors a lovely 'thunk' when you close the doors. The lines around all the body panels are tight & even & the paintwork is free from any manufacturer defects.
Because the Yaris is quite a tall car, getting inside is very easy as you don't crouch to gain entry; this is particularly good if you have a mobility problem.
Once inside the drivers seat is quite firm & comfortable, there is a height adjuster to raise the seat & the steering wheel/column adjusts for reach & rake so getting a perfect driving position is quite easy.
However there is one problem with the Yaris that may put some people off. When you sit in the drivers seat belted in you can't see the bonnet, in fact you can't see the bonnet even when you lean forward looking for it. My 6'4" friend can't see it either from the driver's seat & that makes parking in tight spaces a guessing game.
If you look at the profile of the Yaris, the driver sits right in the middle of the vehicle with a large expanse of dash in front making the little bonnet invisible.
If there was ever a car that needed front parking sensors it's the Yaris. Having said that, reversing the car into tight spaces is easy thanks to the rear headrests that fall into the seat backrests leaving a clear view behind.

There are no dials in front of the driver line of vision, the instrument read out is centrally mounted & features a digital speedo reading, digital rev counter & digital fuel gauge. All other functions are monitored by warning lamps & Toyota supply two trip meters plus a read out for outside temperature, fuel consumption, instant fuel consumption, average speed & miles before you run out of fuel.
The read out is quite funky looking & takes about five minutes to get used to, I would go are far as to say reading your dials from the centre of the dash is less distracting than directly in front.
The radio CD plays MP3 discs & the quality of sound is first class, lower down the dash are three vertical controls for the climate control, they look complicated but work very well. Most switches for all lights & wipers are controlled by two rather chunky stalks on the steering column.

DRIVING THE CAR

Press the clutch to start the car & the first thing you notice is how refined the Yaris is when idling, it's almost silent. The little engine may only be 1300cc but it has variable valve timing usually found in bigger sporty cars & that alone gives this Yaris good performance & decent economy.
The gear change is incredibly sweet & slick, one of the best I have ever driven, at times you would question if the gear lever is actually connected to the gearbox as the change is so light.
All the pedals are ideally placed but there is no where to put your left foot, the footwell is so narrow there is no room for a foot rest so you need to place your left foot under the clutch pedal when not in use.
The power steering is electronic & a tad too light for me but you soon get used to it. As you drive off the engine gives off a lovely 'snarling' noise from the exhaust which sound quite sporty but it remains quiet unless you push it above 3000rpm when it gets a little strained. Performance is surprisingly good for such a small engine & during town & some country runs it averages about 46mpg.

However, in town with the air conditioning on & you'll see that figure drop to around 39mpg. The fuel gauge will flash close to running empty & the fuel remaining miles readout will warn you how far you have got before it runs out. The latter is a little pessimistic as when it reads zero, you still have around 4-5 litres left in the tank plus some vapour!!
The Yaris handles safely & the steering always feels positive at all speeds, my only criticism is the brakes. They are very powerful with anti lock & brake assist fitted. However, they feel just a little too sensitive & not as progressive as most other modern cars.
When you brake lightly the car almost stands on its nose, you take you foot off the brake slightly to ease the situation but end up prodding the pedal again before you stop, its like 'kangaroo braking' & takes a while to get used to.

Al in all, the little Yaris drives very smoothly, it's very refined with little or no wind noise & just a bit of tyre noise at speed from the 15" wheels.

RUNNING COSTS

Running costs should be fairly low, the lower spec 1300cc models are in group 3 for insurance but the T-Spirit is in group 4 which is still quite good. Fuel consumption is good & service costs should be low too as it only needs a service every 10.000 miles. An air filter change isn't required until 40.000 miles, spark plugs every 60.000 miles & there are no timing belts to change.

CONCLUSION

Only in time will the Yaris prove to be reliable & trustworthy but with a reputation for being one of the most reliable in its class I have no doubts that my future miles will be trouble free.
The Yaris isn't cheap compared to the Fiesta & Corsa but its residual values are rock solid. It's a lovely little car to drive & has so many 'big car' features although it probably lacks an image with some buyers.
On the basis of its running costs, the quality of construction & reputation for reliability, I would highly recommend it.

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Summary: A little car but only on the outside

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