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Review: 2009 Toyota Yaris 5-door, less appealing when gas is cheap again
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The Toyota Yaris 5-door is fuel-efficient but costs too much for what it is.
Just in time for gas prices to slip back below $2 per gallon, Toyota has expanded its already extensive line of economy cars to include a 5-door version of its Yaris.
They’d already had two versions of the Yaris – a sedan and a 3-door hatchback – plus the Corolla, Matrix, and Prius. Toyota dealerships also sell three more compact cars under the Scion brand. Is there room in this crowded lineup for this latest Yaris?
Yes.
European and Asian markets, where both space and gas are hard to come by, have long embraced the combination of economy and versatility of the small hatchback. Essentially, the 5-door Yaris is formed by lopping the trunk off the sedan, leading to a lighter weight and much shorter length, while making up for the lost space with the added versatility of a tall cargo hold. It is hard to criticize the addition of another subcompact 5-door to the American market.
The Yaris is Toyota’s least expensive product, and after the pricey Prius and Camry hybrids, its most fuel-efficient. This car certainly earns a place in the Toyota showroom for its relative gas mileage, price, and practicality.
But Toyota isn’t the only company selling economy cars. The Yaris needs to outdo a wide variety of competitors to justify its existence. Does it do that?
It depends on what you’re looking for, and even in the best case it doesn’t necessarily wow.
The Yaris’s greatest asset is clearly its gas mileage. It’s rated by the EPA at 29 miles per gallon in the city and 35 on the highway with the standard automatic transmission. These figures put the Yaris on the list of the ten most fuel-efficient new cars, and along with the pint-size two-seat Smart ForTwo it’s the only one that runs only on regular gasoline. (Strangely, the 5-door does not offer the manual transmission found in other Yaris versions, rare for an economy car. The manual lowers cost and fuel consumption and improves acceleration in other Yarises.)
But gas is back to being cheap, and the difference in fuel usage between two fuel-efficient cars tends to be small. So what else does the Yaris do?
The interior is roomy for passengers, at least. Four adults will fit comfortably on high, flat seats. The ride is also smooth for such a small car, and tight exterior dimensions and turning radius make for easy parking.
But the engine is one of the smallest in any current car, 1.5 liters and 106 horsepower. The Yaris is light enough that it can move quickly enough from a stop even with such a small engine, but it’s noisy and sounds strained at higher speeds, and is bound to run into problems if asked to shuttle four adults and their cargo.
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Fortunately, at least from the powertrain standpoint, there won’t be much cargo. The hatchback bodystyle allows for good versatility in dealing with bulky items, but there isn’t a huge amount of space. There’s just a few inches of floor behind the rear seat, for a total measured capacity of 9.3 cubic feet. The rear seat adjusts fore-aft to let you choose between leg room and cargo room, but it leaves a well between the cargo floor and seatback when slid forward. The seat folds to offer 25.7 cubic feet total, which does not compare favorably to many competitors.But the Yaris’s bigger problem is that it feels like a very cheap car when it really isn’t especially inexpensive. Interior plastics and fabrics feel downscale. The engine is buzzy. Some may be put off by the speedometer that’s mounted at the center of the dash instead of behind the steering wheel.
And in general, the Yaris doesn’t offer any frills either in its available features or its engineering; the brochure advertises the comfort of the center armrest (optional), the rear seat adjusts fore-aft but doesn’t lie flat when folded, and there is nothing sophisticated about the way the car drives.
The Honda Fit was criticized in an earlier review here for not feeling like a very expensive car even at its relatively high price, which is within $20 of a comparably-equipped Yaris’s according to pricing site TrueDelta.com. And the Yaris is a step down from the Fit in many areas, though it does get better gas mileage, ride more comfortably, and cost less if you can forego such niceties as power windows and locks.
In general, the Yaris isn’t the downright unpleasant car that some have described it as. But as tested here, it ran a sticker of over $16,000 without even stepping up from the base to “S” version. For that price, you can get a nicer subcompact 5-door, like the Honda Fit, or a larger, more substantial car like the Nissan Versa or Hyundai Elantra. Within the Toyota Yaris line, the 5-door makes sense for its versatility and value. It seats four adults and gets great gas mileage. But other cars do the same, and do it while feeling less yet costing more like cheap cars.
So unless maximum gas mileage for the money trumps all other concerns, can you likely find something better than the Yaris?
Yes.
Vehicle tested: 2009 Toyota Yaris base 5-door liftback
Vehicle base price: $13,305
Vehicle price as tested: $16,345
Test vehicle provided by: Toyota of Waldorf of Waldorf, Md.
For more info:
http://www.toyota.com/yaris/index.html
http://www.toyota.com/yaris/index.html
Photos by Brady Holt.
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