Yaris Cross Owner's Opinions

[Primus1]

I never twist round  when reversing, using the mirrors and reverse cameras, this comes from 30 years of driving vans where you could only use the mirror’s on each door, no interior mirror or reverse camera..

[Cyker]

24 minutes ago, Bper said:

I understand the structural side of pillars but you would have thought with the design and technology availability Toyota would have cracked this year's ago. Had a couple of cars that the A pillars caused a blind spot but I suppose you get used to the car after a while and probably ignore the problem and adjust your postion when needed.🤔

Yeah, while I like the fact that, if I were in a collision my little indestructible box would most likely save me from serious harm, I'd also like to have sufficient vision and spacial awareness to not be in a collision in the first place!

I really would have loved to have their invisible pillar tech on the Mk4...!

At the moment I drive like a pigeon, ducking my head back and forth to look around the A-Pillars, as I've had too many instances where they concealed a pedestrian crossing or oncoming vehicle that I only just caught at the last moment!  

 

 

17 minutes ago, Primus1 said:

I never twist round  when reversing, using the mirrors and reverse cameras, this comes from 30 years of driving vans where you could only use the mirror’s on each door, no interior mirror or reverse camera..

I never understood how van drivers can do reverse manoeuvres with so little vision; I often see them park with inch-perfect precision which is super impressive since they can't see! (I just wish they were as accurate when on the road  )

Personally I find it much more intuitive to look out the back when reversing, as the reversal of the mirrors and the distortion of the fisheye camera throws me off. In my Mk1 I once got stuck with a lorry coming the opposite way on a narrow country road - Obviously he wasn't going to move, and rather than try and squeeze past and put more scratches into my door I instead did an fairly epic reverse all the way back through a slightly twisty road to the last passing point, and did so at a fair clip with relative ease!

I miss being able to do that but it just isn't safe in the Mk4 due to the lack of rear vision and I haven't figured out how van drivers do it yet!!  

 

[Bernard Foy]

42 minutes ago, Cyker said:

Yeah, while I like the fact that, if I were in a collision my little indestructible box would most likely save me from serious harm, I'd also like to have sufficient vision and spacial awareness to not be in a collision in the first place!

I really would have loved to have their invisible pillar tech on the Mk4...!

At the moment I drive like a pigeon, ducking my head back and forth to look around the A-Pillars, as I've had too many instances where they concealed a pedestrian crossing or oncoming vehicle that I only just caught at the last moment!  

 

 

I never understood how van drivers can do reverse manoeuvres with so little vision; I often see them park with inch-perfect precision which is super impressive since they can't see! (I just wish they were as accurate when on the road  )

Personally I find it much more intuitive to look out the back when reversing, as the reversal of the mirrors and the distortion of the fisheye camera throws me off. In my Mk1 I once got stuck with a lorry coming the opposite way on a narrow country road - Obviously he wasn't going to move, and rather than try and squeeze past and put more scratches into my door I instead did an fairly epic reverse all the way back through a slightly twisty road to the last passing point, and did so at a fair clip with relative ease!

I miss being able to do that but it just isn't safe in the Mk4 due to the lack of rear vision and I haven't figured out how van drivers do it yet!!  

 

Yep that A pillar has caught me out a couple of times when I wasn’t paying attention. Luckily no accident occurred more due to the other driver’s vigilance than my ill-attention.😡

[Primus1]

Well I only ever had two accidents whilst I was driving a van, in both instances I was ran into from behind, I’ve driven all sorts of vans from Peugeot, vivaros, transits, all sorts during my thirty year career as a service engineer, and yes, I could park in the tightest of spaces..

[anchorman]

11 hours ago, Cyker said:

Maybe compared to an SUV, but having come from a Mk1 and Mk2, I can definitively say they are massive; In the Mk1 and Mk2 you can perform reverse manoeuvres very easily just by looking backwards and using the Eyeball Mk1, but it's almost impossible to do safely in the Mk4 because 90% of your rear vision is blind spots caused by the B and C pillars and small rear window. You can see directly behind you but that's it. The C-pillars in particular restrict the view considerably to a very narrow field of view.

