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As far as small cars go the Toyota Yaris takes some beating, it make lack an image or street credibility of the new Mini or Fiat 500 & it's not a household name like the Ford Fiesta but it still has a lot going for it.
Toyota is Japan's biggest company & the world's second largest car ... Read review
...as small cars go the Toyota Yaris takes some beating, it make lack an image or street credibility of the new Mini or Fiat 500 & it's not a household name like the Ford Fiesta but it still has a lot going for it.
Toyota is Japan's biggest company & the world's second largest car manufacturer. They make multi billion pound profits similar to our oil & energy companies in the UK. Toyota originally made industrial textile machines & still ... ...per man per year.
Toyota own Lexus, Daihatsu, Subaru & Hino trucks, in the motor industry they are used as the benchmark & in America all companies are persuaded to run their businesses the 'Toyota way'.
The Yaris was introduced in 1999 & instantly won the car of the year award; it took levels of refinement normally seen in large cars to a small car. This new model was introduced a coupe of years ago & has raised the stakes ... more
If ever there was a time when the argument for buying a small car is strong, it is now. With fuel costs escalating out of control & the credit crunch biting more & more people are downsizing to smaller cars as they make more economic sense.
When I used to work at a busy car dealership I drove more than my fair share of small cars & even owned a couple myself. In those days small cars were sparsely equipped, cramped, unrefined & their safety features weren't that good. However, times have changed & market forces have encouraged manufactures to build small cars of a much higher standard. Today most small cars are well equipped, just as good as much larger ones; they make better use of space, are much more refined, have fantastic safety records & are environmentally friendly.
As far as small cars go the Toyota Yaris takes some beating, it make lack an image or street credibility of the new Mini or Fiat 500 & it's not a household name like the Ford Fiesta but it still has a lot going for it.
Toyota is Japan's biggest company & the world's second largest car manufacturer. They make multi billion pound profits similar to our oil & energy companies in the UK. Toyota originally made industrial textile machines & still produces sewing machines for industrial & domestic use. They started building cars in the 1930s & have since become a global player. They produce the worlds largest number of environmentally friendly hybrid cars, their technology is five years ahead of their nearest competitor (Honda & Nissan) & they reckon they are seven years ahead of the Europeans & Americans.
They produce the most reliable cars in the world & although they produce cars worldwide, their factory in Japan is the most efficient. It produces the equivalent of 120 cars per employee per year; just before the Rover factory in England closed it managed 59 cars per man per year. Toyota own Lexus, Daihatsu, Subaru & Hino trucks, in the motor industry they are used as the benchmark & in America all companies are persuaded to run their businesses the 'Toyota way'.
The Yaris was introduced in 1999 & instantly won the car of the year award; it took levels of refinement normally seen in large cars to a small car. This new model was introduced a coupe of years ago & has raised the stakes even higher. A Toyota Yaris 1300 was my transport for four recent days & I was left very impressed.
Sitting only a mere 375cm long, 169cm wide & 153cm high, the Yaris has a large passenger's area due to cramming the engine into a small area at the front. Sitting inside the car for the first time you quickly realise how much room there actually is despite its short length. Due to the body being quite wide & high there is ample leg room, shoulder room & head room. Very cleverly they have mounted the rear seat on runners, if you need more leg room in the back & are not too worried about boot space you just slide the complete seat back. If you need more boot space just slide it forward again, the rear seats also fold down individually to increase boot space even more. It's such a pity that Japan's best car engineers could have designed a better rear parcel shelf. It needs to be flexible with the rear seat sliding forward & back. However, it looked flimsy & cheap; surely Toyota could have done better.
