New Yaris First Road Test Report

[Parts-King]

Yesterday I had the pleasure of going to the dealer launch / training day for the New Yaris at Millbrook proving ground, what a great day it turned out to be!

On arrival, the security was tight, we had to hand over our invitations and be escorted to the Toyota New Yaris launch area, Talking of security, because a lot of manufacturers go there with new models, our mobile phones had a security sticker put on so you could not take any pictures There were dozens and dozens of new Yaris lined up ready for everybody to try out, including the opposition such as VW , Peugeot etc

We had our invitations checked again, driving licence and indemnity forms had to be signed and then name badges issued, next a cup of tea, well it did take 3 hours to get there, some people were hours late, the M6 had been closed and caused chaos................anyway, off to the lecture room with hundreds of others where we were shown the new TV adverts (not sure how many of you will like them, aimed at the 25-45 year old market) There was then a discussion, sort of TV chat show styled with a compare and staff from Toyota talking about the model, features, advertising spend etc. This went on for about an hour and more tea was consumed! We went back in and the car was displayed with a chance to learn all about the new aspects of the car. Time for lunch!

After lunch we were put into groups of three with an instructor too. Each of the three swapped over after having a chance to drive the car. First we took it out on the oval circuit, we could only use lanes 1,2,3 as Aston Martin and several others were there and could possibly overtake you at 130 MPH in lane 4

First Impressions

A good quality look and feel to the car, very chunky appearance, nice body lines and that "Its a Toyota" look from the front. Inside there is a lot of soft touch plastic, many of which are scratch resistant (A lot of you have commented on that in the past) The dash was very uncluttered, quite sleek, touchpoints have chrome surrounds which gives it a good classic look. The steering wheel is quite chunky and feels great to the touch

The car is now 100mm longer but the same width as current generation Yaris, the luggage space is larger, as is the entry area into the boot space. The rear seat is now fixed, and not moveable, 60/40 split, the spec book says the boot space is 286 litres. The front seats are now slimline giving the interior more space, passengers get an extra 35 mm knee room, the seats are also very supportive when cornering. There was a T Spirit model with panoramic roof, wow, that looked fantastic, plenty of light, really good looking

Driving the car

On the oval circuit the instructor had us go 80 mph and remove your hands from the steering wheel a weird feeling but the car stayed online due to the curve of the circuit, road noise was minimal, the mirrors have been moved futher out and there was no wind noise from them at all. The first one i drove was a 1.33 Multidrive S with paddle shift, so good, very lively engine, low and mid range torque improved to 125 nm. The 1.33 manual was equally as good, gearbox felt slick and smooth, not at all notchy. There is a 1.4 D4D but sadly did not have time to drive one. The car has a good turning circle, about 4.7m according to the book, half a metre shorter than the competition (apparantly)

Toyota touch and Toyota touch and go

There is a state of the art system called Toyota touch and Toyota touch and go, Toyota touch comes as standard on TR, SR and T Spirit, features include

6.1 inch full colour touch screen

Comprehensive multimedia interface

AM /FM automatic display of all radio stations available

CD/MP3 player

USB port with facility to display ipod album cover art

bluetooth that pairs with up to 5 mobiles

Trip computer too complicated to mention everything on here

Rear view parking camera with parking lines, in colour

The above is the touch, touch and go gets an additional

Europe map, 2D / 2.5D map view

Advanced bluetooth functions such as send and receive SMS

Phonebook access from navi

Phone contact picture

Connected services (through your phone) Local search and POI sent to car, apps such as Facebook, weather etc, customer web portal for map updates and POI database. You will need a compatable smartphone, data plan and tethering for some of these services

Touch and Go will be supplied FREE OF CHARGE on all grades from TR AND ABOVE from launch until November 30th 2011

I believe the new Yaris gets a 5 star Ncap rating from the NEW Ncap system, you have to have VSC on all grades to get this, it is not available on a lot of the competition

All in all it was a great day, the car handled very well and feels like a lot more punch over the previous model. I could go on for ages but really busy at the moment, I will try and answer questions, time permitting

Kingo

[Bos]

It does seem to be a better car that the present Yaris.