I find I *have* to use the wing mirrors and reverse camera to do any sort of reverse manoeuvre safely.

This is the first car I've owned where I can't just twist round to look out the back and e.g. just reverse down the road and round a corner or something in one brisk motion; In the Mk4 I have to creep very slowly backwards, riding the brake, while alternating between checking the mirrors and reverse cam because I just don't have a wide enough field of view out the back; You literally can't see cars parked either side of you enough to know if you're about to take one of their wing mirrors off!

 

They could have made them a smaller and less obstructive, but that would have compromised structural integrity and we wouldn't have gotten gems like this:  

 

and

The Mk4 body does seem to have particularly indestructible rear!  

That said, Toyota apparently have a patent on a way of making the pillars 'invisible' - I really want to know what happened to that idea, as if any car needs it it's the Mk4!!!

 

 

Bigger, maybe.  Massive, no.   I’ve never once even noticed any blind spots caused by them (if I do now you’ve sown the seed, I’m going to donate to the Khan  “make the ULEZ so tight that even new Yaris’s won’t meet fund).

[Cyker]

I guess we must be used to very different sorts of cars or you're using a different definition of blind spot to me  

I feel like practically the entire rear 270 degrees of the Mk4 is a blind spot!  

[Derek.w]

By law you are supposed to twist your head around as well as using the left mirror when starting to move off.

At least that was how I was taught.

[anchorman]

5 hours ago, Cyker said:

I guess we must be used to very different sorts of cars or you're using a different definition of blind spot to me  

I feel like practically the entire rear 270 degrees of the Mk4 is a blind spot!  

I agree the back is but the C pillars are no different than most - use your mirrors!  It’s the front that matters and I maintain, i don’t find it a problem. 😉

[Cyker]

The mirrors are fine for seeing what's behind you but don't cover the rear-side diagonals very well, which is why you're taught to check the blind spots by actually looking out the windows. In the Mk4 this isn't so useful as the B and C-pillars block most of that view, so I find myself more reliant on the BSM indicators than I would like!

I had a look and the C-pillar is nearly twice the size of the Mk1's and, crucially, wraps around the back, whereas the Mk1's just goes along the side of the car and stops where the boot lid begins. I think the way it wraps around the back and the way the roof drops down at the back are a big cause of the far more limited vision.

But even the forward view is very restrictive compared to earlier models; The low roof-line, large A-pillars and low rearview mirror all create major obstructions to vision in the diagonals. In particular, I find the right A-pillar is in exactly the worst place for a lot of roundabouts and I'm constantly having to look round it to see approaching traffic.

As someone who is very keen on spacial awareness (You have to to survive in London!!) I have to say it's one of the main weaknesses of the Mk4.

[anchorman]

33 minutes ago, Cyker said:

The mirrors are fine for seeing what's behind you but don't cover the rear-side diagonals very well, which is why you're taught to check the blind spots by actually looking out the windows. In the Mk4 this isn't so useful as the B and C-pillars block most of that view, so I find myself more reliant on the BSM indicators than I would like!

I had a look and the C-pillar is nearly twice the size of the Mk1's and, crucially, wraps around the back, whereas the Mk1's just goes along the side of the car and stops where the boot lid begins. I think the way it wraps around the back and the way the roof drops down at the back are a big cause of the far more limited vision.

But even the forward view is very restrictive compared to earlier models; The low roof-line, large A-pillars and low rearview mirror all create major obstructions to vision in the diagonals. In particular, I find the right A-pillar is in exactly the worst place for a lot of roundabouts and I'm constantly having to look round it to see approaching traffic.

As someone who is very keen on spacial awareness (You have to to survive in London!!) I have to say it's one of the main weaknesses of the Mk4.

 Get a Cross with blind spot monitoring and 360 cameras😉

[Cyker]

I'd consider it if not for my totally rational hatred of all SUVs and Crossovers!  

We'll just have to hope Toyota UK put the 360 camera on future revisions of the Mk4... or I move to Japan   (Maybe not, I don't think I'd last a week there!    )

[YarisHybrid2016]

On 1/29/2023 at 3:24 PM, Bper said:

Would welcome any owner's comments on the Yaris Cross since ownership. Ride quality, comfort, MPG etc., Basically, pro's and con's.👍

YC Excel with City Pack.

