Economy cars have become all the rage (thanks, high gas prices and interminable recession). So automakers have had to step up their game in this segment. The latest to do so is Toyota, which debuted its little Yaris in 2007.
The Yaris started off well enough, but as the segment became more popular, its plain looks and econobox feel made it a sales laggard in the category.
For 2012, Yaris gets a delightful makeover that restores its luster, giving it good looks and better driving quality.
The Yaris retains its 1.5-liter four-cylinder engine that makes a gutsy little 106 horsepower.
The sedan version of the Yaris previously offered is a goner; now you get either a two- or four-door hatchback. There are three trim levels: L, LE and SE.
The base L has pretty much everything that we take for granted on a car (remember that Nissan Versa from a few years back that had no radio?). But it does have crank windows. Step up to the LE and you get power windows and some other stuff that is optional on some higher end cars.
The SE has a few more bells and whistles but still cloth seats, although a higher grade of cloth.
Cruise control is Yaris's only option, and you can get it on the LE. Fuel economy is estimated at 30 mpg city, 38 highway with the manual transmission. The automatic's numbers are 30 and 35.
The Yaris is pretty comfortable for such a small car, with good leg room for the front seat passengers and not-so-bad leg room in the rear.
The interior design is fairly nice looking, too - certainly a big step up from the past.
Toyota says luggage space is 15.6 cubic feet behind the back seats, which is reasonable, but perhaps a bit less than some of its economy car competitors.
The best improvement is probably on the exterior appearance. The Yaris now has a sleeker look, with more dramatic lines, giving the appearance that this time, the design engineers didn't just grab a leftover box of copy paper from the office to use for inspiration.
The Yaris has taken a bit of a bump up in price, but now offers more standard features.
The test drive model, an SE, carried a sticker price of $18,234.
No longer a modest little econobox, the Yaris is now fully prepared to strut its stuff in the subcompact category.
Comments