The Toyota Yaris is a surprisingly quirky city car (Mk2 Review)
The Toyota Yaris is a surprisingly quirky city car (Mk2 Review)
Sold from 2006 - 2011, the Mk2 Yaris is an interesting prospect for those who want a reliable, practical small car. But is it actually any good?
Model on test is a 2010 1.3 VVT-i TR (mk2 / second generation XP90)
#toyota #yaris
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Content
4.38 -> Welcome to my little spaceship, the Toyota
Yaris, or SS Yaris as I'm going to call it.
9.6 -> Because in here it does feel like you're in
some sort of futuristic spacecraft, it's
15.24 -> a very interesting interior - the instrument
cluster is all in the centere of the dashboard
19.92 -> so I have to look off to the left to see the
speed and fuel and RPM. All of the
26.16 -> centre stack of controls down here - I've got a button here for phasers, one
31.38 -> for shields and another for thrusters as well - okay
they're actually the climate controls. It is quite
36.6 -> a quirky car, at least on the inside.
The outside of it is very much a generic hatchback
42.24 -> looking car - it's not really a bad looking
car but it's also not an amazing looking
46.92 -> car. But it is a Toyota and it came out in 2006
and they sold it through till 2011. And first of
55.32 -> all with it being a Toyota, it's a
doddle to drive, it's a safe car and it's
61.62 -> also a very reliable car. Those things are just
straight off the bat, that you kind of already
65.76 -> know about this car with it being a
Toyota. With this car being a small city car it is
72.24 -> absolutely in its element in town, it's got
excellent visibility, you've got loads of glass in
77.34 -> the front and the back. It's got very nice easy
steering, easy clutch, a nice gearbox - it's got a
83.46 -> nice gear change to it, and it's just a nippy
little car that you can thread in and out of
88.08 -> busy traffic. It's actually reasonably refined
as well so once you get going at higher speeds
93.54 -> compared to say the the Honda Jazz of this
generation, it's a little bit quieter on the
98.58 -> move. Certainly feels more grown up than the
Toyota Aygo, the smaller version of this
103.5 -> car. The ride comfort, it's a little
bit firm and a little bit bouncy in that
107.76 -> small Japanese car way, but it soaks up the
potholes reasonably well and it's not crashy
112.68 -> and it doesn't make a load of noise or fuss
about the potholes as you go over them.
120.96 -> Something Toyota said about this
car when it was new was that it had a
125.04 -> very good turning circle, so I'm going to see
now am I going to make a fool of myself here
129.84 -> turning round.... no I'll tell you what, that's
really good! It's apparently got a nine
135.12 -> meter turning circle, so very impressive. There's
a few different engine options for this car, there
139.86 -> was a one litre which was very underpowered and only really for people who have just passed their
144.42 -> test or learning to drive, I wouldn't really
recommend it to anyone who actually needs
148.14 -> a functioning car that will be able to
go on the motorway and things. The big seller was
152.34 -> the 1.33 VVT-i which is what this car is, and it's
actually got a reasonable amount of poke to it.
158.771 -> [engine acceleration sounds]
163.86 -> It sounds... hair dryer-y. Then at the
top end was the 1.8 litre SR which was
171.36 -> the sporty warm hatch version of the Toyota
Yaris - it had quite a bit more horsepower and it had a firmer suspension, more sporty setup
178.91 -> but it still wasn't a performance car which
182.04 -> none of these Yarises, they don't really
drive in any particular sporty way. In terms
187.98 -> of equipment there was a few different
options - this is the TR which is a middling
197.159 -> got a six-speed manual gearbox which is quite
impressive for a little car like this. They also
201.959 -> had an automated manual gearbox available, it's
called the multi-mode and it actually does change
207.479 -> gear for you it has a clutch just like a
a manual car does - well it does it all behind the
213.059 -> scenes. Apparently they're not that great to
drive and they're quite jerky and they can take a
218.279 -> bit of getting used to. With these six gears it's
very nicely geared actually for high speed,
224.279 -> at 60 miles an hour
it is doing just 2000 RPM.