Overall, great car. Quiet, smooth, rides well, good performance, and economical. Current MPG for Jan. is 66, with 30/70 city/motorway driving. 7000 miles total.

City Pack with 360 view/front camera worth the price. Wife uses nav and finds it OK, but it's a bit late to announce turns. Rest of system good.

Auto high-beam can get tempremental, and is quite directional (e.g. misses cars on sweeping bends until they're in front of you).

LED headlights way better than my halogen projectors!

Digital dash very good, with choice of digital or analog speed display.

Would buy again without hesitation.

[SinglePointSafety]

Thought I would update this after a recent 1500-mile round-trip in the UK. Summary: 67 mpg average, remain very impressed with the car

Right, some more detail... Recall, as per my earlier post, that I've changed to smaller wheels and larger all-season tyres, for better ride/bump absorption and reduced road noise. I've also had sound-deadening fitted (that will likely be another post) and that's made a very significant further reduction in road noise. It's now a very refined car.

My trip was south of England to York - Edinburgh - Inverness - John O'Groats - Glasgow - Liverpool - Home. Highlight was a mainly sunny day on the east coast A9, some glorious driving (although JoG had snow/sleet, 2 degrees C). At higher speeds, say, > 60 mph, wind noise is fairly noticeable (worse than our BEV) but that's possibly because road noise is now very subdued. Never felt the car lacked in performance for my style of driving. Going up hills and you can certainly hear the rorty engine note (wonder what a 4-cylinder choice would be like?) but cruising on the flat, you're hard-pushed to tell when the car enters or leaves EV mode, and it's very smooth and quiet overall, extremely impressive for this size of car and even for the next size up. Driving 4-5 hours on several days was really pleasant and not a noisy, bumpy slog.

Driving in or out of the cities, the car spends a lot of time in EV mode and the drive is wonderfully seamless and smooth. Since there were no rear seat passengers, I removed the rear headrests for even better visibility (remove/refit, takes about 5 seconds for each one). Reversing camera is a bit low-tech and low-res, but it gets the job done, no complaints. It's the little things I appreciate: the infotainment system has excellent DAB reception, boots up quickly, connects to Android Auto reliably almost instantly (unlike my BEV) and the audio quality with the sound-deadening package is now very good. Unlike some cars I've driven, the indicators are nice and loud. Lane Keep Assist works well and is far less aggressive than the one in the BEV (which constantly 'tugs' on winding roads), so LKA and adaptive cruise control is great on motorways and quiet A-roads. Car has good all-round visibility, large door mirrors are great (but see above for wind noise) and the blind-spot monitoring works just fine. Ride quality is very good anyway, and impressive for this size of car (bigger tyres are helping here) and on a par with many larger cars. The wiper rain sensor actually works really well (that's not a given, in my experience). Didn't realise how much I'd appreciate the electric boot, with the wonderful touch of a second button which closes the boot AND locks the car. Genius! And how much better nice, easy to use, twisty knobs are for the climate control setting (and the CC works really well so far, look forward to trying it when the temperature soars).

In the AWD version there's no option to lower the boot floor for even more space, but I found the boot space was totally acceptable, surprisingly so. The load cover is simple to release from the lower attachments to allow it to simply rest on over-height items in the boot - that works extremely well.

What did I come to dislike about the car on this long trip? Errm, let me see... I'd like the lane assist controls to be persistent. In the absence of a HUD, I'd at least like the driver display to have some navigation info on it when using Android Auto - you only get this data using the built-in navigation, which, sorry Toyota, isn't anywhere near Google Nav's standard, IMHO (but it will do the job). I also kept forgetting to pull the petrol cap release - why doesn't it lock/unlock with the car locking system? The small tank size isn't a problem with the fuel economy, usually saw > 400 mile range. And that's it. Great car!

[Max_Headroom]

7 minutes ago, SinglePointSafety said:

. I also kept forgetting to pull the petrol cap release - why doesn't it lock/unlock with the car locking system?

