Advice On Buying A Yaris

[Y4R15 D4N]

I'm looking to buy a 5-door YARIS as a second car (must have 5 doors for family purposes), and was wondering for my budget of £3,500K max, which are the best models, engine sizes, years etc to go for, things to look out for/be wary of when buying one blah blah blah (you know the score).

One thing that does leave me a bit dubious of is for the money, going for a 1.0 as engines this small always leave me feeling 'should I have gone for the 1.3. I don't want to have to be thrashing the pants off of a 1.0 to get it to move if I have 4 people in it', or is this not the case with them?

I currently drive a Corsa 1.4i 16v Sport and this is plenty nippy enough, but it's on a '99 plate and rising fuel costs are leaving me forever filling it up, coupled with the fact that it is aging and so is obviously not as economical as once was.

Any help or advice offered will be greatly appreciated, and who knows, I could well end up being a regular on here.

Cheers guys.

Y4R15 D4N

[unit2431]

get the 1.3 see my performance thread,1.0 it gutless and needs foo to the floor to go downhill lol

[Y4R15 D4N]

get the 1.3 see my performance thread,1.0 it gutless and needs foo to the floor to go downhill lol

Thanks - its things like that I need to know. I used to own a Cinquecento Sporting and that was the same. Nippy but ended up using more fuel as you constantly had to boot it to move.

[Blue84]

I started off with a 1.0 litre T3 and whilst I thought it was fine to begin with (bear in mind that I had only passed my driving test 7 months before). Personally I felt like I needed something with a little bit more oomph and altho it does improve when you get it into the higher rev range but it just wasn't enough and I drive 85% of the time alone.

So I'd definately recommend you go for a 1.3 especially if you are going to be carrying passengers frequently - the SR is the highest spec on the Phase 1 models (I am excluding the T-Sport here too) which comes with air con and various extra's. It's a case of checking it's got all it's service history and that it doesnt look like it's had a fight with a wall or similar - sorry I am a bit vague here but I lack knowledge in what to look for when buying cars :D.

I must also add that when the 1.3 had to go into Toyota for some warranty work, I was given a 1.0 Yaris once and it just felt not powerful enough, they can cope with being loaded but then because you have to work the engine harder again the fuel consumption goes up and that can then become a vicious circle cost wise. I do carry passengers from time to time and it is a lot easier having that extra bit of power to give a helping hand. The Yaris also has quite large back pillars on the boot which do give quite a blind spot when reversing so bear it in mind when you get to test drive time. Economy wise, I usually get around the early 40's mpg and I don't abuse it I just let it rev in higher gears upto 4000rpm when possible. They are a car that likes to have you change gear higher up the rev counter too.

The final thing is that no-one thinks a Yaris actually goes that fast - it gets all the stick for being small, but actually it's deceiving how nippy it can be when you push it.

Good luck with the purchase should you find one suitable.

[Benno_uk]

Its a shame your budgets not a wee bit more. I would advice the 1.4 turbo diesel if it was. Economy to boot and if you need the power, the turbo makes it quite nippy. And, this is a BIG and, the road tax is only £35 per year I can`t fault mine. The only trobble is finding one for your budget that has not been "driving skooled" Good luck.

[Y4R15 D4N]

Nice advice – thanks. Although to be honest, I'm not considering price (from an insurance perspective to be an issue as I've just sold a Honda Accord 2.0i Automatic, and believe, you really do pay for that type of luxury.

What I'm am truly interested in is the following (is/are?)

1. Going for a Jap car as their reliability is paramount (Toyota/Honda etc.)

2. Want it as a second car for running kids to school then commuting to work and back, mainly motorway driving.

3. Don't wanna be the guy sat in the slow lane all the time but not interested in being Johnny Racer either - a nice 'somewhere in between' would suffice.

4. Economical - big fast sports cars are ok but you innevitably ed up paying for that luxury at the petrol station, and filling a car up that does 24mpg (like mine does at the mo) aint my thing.

[Y4R15 D4N]

Its a shame your budgets not a wee bit more. I would advice the 1.4 turbo diesel if it was. Economy to boot and if you need the power, the turbo makes it quite nippy. And, this is a BIG and, the road tax is only £35 per year I can`t fault mine. The only trobble is finding one for your budget that has not been "driving skooled" Good luck.

Maybe - the reason I set a limit at £3,5k is that this is going to be a second car for the family and so will only get used by myself for commuting. We also have a 1.8 Ford Focus, so you car see where te size/family thing comes into play. It would be nice to spend more but to be honest, I cant see the point in spend on something that will just sit outside the house for the majority of its life with me. I'd rater spend that extra £500 - £1000 on something more worth while.

You'll find this as you get older with kids - priorities change.

Dan (35) married with two kids. pmsl

[forde]

i dont think youd have to much bother finding a diesel within your budget.

i have a 1.0 and get 38-40 mpg when im horsing the dung out of er, and like 45 if i go easy.