The one thing that I understand is that the tax group for the petrol 1.33 is now higher than the present model ( with the same size engine ). i.e. £95 instead of £30.

This seems strange given that most new car models have lower emissions than cars they replace.

[Parts-King]

Thats because emissions are now slightly higher, they have removed stop start which is quite expensive to include (apparantly), and put in a higher spec such as VSC etc

Kingo

[shcm]

our mobile phones had a security sticker put on so you could not take any pictures

If you go to some VMs development facilities as a supplier, if you have a camera phone, they will take it off you at reception and give it back when you leave. If you have to have a mobile on site, it has to be a non-camera one!!

Anyway, nice review Kingo!

[Lorna2]

Thanks for the review Kingo! It sounds like a great car, very tempting.There's only one thing I'm not keen on is that they've made the back seats 'fixed' instead of sliding - which created a lot more boot space such as would be found in a bigger car.I think the Yaris was the only car to have the sliding seat? Anyway, seems like you had a great day out! :)

[Lorna2]

I was having a look on the Toyota website at the new Yaris. There are some lovely colours available, especially Sintra Blue, Deep Aqua and Burning Red, white and black (but I already have black). Not sure about the Reims Gold, I think I would have to actually see one in that colour.

[Cyker]

Nice one Kingo!

Sounds like a good day out

What's the internal storage like? The Mk1 and Mk2 have loads of cubbies and storage. How about the seats; What other Toyota would you compare them to? Quite comfy?

I'm a bit torn; It does sound like the car is a better car (Albeit bigger!), but it seems like all of the little quirks I love about my Yaris (The sun roof, digital speedo, centre dash, masses of cubbies and storage, sliding rear seats) have been eliminated from the Mk3!

I didn't know about the rear seats being fixed so already you are providing good intel :D

The car sounds like it's a lot more 'mainstream' than the older models; I'm sure it will do well, but it seems like it's going head to head with the other mini hatchbacks rather than trying to be something a bit different.

Sounds like the performance and handling has been improved tho' which is welcome! My one flops about like a fish out of water

[Adam C]

Really wish they didn't opt away from the centre-mounted digital dash, that's one thing I love about the first two variants. Also I don't like the idea of removing the sliding rear seats. And I'm not won over by them removing stop/start from the 1.33, no more £30 road tax for ALL the Yarises anymore (ok mine's not got stop/start either but I & my dad are hoping to get a Yaris which has . . when he can be bothered & when I can get the missus driving), that now leaves . . . only the HSD cars with (in a way) stop/start in a day & age where nearly all other makes are bringing out more and more engines fitted with stop/start.

Other than that externally the new car looks good! I'm sure I'll warm to it more

[minidoughty]

there has to be something a toyota dealer didn't like about it, HONESTLY!

hardly a unbiased review.

[Cyker]

I dunno, I used to think Stop-Start was a cool idea, but I didn't realise how much more complexity it added. The fact that people were not able to instantly re-start their cars after a stall (Which I'm sure still happens to all of us occasionally, usually when you least expect it!) is a big concern of mine...

Admittedly it doesn't affect me at since, for an unrelated variety of good reasons, D4D's don't have stop-start!

But there will be a HSD Yaris at some point so no fear; I'd love to see what Kingo thinks about that! :D

I suspect the boot-space will be awful or there will be no spare wheel at all, esp. since they have gotten rid of the sliding rear seat, but if they mated the HSD with the 1.33 VVTi it'll blow the Prius out of the water in terms of mpg and still be pretty nippy!

[Parts-King]

Thanks for the review Kingo! It sounds like a great car, very tempting.There's only one thing I'm not keen on is that they've made the back seats 'fixed' instead of sliding - which created a lot more boot space such as would be found in a bigger car.I think the Yaris was the only car to have the sliding seat? Anyway, seems like you had a great day out! :)

According to Toyota, they spent a lot of time considering the sliding seat jobby, in the end, with the extra interior space and extra entrance space to the boot, the amount of difference it made was negligable, yes it was a good day, good job I avoided the M6 closure too!

Kingo

[Parts-King]

What's the internal storage like? The Mk1 and Mk2 have loads of cubbies and storage. How about the seats; What other Toyota would you compare them to? Quite comfy?

