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Posted April, 2006

Road Test: 2007 Toyota Yaris

By Thomas E. Bonsall

The 2007 Toyota Yaris is making its U.S. debut this spring in four-door sedan and three-door liftback configurations. First launched in Europe in 1999, the Yaris was named the 2000 European "Car of the Year" and has become Toyota's best-selling model over there. The Yaris was also named "Japan Car of the Year," marking the first time the same vehicle captured both honors in the same year. For the U.S., the Yaris will replace the ECHO in the subcompact passenger-car segment. The Yaris liftback will be offered in one grade, while the sedan will offer two grades, adding a sport-themed Yaris S. Our test car was the base sedan, although it had the optional upgraded interior. (More on that later.)

"Yaris" is certainly an odd name for a car. Don't ask me why, but it reminded me of the launch of the Pontiac 6000LE back in 1982. This was when GM didn't have a clue why the Japanese and European manufacturers were eating their lunch, and so decided that the use of alpha-numeric names must be it. (It couldn't have been the products themselves. Heaven forfend!) Hence models such as the 6000LE. Pontiac's customer base, however, had a hard time getting used to the alpha-numerics and stories were rife at the time of them walking into local Pontiac dealerships and — having mistaken the stylized "6" for a "G" — asking to see the new "Goo-lee." But I digress.

The styling of the Yaris is contemporary, inside and out. Chrysler used to brag a lot about its "cab forward" styling, but the Yaris is cab forward on steroids.

In fact, the front wheel wells actually intrude into the passenger cabin. I mention this because I found myself stalling out the engine from time to time because the clutch was not fully depressed. What was happening was that my foot was coming to rest on the wheel well rather than the floorboard. In addition, the firewall was so close to the clutch pedal that the tip of my shoe would strike it, making smooth shifts difficult in another way (assuming my shoe had gotten that far and hadn't already been stopped by the wheel well. At first, I thought my size 11D shoes contributed to the problem, and that people with daintier feet might not experience it at all. Then, when my colleague, Kevin Lowery, read the first draft of this review, he said the same thing had happened to him — repeatedly. His shoe size is 9E, which, for a man, is dead average.

Cars are generally designed for the 95th percentile. In other words, 95 percent of the adult public should be able to get comfortable in the driver's seat and operate the controls easily and safely. A 90 pound woman standing five foot nothing and a 250 pound guy standing well over six feet should both be able to be accommodated. Certainly, there is nothing about a size 9E shoe (or even an 11D shoe) that should have been beyond the ability of Toyota engineers to cope. This is just sloppy design. The clutch pedal should have been relocated, or designed to be adjustable — or something.

In other respects, the Yaris sedan interior conveys a feeling of spaciousness and not usually found in a subcompact. The front dash is designed with center-mounted instrumentation, which is integrated with a stylish silver-painted center console. (This location didn't bother me, but my colleague, Kevin Lowery, hated it.) Storage and cupholders are in abundance, front and rear. Toyota claims the sedan has rear seating for three. Only if they were using midgets for measuring purposes. (Perhaps this explains the clutch pedal…) Standard are 60/40 fold down rear seats with a fold-down center armrest and cupholder. Folding the 60/40 split rear seats enlarges the trunk capacity, providing nearly 14 cubic feet of total cargo space.

Power is supplied by a 1.5-liter four-cylinder engine with variable valve timing with intelligence (VVT-i) that produces 106 horsepower at 6,000 rpm and 103 lb.-ft. of torque at 4,200 rpm. Both five-speed manual and optional four-speed automatic transmissions are available. Our test car seemed a lot peppier than the horsepower rating would suggest. The engine was so quiet at idle we were often not certain it was running and had to glance at the tach for confirmation. Except for the clutch pedal issues noted above, the transmission was easy to use. The gear shift was only moderately rubbery in its operation, which is to be expected in an econobox with a smallish engine.

Of course, people who buy cars in this market segment are generally looking for good fuel economy. Here the Yaris does not disappoint, being among the highest in the subcompact segment: 34 city/40 highway. In addition to its fuel efficiency, the Yaris is EPA-certified as an Ultra-Low Emission vehicle (ULEV II), as well.

Ride and handling bears some discussion. First, the road noise. There's a lot of it. If you are on smooth asphalt, it's not a problem, but when you hit the kinds of surfaces that produce major road noise, it all comes into the passenger cabin.

Handling was a good/bad situation, depending on what you were doing. We have a favorite twisty, hilly road we like to use for road tests and, there, the Yaris acquitted itself pretty well. It's obviously not a sports car, but the cornering was sure-footed and competent. A short spin on the Interstate illustrated the downside. On a moderately windy day, our test car was buffeted around so much it felt more than a little unstable at 65 mph. I couldn't honestly say the freeway handling was unsafe, and I suppose you would get used to it after a while, but I wasn't impressed.

While we're on the subject of safety, the Yaris features a reinforced cabin using front and rear crumple zones and energy-absorbing materials on the roof and doors. It is equipped with height adjustable headrests and three-point seatbelts in all five seating positions. The front seatbelts include pretensioners and force limiters. The rear seat will be equipped with the Lower Anchors and Tethers for Children (LATCH) uniform child restrain anchorage system.

Safety is also enhanced with standard driver and passenger advanced dual-stage front airbags that inflate at a higher or lower speed, according to collision severity. A front seat passenger sensor is designed to determine if there is a person in the seat as well as the person's weight category to determine whether the airbag should inflate and at the correct inflation power. Front-seat-mounted side airbags with first and second row roll-sensing side curtain airbags are also be available.

All Yaris models will also offer anti-lock brakes (ABS) as an option.

Our test car came with the Power Package. This includes 15-inch alloy wheels, foglamps, rear spoiler, anti-lock brakes, power door locks, power windows, power outside mirrors, an AM/FM/CD sound system, cruise control, and upgraded interior trim. All this for $1,350. The sound system, however, was a mixed bag. The sound coming out of the radio was actually pretty good, but the CD player was another story, with a tinny, closed-in sound that was seriously lacking in bass response.

Other options on our test car included remote keyless entry ($230), front side-mounted air bags ($650), fog lamps ($110), rear spoiler with LED stop lamp ($435), and carpeted floor and cargo area mats ($150). Putting a spoiler on a car of this description always strikes me as silly, but everything else seemed fairly priced and worth having.

The base price of our sedan was $13,325. The final sticker including options and destination charges topped out at $16,830. That's not very much money for a car these days, especially not for one that's spacious and comfortable, and equipped with power goodies galore. Still, as we have noted, the Yaris is far from perfect and not a car we would be happy driving on a regular basis. Yet, other people have different standards and we suspect the Yaris will prove a good seller for Toyota. R&D