228.719 -> It's full of little quirky little cubby holes and
things, there's one in front of
233.339 -> the steering wheel, the glove box
on the bottom but also this top part as well,
238.259 -> you've got the door pockets, you've got these
extra little ones by each side of the centre
242.579 -> console. A cup holder in the front, cup holder
there at the back and then these two little
247.499 -> things here on the sides of the dashboard
as well - endless little places to store things.
255.299 -> I visited a little country called Malta a couple
of years ago and to my surprise I'm pretty sure
262.679 -> that every other car on the road in Malta is
a Toyota Yaris. It's quite a populated island
267.359 -> and there's not that much room, so you want
a little car that you can just rely on that
272.159 -> will do everything you need in an economical and practical and reliable
276.479 -> way, especially in the hot
climate of that country. Make sure you hit the
281.759 -> like button if indeed you are enjoying this video
and like it, that would be very helpful thank you.
286.859 -> What about the back, backseat JJ what do you
think?
289.849 -> Back here I'm well impressed with this car
291.899 -> there's enough headroom, enough leg room
sat behind JJ, it's very spacious for a little
296.999 -> car. So the seats are very clever in this car -
first of all they fold down like most little
301.439 -> hatchbacks but also you can move them backwards
and forwards to give yourself either more boot
306.359 -> space and less legroom or more leg room and less
boot space. So it's quite a versatile car and then
311.219 -> at the same time you've got this flat floor down
here which means you've got a lot of space even
314.699 -> for the the middle passenger, can put his feet
down and everything. Head restraints that will
318.239 -> actually restrain your head in an accident.
Thing is JJ, and I've been thinking about this, I'd
323.639 -> hate to be a Toyota engineer and you know why?
You can build a car that is everything that
329.099 -> a small car should be - practical, safe, reliable,
economical, spacious. The motoring journalists
334.619 -> can come along and give it two stars out of five!
Toyota seem to be just massively underrated in
339.599 -> the motoring journalist world and it's
criminal really. Well, uh yeah, thank
344.279 -> you very much for that a little bit
of insight there. There's one sort of slightly
348.239 -> lacking bit of quality with this car and it's
this - when you shut the door it just sounds a
353.219 -> bit hollow, a bit clangy. Generally the
perceived quality of these cars is lower than
359.519 -> German cars. If you're looking at a car like the
Toyota Yaris, you probably want a car that is
364.919 -> very affordable to run and you'll be pleased to
hear that it really is. This 1.3 engine will
369.899 -> get you 55 MPG on your normal kind of
driving and then there was a diesel option that
375.299 -> gave you 65 MPG. It costs just £30 a year
to tax this car which is ridiculously cheap in
380.399 -> in the UK and it's only Insurance Group 7 so
the insurance will be very affordable.
390.119 -> In the mid-2000s when this car was around, Toyota were
super concerned about safety - they were probably
395.759 -> making some of the most safe cars out there and
the Yaris of course, it was no different. It had
399.539 -> the five-star Euro NCAP rating which you have
to have if you want to say you've got a safe car,
403.679 -> probably the first and only small super mini
available with nine airbags, so you had just
411.119 -> airbags everywhere, even one for your knee. So I've
reviewed now the Three Musketeers of affordable
415.979 -> Japanese motoring - the Honda Jazz, the Nissan Micra
and this Toyota Yaris and I really like this Yaris
422.159 -> because it's kind of somewhere in the middle
between those two cars - you've got the Nissan
425.339 -> Micra which is a very happy little
fun car with lots of great visibility and it's
431.939 -> also got that Japanese reliability then you've got
the Honda Jazz which is just incredibly practical
436.619 -> with its crazy folding seat arrangement and this
Toyota Yaris which sits right in the middle and
443.339 -> is arguably actually more reliable than even those
two cars, as well as being probably as comfortable
450.119 -> as the Micra and possibly more comfortable than
the Jazz, certainly in ride comfort. I think in
455.039 -> terms of looks the Yaris is probably the most
'normal' looking one of the three and if
460.979 -> if you want to fly
under the radar and have a normal looking
465.539 -> car, yeah the Yaris is a good compromise between
those two. Thank you Adam for lending me this car,
470.519 -> as always thank you so much for watching
and I will see you in the next video
Source: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5Kshc5-VDv4