The finish inside is excellent; they have used materials normally found on luxury cars such as BMW, Audi & Mercedes. The soft feel plastics not only look good but give a quality feel to the cabin. As you can see with the attached pictures the instrument cluster is mounted centrally, there are no dials in front of the steering wheel. Don't be alarmed, the arrangement is very cleverly designed. At first it looks like you are looking down a long black hole but when you switch on the ignition it all lights up brilliantly. It is a digital read out that is one of the best I have seen, clear & precise, it is not a distraction when driving. Other controls are mounted centrally on the dash such as the vertical heater & air conditioning controls, radio CD & minor switches. Al the switchgear has a positive well made feel to it, what you would expect in a more expensive car. The seats are comfortable & you sit quite high on the driver's seat getting a commanding view of the road. It is very easy to get a comfortable driving position. Inside I counted 15 cubby holes for storing odds & ends, this included two glove boxes & two excellent hinged drawers/bottle holders at the ends of the dash which would store keys, coins, mobile phones or even small bottles. There were ample cup holders too.
Safety wise the Yaris has a five star Euro NCAP record, there are numerous air bags & pre tensioned seat belts for protection. This particular model only had the basic amount of air bags but I believe other versions have considerably more including side impact bags, curtain bags & even a knee bag.
The equipment levels are quite good in this particular model; it had air conditioning, fantastic quality radio/CD, electric mirrors, electric front windows & central locking. Outside it featured reverse sensors but surprisingly no alloy wheels.
Once you start the car up the first thing you notice is how refined & quiet it is, what you would expect from a more expensive car. The clutch pedal is smooth & light; the cable operated gear change is slick & precise so driving the Yaris becomes a very stress free experience. The power steering feels just right, the brakes are excellent, it rides quite smoothly considering its short wheelbase & it handles rather well. Performance from the little 1300cc engine was more than adequate only running 'out of puff' on steep hills, on a motorway it would keep up with fast moving traffic without any problems. I didn't calculate fuel consumption but you wouldn't fall short of the manufacturers' figure of 47.1 mpg.
The exterior paintwork finish was 100%, the gaps around all the panels, doors & tailgate were even & consistent.
Obviously four days of driving will never record a ownership experience of this little car but with a reputation for utter reliability, low insurance, good fuel consumption & low emissions which leads to low road tax, this little gem wouldn't cost much to look after. Toyota dealers in general have a good reputation for looking after their customers.
After four days I must admit this little car impressed me & few cars do that. It is one of the most complete cars I have driven in a long time & with or without an image or street cred it is highly recommend.
Basic specifications Engine size 1300cc Fuel injected Max speed 106mph 0-62mph 11.5 seconds Fuel consumption combined 47.1mpg Brakes Discs & Drums, ABS standard Co g/km 141g Insurance group 3
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 ... ...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 ...
KatiePuckrik 02.03.2005
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Ciao members have rated this car review on average: very helpful Review of Toyota Yaris 1.3 VVT-i
Advantages: Power steering, hidey holes, compact, fuel consumption. Disadvantages: Drives terribly, terrible to reverse
...to be a 1.3 automatic Toyota Yaris. It had been a long time since I had driven an automatic and I had always liked the look of the Toyota. Unfortunately, the Yaris is one of the worst new cars I have ever driven. To be fair, let us start with the good things. It looks the part in jet black and it is certainly one of the prettier compact hatchbacks available. Also, despite appearing very small, the adverts are true. It is very roomy for driver and ... ...get right on my wick. Toyota have plumped for a digital, three-dimensional holographic system but it is also set back miles into the dash creating a weird experience were it feels like you are looking at a reflection of the speedometer. Kind of like one of them clocks that reflect the time of the ceiling. Might just be me but it makes me very disorientated. The idea behind it is that it is set back so far you can see it while looking at the road. ...
