Weekend Drive
Yaris is cute, but Toyota's skimping isn't Dan Neil / Los Angeles Times
Toyota Motor Corp. is the colossus of roads. It is, or soon will be, the largest car company in the world. Its worldwide sales are up year after year, as are its profits, as are its stock prices. In the U.S., the world's largest car market, Toyota's sales rose 12.5 percent in 2006, grabbing even more market share from the oxygen-starved domestics. To meet the demand, the company is putting down factories and expanding facilities in this country like it was playing automotive Monopoly.
The company builds Lexus, the best-selling luxury brand in the U.S. It builds the Prius, the hybrid shuttlecraft with more green cachet than macrobiotic tofu. It created Scion, which in three years went from a Scrabble word to the last word in Gen-Y branding.
So is this the company that can do no wrong? Not really.
I give you the Toyota Yaris, a surprisingly routine and summarily undelightful B-class subcompact that feels as mailed-in as if it had a stamp on it. Cute? Sure, in an entomological way, i.e., it kind of looks like a bug you would pin to a corkboard.
Cheap? Oh yes, to a fault. The $11,530 MSRP (with delivery) can't make room for things like a radio/CD/MP3, anti-lock brakes, rear-window wiper or rear fogger, or split-folding rear seat. Our test car had another $3,210 of options: alloy wheels, power windows and doors, four-speaker audio with CD/MP3 player, ABS, front side-air bags, side curtain air bags. But up against other recent B-class urban runabouts -- the Honda Fit, the Nissan Versa -- the Yaris is less car for more money. And tinny. Compared with the sealed and muffled character of the Honda Fit, this thing's got more ring-a-ding than Frank Sinatra at Caesars Palace.
Well duh! The Yaris is "cheap." Its Toyota's lowest priced car, obviously Toyota is going to "skimp" because of its price/class point for the NA version, although I know the Canadian ones are more equiped, besides small cars aren't as popular in the U.S, I highly doubt an Average American will pay 20k for a Yaris when they can get a bigger car for that money even if they have similar features. It's suppose to be a affordable car sure the competition may offer more bang for your buck but that's relative to whom you talk to (referring to Yaris owners). I test drove both the Yaris hatch and sedan and both are competent vechicals for their class. If you want cheap go with the ECHO at least N/A version...oh wait I have it Its a nice car but its cheap, no offense to my fellow ECHO owners, BTW I own the sedan version 2-door. If you want Toyota reliability and "non-cheap" and bang for your buck go with Scion, they are a good value regardless if you like them or not.
But I digress...
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Cheap? Oh yes, to a fault. The $11,530 MSRP (with delivery) can't make room for things like a radio/CD/MP3, anti-lock brakes, rear-window wiper or rear fogger, or split-folding rear seat. Our test car had another $3,210 of options: alloy wheels, power windows and doors, four-speaker audio with CD/MP3 player, ABS, front side-air bags, side curtain air bags. But up against other recent B-class urban runabouts -- the Honda Fit, the Nissan Versa -- the Yaris is less car for more money.
Standard Toyota sales practice. Perfect for consumer who wants the absolute base bargain, or for enthusiasts who wants to customize it their own ways. Great base for a track-day car as well.
Naysayers can always opt for the Fit or Versa, which are great value for money.
I'm still amazed at how much Toyota has managed to pull out of the Yaris for the US marked.
ABS is an option? Is the thing even delivered with wheels?
I wonder how much of the insulation that has been removed as well since he can call it "tinny". The Yarises I have driven have been anything but tinny.
The suspension is even detuned so that he can say the ancient Honda Jazz (Fit) drives better? Granted. The Jazz was a mini MPV that drove well, but that was 6 years ago!
And since when did the C-class (Corolla size) Versa become a B-class car?
It is worth noticing that the competition in Europe is extremely tough and that the German car magazine likes German car makers like Volkswagen and Opel. But even that and the fact that the Opel Corsa is brand new wasn't enough to take away the victory from Yaris.
Standard Toyota sales practice. Perfect for consumer who wants the absolute base bargain, or for enthusiasts who wants to customize it their own ways. Great base for a track-day car as well.
And since when did the C-class (Corolla size) Versa become a B-class car?
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Yeah, you're right the Versa is classified and consider a C-class car, even the EPA says its a compact not a sub-compact, but Nissan is marketing it as a B-class car cause this is America land of the oversized and waste (generally). So obviously Nissan is going to have the most powerful and biggest car in the B-segment for the U.S., duh Nissan its a C-class car. Its like marketing the Camry as a Corolla sized car or segment. The Versa doesn't get that great of mileage, but I digress.
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U.S. media is a systematic censorship on free speech. They don't like what they hear they don't report. Don't want to upset the political and advertising sponsors. Its so corrupted. While they don't have to agree with certain views, its their job to report and let US decide.
It's not like the Fit didn't cut corners like.. where the hell is the plastic dead pedal lol. But the Fit is ridiculously flexible for the size of the car and it's damn spacious.
I do agree with the cheaper plastic used on the Yaris, in particular the lids for the gloveboxes, but it is a Yaris. If I wanted better plastics, I'd get a Corolla. Plus, you tell me what you got in a Tercel for the same price.
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It's not like the Fit didn't cut corners like.. where the hell is the plastic dead pedal lol. But the Fit is ridiculously flexible for the size of the car and it's damn spacious.
I do agree with the cheaper plastic used on the Yaris, in particular the lids for the gloveboxes, but it is a Yaris. If I wanted better plastics, I'd get a Corolla. Plus, you tell me what you got in a Tercel for the same price.
HAHAHA,
Tidland I thought you were talking about the Corvette with its cheap interior. But hey, its only a 40 grand car.
I'm amazed that they don't bash on the Chevy Aveo, which is a Daewoo in Korea. I'm pretty sure the Yaris and the Aveo have similar materials and price.
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I stumbled upon a brand new Yaris S sedan in my school's parking lot, and i thot it looked quite good, and it wasn't as small as i had thought it would be. The seats look terribly plain/unsupportive, but the rest of the stuff looked pretty good for a car of that price.
I see some people here saying that ABS and side airbags should be a standard. Some people don't want ABS and/or airbags, at least they have a choice.
The statement about other cars of the same class giving more bang for the buck is too subjective to even be debated. You can compare car classes, but would i buy a FIT if i were looking for a sedan? Or perhaps they were comparing the coupe hatch yaris to the 5 door fit and versa...which is a bit skewed too.
EIther way the cheapest vehicle offered by any manufacturer will definately have flaws and things left out. A few years down the road, even these cheap cars will have many standard safety and accident prevention devices, but until then i'd definately appreciate the choice to buy a car that lacks some safety features that i have found to be problematic. By problematic i mean, system failures/malfunctions as well as activating when not needed possibly CAUSING an accident instead of preventing it (i use electronic brake assist as an example).
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Crapmry
I'm pretty sure the Yaris and the Aveo have similar materials and price.
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