2007 Toyota Review

Specifications

On The Move

The past week and a half has probably been the busiest time period in the tenure of our long-term Yaris. Things started out early in the week when Justin dropped off his personal car to have its exterior and interior restored and detailed. Then, like clockwork, a couple of bookings on key cars had fallen through, those being Jaguars new XK Coupe (later replaced by an XK Convertible) and BMWs 325xi Touring station wagon. With people to see, places to go, and things to do (mostly with clients and other business prospects) it looked like the Yaris would be on the road more than usual, standing in for the duties which these press cars would have otherwise taken care of.

In honesty, weve been keeping the miles on our Yaris down over the past little while in order to maximize our time with it over the long term. Initially, when we picked up the Yaris with just over 600 miles on the clock, we wanted to spread the remaining 4,500 or so miles available to use evenly over the better part of six months. Since the writing of the last long term update, weve put on an additional 745 miles. When averaged over the short duration, this is much more than the overall average weve been driving to date, bringing our car closer to the target mileage of where it should be. Its not that we dont use the little Yaris, but rather, based on the past entries, its clear that its always in use as an urban runabout. Then again, even compared to our ex-long term Sonata on the West Coast (a not so little super-urban runabout?), the mileage has piled on the Yaris much quicker.

A significant portion of those miles included making an impromptu trip to cottage country, for quasi-vacationing purposes. This was a high note for the week of fulfilling a certain someones wishes of having another road trip come true, but the circumstances were a bit different than last time around. Instead of being just two people on a days outing, this trip involved three people, with an enormous amount of baggage going an even further distance. That allowed for a thorough testing of the Yaris abilities to cope as both a cargo carrier and a people hauler, not to mention the exercise of mostly unused thought “muscles” as to how to organize a whole lot of stuff into a subcompact car.

Unlike the usual introduction that takes the better part of a page, weve trimmed things up a fair amount in order to display more of the logbook, which better depicts the events of whats been going on. Still interested? Let your eyes read on:

Odometer: 3,109 miles

Linda: The Yaris is such a hot car; not the way that it looks, necessarily, but in terms of its temperature! I have noticed that the air conditioning is dependant on the weather outside. If its really hot out (like it has been during the day lately) with the air conditioner button pushed in and the fan blowing as fast as it can it takes more than twenty minutes before the interior starts to cool down. It also depends on the humidity in the air. On days when the air thick and heavy, the system struggles even more. The A/C system works better at night though, although it still feels pretty weak. I think that there is something wrong with it. No doubt it should be looked at soon, before I melt!

Odometer: 3,316 miles

Justin: Well, I guess my wish for wanting to do more long-distance driving came true over the past two weeks, as my cousin from London, England had come to open his cottage. My duty? To pick him up, and take him (and my father) to their cottage, located roughly two hours away. I thought that it being just him, that I would be able to pick him up in the Jaguar XK Convertible (oh, the difficult life…), which would be a nice surprise, granted that after being cooped up on an Airbus for several hours, would enjoy the open air and sun. But me, being the “minicab” driver, expected a duffle bag or two at the most - not a pair of gigantic suitcases, backpacks and computer bags. Eventually, the luggage, which I could only assume was enough to clothe six people at the very least, fit into the tiny Jag, albeit with one suitcase and a whole lot of soft luggage squished into the rear dog seats. That meant no top-down motoring.

If things at the airport looked grim, imagine the scenario of having to carry all of that luggage plus an extra person within Toyotas smallest. Normally, a big car is usually in our fleet, or at home. Not so; the Fit was out with the photographer (big inside at least), and the Volvo wagon was at the shop. The look on the face of my cousin was priceless when I pointed out what wed be traveling in. Armed with the knowledge that the Yaris has an infinitely more comfortable back seat than the Jag, with an incredible amount of leg, head, knee, hip, elbow and whatever other body part room available for its class, I had a feeling there was a solution.

The process was a bit of an algorithm. Try every single possibility available to you. Unfortunately, this being a base Yaris, the rear bench does not have a 60/40 split fold. Its either locked up, or down. It also didnt have the RS seats-on-rails, which can be slid fore and aft to increase the size of the cargo bay at the cost of rear legroom. Both solutions would have quickly solved any problems, but that would have been a bit like pushing the “help” button on a video game for tips. No, we did it the long way.

Removing the parcel shelf, the following combination was found. One suitcase in the trunk with laptop bag, various tools and a backpack. In the rear seat behind the driver was the second suitcase stowed vertically, and other soft backs stashed on the seat, leaving three spots: one for the driver, one for the front seat passenger, and one spot in back for a third occupant. Sweet! Who would have thought that going from first-class transportation to economy would have been the better bet?

Odometer: 3,416 miles

Justin: As for the drive there, its almost surprising how well the Yaris is able to cope with a full load. With only 106 ponies, the little Toyota that could is eclipsed in maximum output by almost everything else on the road, yet, once up to speed this little subcompact has no difficulty maintaining its pace. It feels sweetest on the country backroads which have an 50 mph limit, where the longish gearing makes the Yaris suitably hush. On the highway, the Yaris feels confident, though acceleration when three-up with plenty of luggage requires a bit of planning and a foot of cast iron, especially on an uphill gradient.

The highway that feeds traffic to cottage country has hills, valleys, sweeping bends and numerous different surface changes. Ive driven these roads many times, and although not at all tricky to handle in any vehicle, they can test a cars high-speed damping and noise suppression. When going from one surface to another, the Yaris remains surefooted and stable, a character trait thats reassuring in a car so small. Oh, and the skinny tires stay out of the background noise, with no thrum or grumble.

Odometer: 3,431 miles

Justin: Stuffing all of the aforemented gear into the trunk and cabin of the Yaris was a task that we were able to manage, but, that was like solving five out of the six faces on a Rubics Cube. Part of the trip - which wasnt originally on the itinerary - was to go grocery shopping for the forthcoming week. Err.

With the trunk completely occupied, twelve very stuffed grocery bags and two crates of drinks needed to be brought on board, and no, nothing could be left behind. With a careful re-adjustment of some of the luggage, everything managed to fit, although, most of the groceries were stashed on top of each other so as to leave space for the third person in the back. Unpacking was a different story, but one that was achieved with a bit of diligence and care not to drop any eggs or fizzy drinks.

Odometer: 3,537 miles

Justin: What has my outing to the cottage taught me? Despite the Yaris being Toyotas smallest car, it is by far, one of the most capable small vehicles that Ive driven. Yeah, it would have been nice to have the optional sliding seats, which would have allowed for a second suitcase to be swallowed up in the trunk, or, perhaps, even better a split-folding rear seat seat (also only available as an option), but the simply HUGE cabin more than made up for any shortcomings.

But thats only half the impression. The other half has to do with the fact that the Yaris has evolved the subcompact from being a simple little urban runabout to a viable go-anywhere-do-anything vehicle thats capable of doing everything in the least wasteful manner possible.