Yaris 24
It’s hard to believe that the Toyota Yaris is 25 years old. When lists are compiled, you don’t often see the Yaris in the list and yet, here it is, 25 years old and STILL doing what it was set out to do.
What it does is stay true to form. It is a small economical hatchback from Japan. When launched, it was a small economical hatchback. Except back then it was available in 3 and 5 doors. Now it’s just 5 doors in most guises.
I caught up with Toyota’s PR team in their temporary press garage as they launched the new MY24 model in GR Sport and Premium Edition.
Not the top sellers, the GR Sport and Premium make up only a small percentage of sales. The £26,500 mid-range Excell is the big seller taking 50% of Yaris sales. This puzzles me in some ways. With prices ranging from £22,630 for the Icon to £28,925 for the Premium, it isn’t that much of a jump and as I discovered annoyingly late in the day, the Premium is where I’d put my money.
The CVT Without The Last Word
The main difference is you are paying more for the lively 129bhp engine mated to the 96kW electric motor. And this makes for a pleasant mix. I roll my eyes when I see CVT gearboxes used. I have a loathing for them. My Honda has one. It also has 100bhp and VTEC. Not that you’d know with a CVT box screaming away power and fun.
Well, bugger me in Burnley! You can say goodbye to the CVT scream. It would appear that someone at Toyota has managed to understand how ruddy awful they are. An engineer has been employed to correct this issue.
Add this to the new permanent magnet, synchronous MG2 electric motor/generator and it does work. I scribbled down “?? snappy acceleration” following David Rodgers’s presentation of the car to the media. I was already getting set to return to Toyota camp with harsh words and rolling of eyes but I couldn’t. It all worked so well. It was indeed snappy and quick off the mark. 0-60 in 9.8 seconds isn’t supercar territory but fast enough for a good all-round daily one-car family.
Achievements and Disappointments
As for the 60mpg you can achieve, it must be said that when given the challenge to better the stated fuel economy, most motoring hacks try their best to ruin it. That I did. Over a run of almost 3 hours and 64 miles, I managed to get it down to 43.1. There was a moment when I noticed it heading into the 50’s so a few naughty blasts managed to knock that on the head. So there is a good chance that you will see 60 to the gallon if you aren’t a pillock.
When the 2 available cars were e-mailed across, I jumped in quickly to bag the Sport and after lunch, I can tell you, I was disappointed in myself.
Not that there is anything wrong with the GR Sport. Both it and the Premium use the same 129bhp. It’s just that, the Premium feels not just a little bit better but a whole lot better. Perhaps age is creeping up on me and the thought of comfort over sport is losing its appeal, but I couldn’t see the GR Sport doing anything that the Premium couldn’t better.
Awkward Hands
It wasn’t all nice and lovely. Ergonomics or my awkward right hand would often open the N/S rear window when I went to adjust the door mirrors. That said, here is a small car with rear door windows that lower. And the seat back adjustment is awkward. The turn knob gets covered up by the seatbelt. Not a problem with familiarity, but still awkward until familiarity sets in, almost entirely lost.
One thing you do notice with cars becoming quieter is road noise. A lot of cars I drive suffer from noisy rear ends. I’m sad in that I base all-new test cars against my 24-year-old Citroën Berlingo and I can say with authority, that the Premium was notably quieter than the GR Sport. Still not quiet enough though.
That all said, one thing you do notice very quickly is how large the insides are. This especially applies to the rear seat. I was able to sit quite comfortably behind myself. There aren’t too many small cars out there that could boast this. 25 years ago Toyota boasted about the interior space of the Yaris. It’s nice to see it is still a consideration they apply to such a small package.
On My Drive?
I often ask myself with any press car I have if I could replace one of the Birdy Fleet of Broken Dreams with TEST CAR. I rarely print this because it seems and feels a bit pointless to write it. As a reader, you probably couldn’t give two shits if I would buy one or not. But I could justify replacing the Honda with a Yaris Premium Edition. It was a hoot to drive, the CVT gearbox was better than I had expected and the boot shuts are a thing of visual pleasure.
Put it this way, if this little car continues to be as good as it was at the start 25 years ago, I’m sure the Yaris will be around in another 25 years.