I only spent about an hour in the car, mainly driving it and swapping into the opposition, gawd the Peugeot was truely awful! I noticed there was only one glove box, the dash is quite flat, we have one being PDI'd here today so I take another look at storage later

Minidoughty

there has to be something a toyota dealer didn't like about it, HONESTLY!

hardly a unbiased review.

The car drove really well and handled well, It wasnt supposed to be a "What Car" style unbiased view (is there such a thing these days?) It was a first impression road test. To be honest there was not a lot I DIDNT like, I'm unsure about some of the colours, thats personal, lots of people loved the new blue, I didnt, but as for driving the car (and the opposition) it was very sharp, punchy and felt like a lot of thought had gone into it. One thing of note is that you can shift up to 6th gear and cruise at 40 MPH without any problem at all, all good for the MPG

You also have to remember that Toyota are aiming the New Yaris at a younger audience, hence the Touch and go system and it's chunky appearance. The typical age of a current Yaris owner is considerably higher than the new model target, it is aimed at the 25-45 year old (but just coz you is an older duffer we wont hold it against anyone innit) :D: It was my road test and I am no journalist. They will be in your dealers in the next few days, pop in and take a look

Kingo

[Parts-King]

But there will be a HSD Yaris at some point so no fear; I'd love to see what Kingo thinks about that! :D

Lots of good stuff on the horizon, there really is, just hope I get my name on the FT86 launch Bet I don't

Kingo

[Parts-King]

Some pictures for info

[Cyker]

But there will be a HSD Yaris at some point so no fear; I'd love to see what Kingo thinks about that! :D

Lots of good stuff on the horizon, there really is, just hope I get my name on the FT86 launch Bet I don't

Kingo

We could start a petition...

[Red Yaris 54]

Some pictures for info

Interesting to see that on the 6.1inch screen the pushbutton controls and CD eject button/ telephone select button positions have been reversed from those on the Verso S....which shares the same system

I also note that the Yaris promises coloured guide lines on the reversing camera

[stantheman1]

That's the first 61 plate I've seen this year lol! I take it you had trade plates on when you took it out?

But seriously though the dash looks a little spubik and unclutted, where are all the switches, I love lots of buttons to play with lol! Also not very keen on the centre consol, it finishes too high for my liking, but I do like the sound of the soft plasics.

[minidoughty]

dash looks terrible, (also the doors) straight very plastic looking, almost 80/90's design. also the mix of rectangular conventional vents in the middle and round modern vents at the side.

big plus on the seats and steering wheel though, they actually look like they will hold the driver in! (rather than sat on top like the old seats) nice red trim too!

and the fancy big wheels look silly with the car not lowered.

[Parts-King]

I take it you had trade plates on when you took it out?

Nope, no trade plates, it was at Millbrook proving ground, a private circuit with it's own track and "Alpine" road system, so no need for plates

Interestingly, there were lots of models there being tested, all with camouflage, wrapped in plastic with lumps and bumps so you cannot tell what they are. One of the instructors said that McLaren had been testing there a few days earlier, their cars kept blowing the back window out at 130 mph plus

Red Yaris 54

Yes it does have coloured guide lines for reverse, I hadnt noticed the reversed buttons though

Minidoughty

Whilst this car is not lowered, the new range are lower than the current generation model

Kingo

[corollaboyzz]

What happened to the Daytime running lights?

[Lorna2]

Not keen on the mix of square and round vents, I prefer the round ones. Also there should have been a storage area in the passageners side of the dash as there is in the current Yaris, there is room for it in the new one so I can't see why they didn't include it.

Do like the design of the seats and the red stitching throughout, and the chunky steering wheel

I've changed my mind about the mix of square and round vents. I got the new Yaris brochure and it actually really suits the car and looks good.

Edited August 22, 2011 by Lorna2

[Parts-King]

Kingo

[Parts-King]

What happened to the Daytime running lights?

From the FAQ section of TGB website

Does this model have daytime running lights?

The Yaris doesn't have daytime running lights, but this will be available as an accessory in late 2011.

Kingo

[Parts-King]

How the Yaris is built / quality control

Kingo

[Parts-King]

New Yaris supplier commitment to quality

Kingo