2009 Toyota Yaris Review

By: Nathan Adlen

I don’t know if you’re a fan of Top Gear (the BBC television show), but I am. Among all of the fun things they do, car-on-car combat seems to be a reoccurring theme. Be it soccer or hockey, they match small cars against each other in cut-throat sporting events. Love it!

One of their go-to cars is the tiny Toyota Aygo with a 1 liter 3-cylinder engine rated at 68 horsepower. Although it looks similar to the Yaris, the Aygo is closer in size to a Mini Cooper Clubman. The larger Toyota Yaris is close to the Honda Fit, Chevrolet Aveo, Ford Focus, Hyundai Accent and Nissan Versa in size.

I only mention this because when I first met the Toyota Yaris (about 2 years ago) I was hoping for the same spunky car. I didn’t really get it. It was a good car, just not as cheeky as the Toyota Aygo. What I did get was a brother to the original Scion xB and xA mechanically (which happen to be my favorite Scions). Toyota kept wheelbase and overall exterior dimensions of the 3-door hatchback exactly the same as the 5-door hatchback (overall length is 150.6 inches and wheelbase is 96.9 inches on both vehicles). The potential spunky quality that makes the 3-door hatch fun is barely tainted by the less than 50 lbs heavier 5-door hatchback.

There is no 5-speed manual option in the 5-door. This is where the genius of Toyota fades in my eyes. Every single car that competes with the Toyota Yaris 5-door has a manual option. This means that most of these vehicles can out gun the Toyota Yaris at its own game. I hate to say it – but even the Chevrolet Aveo with a manual is more exciting than the Toyota Yaris with its 4-speed automatic.    

I HATE automatics on econo-boxes! Automatics are usually heavier, slower to shift, less thrifty, more expensive and (lets face it) dull. If you are aspiring to be a “green” person, but realized that hybrids are not that green (they’re not) you NEED to learn how to drive a manual transmission.

The Toyota Yaris 3-door I drove a year or so back had a sweet shifting 5-speed and it was a ton of fun to drive. Not that this Toyota Yaris is a total pig mind you. It still cornered like the other Yaris and its older Scion brethren. I did have fun sliding around back roads, although it would have been vastly better with a do-it-yourself transmission! I did do a 140 degree spin on an E-brake pull to quickly change direction, it worked quite well but I would still hazard to use the automatic Toyota Yaris 5-door in a Top Gear style sporting event. 

I wish Toyota would stop frightening drivers with their centrally mounted gauge cluster. I know it could save a few bucks, (the dashboard could remain unaltered for right and left side driving) but if Saturn learned their lesson by consumer anger, (they had it on their “Ion”) why can’t Toyota? The pod in the middle of the dashboard was counterintuitive and pulled my eyes OFF the road. It’s a silly idea and should be scrapped. 

I never bothered with 0-60 times as the last Toyota Yaris with a 5-speed manual was around 9 seconds and change. I’m positive the automatic is slower by a second or more. Despite its slow get-up-and-go, the Toyota Yaris drove surprisingly well in the Colorado snow. I was pleased with the predictable manner the Toyota Yaris 5-door tracked in the 6 inch powder. Even icy, goo filled roads were no problem for the Toyota Yaris. Dry roads and highway driving is a tad noisy, but vague and unpredictable driving characteristics were nonexistent. Actually, the Toyota Yaris drove smoother than expected, even my 4-year-old passed out several times during testing.

The nice looking 15 inch alloy wheels with P185/60R15 tires were optional, but the happy-go-lucky 1.5 liter DOHC 16-valve 4-cylinder which makes an okay 106 horsepower (and 103 lbs feet of torque) is standard. The responsive suspension is an independent MacPherson strut up front and a torsion beam rear suspension.

The 30.8 foot turning circle is quite good. The 4-wheel Anti-lock Brake System (ABS) with Electronic Brake-force Distribution (EBD) is standard. I wish Toyota would forego the old ‘need for cheep’ mentality and make disc brakes standard all around. The rear drums work fine, but discs would be better. Curb-weight is 2295 lbs for the 2-door and 2340 lbs 4-door.

“Economy” is the main tag line for the Toyota Yaris. It has done consistently well in EPA comparisons. Usually, the Toyota Yaris does better than most. The EPA estimated fuel consumption for the 2-door is 29 mpg city 36 highway and the 4-door is 29 mpg city and 35 mpg highway. Prices start at a very reasonable $12,000 and change for the 3-door although you can pass the $20,000 mark with TRD extras and getting every extra possible. I simply could not get it to get less than 23 mpg no matter how loud my inner demon demanded speed and abuse.  

I wish I could be more enthusiastic about the Toyota Yaris 5-door. It is an excellent transportation appliance that is one manual transmission (and a few extra horsepower) away from being an entertaining ride. Still, if you need a reliable, roomy, cute, economical, safe car to zoom through traffic with (that has back doors) the Toyota Yaris 5-door is worth a look.

AND, so are the Hyundai Accent, Chevrolet Aveo, Nissan Versa, Honda Fit, Ford Focus, Mazda 3, KIA Rio5 or even a base model Mitsubishi Lancer.