Shortsharpshock 20.08.2009
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Ciao members have rated this car review on average: very helpful Review of Toyota Yaris 1.3 VVT-i
...Annual Milage: Low/Average ===Introduction=== The Toyota Yaris is one of Britain's top selling small cars. The reason for this is self evident when you climb into one for the first time. The car is quite tall and you get a very commanding view of the road from your elevated position. The Yaris has a digital dash board which is positioned in the centre. This is quite strange at first but you do get used to it. The novelty of driving has long since ... ...(06/04/2009) I still have the Toyota Yaris. It has been reliable generally but when it went for a service Toyota discovered that one of the alloy wheels was buckled this cost me approximately £300.00 to replace. This was the cars first MOT - the question is how, why and when was it buckled? This was not a welcome surprise. Another problem I have had with the car is that it has twice lost all battery power. This happened in a hospital car park and ...
wholefruit 09.01.2008 (06.04.2009)
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Ciao members have rated this car review on average: very helpful Review of Toyota Yaris 1.3 VVT-i
Advantages: Well equipped, manouverable, economical, fun & cool Disadvantages: lacks power at top end
...short of 10,000.
The Toyota dealer (Pentagon) was helpful and the full service price was £96, which included oil and filter change, screenwash fluid, and they washed the car and vacumed it, all in three hours.
10,000 miles, brakes only 15% worn, tyres similar. I have not had a single problem with this car and it has grown on me immenesly, I just love it.
One year on and no issues with the paintwork, no gremlins at all. The longest drive I have ... ...(London and back) and it was plenty comfortable enough.
I bought this car as a replacement to a gas guzzling 2.5 litre car that I owned. Mainly for envioronmental reasons, but also economical reasons.
It is great around town, very nippy ,and on distance drives, comfortable, good seating position and plenty of gadgets that most smaller cars dont have, nine airbags, air con, six speaker music system, ABS, EBA, leather gearknob and steering wheel, ...
paulhanton 18.01.2007 (01.08.2007)
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Ciao members have rated this car review on average: helpful Review of Toyota Yaris 1.3 VVT-i
Advantages: Good fuel economy Disadvantages: cost of repairs
...checked the price(only available fron Toyota garage) £160+
and decided to leave it, after all I'd been driving for 34 years and never lost a key.(Hmm)
I won't bore you with the details of how I lost the key but I did.
Not having any keys at all meant that the Toyota Garage had to replace all the door locks, steering lock/ignition switch and worst of all the main computer, a grand total of........
£1300.and it took over a week to do.
In total ... ...think your safe being a member of the RAC either, they won't come out to lost keys, they will try and get you a locksmith if they can at you expense, or an independant contractor at you expense, it cost me £150 to get transported 3 miles)
So be warned, always make sure you have a spare key or like me you'll find out the costly way.
Would I buy another Yaris 1.3 CDX, definitely. ...
Rayjac 19.03.2007
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Ciao members have rated this car review on average: helpful Review of Toyota Yaris 1.3 VVT-i
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Back in 2006 I had left a Review on the old toyotayaris T-spirit 1.0. What can I say??? I have now upgraded to the new model and it's even better than the old one. At first I wasn't too conviced by the different shape but soon grew to love it. I call it my bubble now.
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Yaris Verso delivers functionality and value for money in equal measures. Unfortunately, it looks like the hatchback of Notre Dame. Shame, because it's good to drive, surprisingly economical to run and should prove utterly dependable. As a tall mini-MPV it packs as much flexible load space as possible into a small car. The down side is an appearance that turns anyone who looks at it to stone.
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I bought my Toyotayaris1.3vvt-i in April of last year so have been forming my opinion since.
Importantly this opinion is a most positive one.
I had always rather fancied a Yaris, something about the little japanese cars that appealed. So not being overly flush I invested in an eclipse black used Yaris (2002 reg) for the princely sum of £5900, you would pay less if you bought privately but I preferred to get it as an 'approved used' just in case.
Now as with any car the spec. can vary slightly but mine came with:-
Alloy wheels - not essential but nice to look at all the same!
Airbags (driver and passenger plus side - though I shall hope not to test them), incidentally yaris are often voted as one of the safest cars in which? tests and so forth and have won european car of the year.
ABS - Braking system that will ...
al1892 27.01.2007 (07.02.2007)
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Ciao members have rated this car review on average: very helpful Review of Toyota Yaris 1.3
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