That still catches me out after several montha of ownership.

[CruxisCore]

10 minutes ago, SinglePointSafety said:

Thought I would update this after a recent 1500-mile round-trip in the UK. Summary: 67 mpg average, remain very impressed with the car

Right, some more detail... Recall, as per my earlier post, that I've changed to smaller wheels and larger all-season tyres, for better ride/bump absorption and reduced road noise. I've also had sound-deadening fitted (that will likely be another post) and that's made a very significant further reduction in road noise. It's now a very refined car.

My trip was south of England to York - Edinburgh - Inverness - John O'Groats - Glasgow - Liverpool - Home. Highlight was a mainly sunny day on the east coast A9, some glorious driving (although JoG had snow/sleet, 2 degrees C). At higher speeds, say, > 60 mph, wind noise is fairly noticeable (worse than our BEV) but that's possibly because road noise is now very subdued. Never felt the car lacked in performance for my style of driving. Going up hills and you can certainly hear the rorty engine note (wonder what a 4-cylinder choice would be like?) but cruising on the flat, you're hard-pushed to tell when the car enters or leaves EV mode, and it's very smooth and quiet overall, extremely impressive for this size of car and even for the next size up. Driving 4-5 hours on several days was really pleasant and not a noisy, bumpy slog.

Driving in or out of the cities, the car spends a lot of time in EV mode and the drive is wonderfully seamless and smooth. Since there were no rear seat passengers, I removed the rear headrests for even better visibility (remove/refit, takes about 5 seconds for each one). Reversing camera is a bit low-tech and low-res, but it gets the job done, no complaints. It's the little things I appreciate: the infotainment system has excellent DAB reception, boots up quickly, connects to Android Auto reliably almost instantly (unlike my BEV) and the audio quality with the sound-deadening package is now very good. Unlike some cars I've driven, the indicators are nice and loud. Lane Keep Assist works well and is far less aggressive than the one in the BEV (which constantly 'tugs' on winding roads), so LKA and adaptive cruise control is great on motorways and quiet A-roads. Car has good all-round visibility, large door mirrors are great (but see above for wind noise) and the blind-spot monitoring works just fine. Ride quality is very good anyway, and impressive for this size of car (bigger tyres are helping here) and on a par with many larger cars. The wiper rain sensor actually works really well (that's not a given, in my experience). Didn't realise how much I'd appreciate the electric boot, with the wonderful touch of a second button which closes the boot AND locks the car. Genius! And how much better nice, easy to use, twisty knobs are for the climate control setting (and the CC works really well so far, look forward to trying it when the temperature soars).

In the AWD version there's no option to lower the boot floor for even more space, but I found the boot space was totally acceptable, surprisingly so. The load cover is simple to release from the lower attachments to allow it to simply rest on over-height items in the boot - that works extremely well.

What did I come to dislike about the car on this long trip? Errm, let me see... I'd like the lane assist controls to be persistent. In the absence of a HUD, I'd at least like the driver display to have some navigation info on it when using Android Auto - you only get this data using the built-in navigation, which, sorry Toyota, isn't anywhere near Google Nav's standard, IMHO (but it will do the job). I also kept forgetting to pull the petrol cap release - why doesn't it lock/unlock with the car locking system? The small tank size isn't a problem with the fuel economy, usually saw > 400 mile range. And that's it. Great car!

Great write up!

So what were your old tyres and what are the new ones? Think I got some 17"s coming up, but it's funny how the rim size goes up like it's a good thing the higher the trim 😄

Surprisingly, I've only ever had cars with the petrol cap being locked and opened with the rest of the car, but the Aygo X I've been driving some 10 months now has this same thing with having to pull the lever and I've not forgot about it once. I guess it could be better, but I dont mind this system at all. I've also seen them stop working awfully often when talking about older cars, so this is probably a cost saving and a reliability thing at the same time?

[anchorman]

Cable operated fuel door is a Japanese trait.  They rarely fail but the electric ones do.  Also, if you try to get a demic going, you can’t release them without Battery power.   You have to crawl inside the boot trim to open those.  

