Fun Funky Futuristic Feast (Toyota Yaris in general)

Member Name: mattdrummer_2000

Product:	Toyota Yaris in general
Date:	11/12/00 (1510 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Great value for money, useful features, good drive, economical, very attractive, very safe.

Disadvantages: Lack of power & space.

This car has been voted European Car of the Year, has recently scored better than any other car in its class in safety tests and has won critical acclaim from numerous sources, but does it live up to the hype?

A year ago my family purchased a T-reg Yaris for £8,500 , and recently I have had the pleasure of driving it (graduating from the cheap and cheerful Fiat Panda)!

Visually the Yaris is treat, certainly compared to other cars in its class. It has a very futuristic, curvy, sexy design, and the optional (extra £200) body coloured bumpers complete the look. The interior is very grey, but very curvy and in keeping with the image.

The model we have has a 950cc engine, making it very cheap to insure and very economical to run. Okay, so it's not going to win any traffic light drag races, but there is a surprising amount of acceleration at your disposal given the size of the engine, and there is certainly more than enough in reserve if you ever need it, provided you're in the right gear. A new model is being pushed at the moment with a gutsier engine if you require that extra bit of
umph.

It gives a very easy, pleasant, comfortable drive - this is undoubtedly the main reason it has won such acclaim. The power steering is light enough to make turning a breeze, but just about heavy enough to feel as though you're actually in control of a moving vehicle. My only gripes are minor ones - for me, the steering is a touch too light and the pedals are a bit flimsy, with a strangely low biting point on the clutch - but overall the car handles extremely well.

There are gadgets aplenty, particularly if you're prepared to pay extra for the satellite navigation system, minidisc changer and other such gizmos that we deemed not worth the extra cost. The stereo provided is more than adequate for most people's needs, with a cassette player with Dolby B noise reduction and auto-reverse and an FM/MW radio with numerous
presets. The name of the station you're tuned into pops up on your multi-purpose display which is a nice feature, clearly not a critical factor in deciding which car to buy, but
handy nonetheless. The same could be said of the statistics you can bring up on your display, such as average speed, current mpg, average mpg and so on. When combined with the digital speedometer, fuel gage, odometer and the like these features add to the futuristic feel of the car.

Boot space is minimal, but if you need a bit extra and are not carrying passengers it is relatively easy to get the back seats down, creating a decent amount of space, more than enough to transport a drum kit for example. It is worth pointing out here that space for back seat passengers is quite restricted if you have the front seats pushed back like I do.

As far as safety goes, there are driver and passenger airbags and you can't really argue with a car that came top of its class in impact tests.

All in all, a fun, economical, functional car that is perfect for driving around the city and can cope with long journeys adequately. If you want more power or more space look elsewhere, but compared to other cars of a similar price this is a great buy.

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