I have had my Yaris for almost two years now and I have to say, it's a pleasure to drive it. Of course, it is only my first car so I have nothing to compare it to (driving-wise) so I will try to keep this review as neutral as possible. I learnt to drive in a Peugoet 205 so I can refer back to that. The Yaris I have is a 1.3 litre, 5 door TR just for reference.

As a new driver, I was daunted by the prospect of driving around the country lanes around where I live. Being in a remote town, it only made sense for me to learn to drive so I could have that independance and the Yaris gave me this. I didn't want a large car, and I definitely did not want a powerful one. Being a safe driver, I value my life over the thrill of driving fast or whatever else. Anyway, after my first drive in it, I was gaining confidence in my own driving in the Yaris. The pedals are evenly spaced which make for an easy reach and not much pressure is required on any of them for them to work.

The gearbox is a standard one with five gears plus a reverse and it is easy to put the car into each gear, even the reverse one which I had a bit of trouble with in my instructor's 205.

The design of the car is sleek and sophisticated and the legroom in the backseats is pretty decent for a small car.

Inside the car, there are plenty of storage spaces. There is the typical glovebox, then under that is another compartment to open and close, on either side of the cd player there are also compartments. There is also one behind the steering wheel!

Function-wise, the electronic dashboard is brilliant. The miles per hour is digitalised whereas in my mum's car, it's analogue which makes it a bit harder to see if you're actually going at 29 or 30 but in the Yaris, there is no problem determining this at all. You can change what is displayed, from an option of the time, miles left in the tank (according to miles per gallon, how much petrol is left, etc) amongst others. I usually have the time there. Under the rev counter is the number of miles done in the Yaris overall and to the left of the rev counter is the petrol gauge. The only gripe I have about the display is that it is in the centre of the dashboard which means frequent glances to it if I want to make sure I keep my speed steady in built up areas but I guess with more experience, those glances will decline.

Filling the car up with petrol is also simple with a lever to the right of the driver's seat which pops the fuel door open. After you've done filling the petrol in, all you have to do is push the door back in and it's locked again.

The boot of the car is small, but the backseats can be folded down to accomodate more shopping if necessary. The 'bottom' of the boot can also be opened to make it deeper, but as yet, I've not needed to do it. The Yaris can hold a weekly shop fine without the backseats down or the bottom opened.

The only gripe I have with the car is that there is no sixth gear. I'm led to believe that the new Yaris' have this sixth gear though so this shouldn't be a problem if you acquire one of the newer Yaris' (mine was bought in October 2008 new). It is quite noisy when the speed reaches around 50 miles per hour, and with the national speed limit being 60 miles per hour, this can be quite uncomfortable. However, the sound is normally at a minimal at the other gears.

Overall, this is a brilliant car for getting from A to B, however, I don't think it is quite built for regular motorway driving with sound it makes in fifth gear as it would drive me crazy! It is nippy and changing gear is easy with the design obviously well thought out.