[SinglePointSafety]

3 hours ago, CruxisCore said:

So what were your old tyres and what are the new ones?

Core: thanks for the compliment, much appreciated. Anchorman's description of the fuel filler cap rationale is likely correct, given his knowledge and experience

The original wheels/tyres were Falken on 18-inch rims, new ones are Goodyear all-season Vector Gen-3 on 16-inch rims, 65-profile to give me some degree of pothole protection. Local roads are still not being repaired - at all: they're getting worse by the day.

I noticed that, strangely, the further north I got on the trip, the better the roads were, even in Scotland where the weather might give them an excuse for poorer roads. Although.... the biggest pothole I've ever seen was in the Ibrox region of Glasgow - this was a cavern (with a cone in it, top of cone just visible)

[CruxisCore]

The dealership put on some Falkens on my Aygo X a few weeks back (as the Michelins it came with were temporarily misplaced) and they are just awful. Way louder than even studded winter tyres and the fuel economy has gone to ****. Before I would often manage this regular route I do (some 120km trip) below 4 liters/100km (sorry we dont use MPG 😄 ) and now I can't even do it below 5l/100km. I had to go check if they put the tyres on wrong way or something, but cant find anything wrong.

Ive heard some good things about some Falkens too but the ones on my Aygo X are 100% worst tyres I've ever driven. Was happy to realize just now that my Yaris Cross will have 17" Continentals that were pretty well reviewed for fuel economy (but apparently not the most durable/long lasting). 

[Roy124]

On 2/6/2023 at 10:45 PM, Bernard Foy said:

Yep that A pillar has caught me out a couple of times when I wasn’t paying attention. Luckily no accident occurred more due to the other driver’s vigilance than my ill-attention.😡

I think the left A pillar and mirror create a huge blind spot especially where the road to the left is downhill, ie dropping away from you. 

[anchorman]

I’ve got a full set of very quiet Good Years that my Cross came on 215/50 18 with delivery mileage (not more than 15 miles) if anyone wants to make an offer on.  I changed immediately to all season.  

[Tel 2]

Don.,

Are they known to be Quieter than the Bridgestone or Falcon tyres as the noise ratings are the same ?

Tel

[SinglePointSafety]

6 hours ago, Tel 2 said:

Are they known to be Quieter than the Bridgestone or Falcon tyres as the noise ratings are the same ?

The tyre's noise rating (which is based on drive-by road noise) usually has a poor correlation with perceived interior noise, certainly in my experience (and backed up by reliable reviews) eg when swapping from summer tyres (noisy) to all-season (noticeably quieter) even though the tyres had the same noise rating. Sometimes it's the change in the noise spectrum which is perceived to produce a much less 'offensive' road noise

[anchorman]

7 hours ago, Tel 2 said:

Don.,

Are they known to be Quieter than the Bridgestone or Falcon tyres as the noise ratings are the same ?

Tel

All I can tell you is that I drove it about 15 miles from the dealer to ATS to have the Continental all seasons fitted and they were noticeably quieter than the Contis.   The noise ratings are “drive by” so I’m not sure how they translate to in car ratings.  I bought Michelin cross climates for the Yaris.  They had a 69db rating but they were quite noisy in practice.   

[anchorman]

18 minutes ago, SinglePointSafety said:

The tyre's noise rating (which is based on drive-by road noise) usually has a poor correlation with perceived interior noise, certainly in my experience (and backed up by reliable reviews) eg when swapping from summer tyres (noisy) to all-season (noticeably quieter) even though the tyres had the same noise rating. Sometimes it's the change in the noise spectrum which is perceived to produce a much less 'offensive' road noise

I wish I’d read this first!   Yes, I agree the noise ratings don’t translate very well to interior noise.  I was paying attention on purpose with the Good Year v Conti and I was disappointed that they were noisier than the Goid Years.  All the other Cross’s I’ve driven had Falkens on but the Good Years were quieter I believe.  It’s all very subjective and I’m not a lover of subjective appraisals but that how it seemed.  

[Cyker]

I must admit, I tend to pick tyres with higher noise ratings as, in my experience, they're usually quieter inside the car than tyres with lower noise ratings!!