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New car reviews » 2009 Toyota Yaris

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Better than: Walking
But not as good as: Honda Fit
GRM Bang For The Buck Index: 73.60  

The efficient little Toyota Yaris could be just the ticket if you’re on a tight budget and need a warranty. Our tester was a three-door hatchback, but the car is also available as a five-door hatchback or a four-door sedan. The three-door Yaris feels a bit smaller than some of its direct competitors, including Honda’s Fit, but it is big enough for four adults—as long as they’re friendly.

The Yaris has enough power to keep up with traffic, but accelerating from a dead stop is an exercise in patience, particularly with the automatic transmission-equipped car. The interior components feel as inexpensive as the price tag would suggest, but they are in line with other cars from this segment.

The Yaris has a variety of aftermarket handling upgrades available in its home market, so hopefully those goodies will be made available to stateside consumers soon. With its light weight, we think the Yaris could be a fun car to autocross or even enjoy on an HPDE with the right improvements.

Other staff views:

Tom Heath Marketing / Club Coordinator:

I’d rather have the Suzuki SX4 or the Fit than a Yaris, but just for aesthetic reasons. The cars in this segment all seem good enough for similar money. I’m looking forward to one of the manufacturers making a performance-oriented trim level on their economy car platform.

Scott Lear Club Editor:

Gotta say, I really liked the Yaris ad campaign, but not as much as the FIT IS GO ad campaign. Definitely in need of a 5-speed, but the Yaris does seem a step in the right direction compared to the old Echo.

Reader comments:

1. bequietanddrive: — Feb 3, 2009 2:23 p.m.
   

   Too bad you only received the auto version as a tester. It makes for a poor engine/transmission combo, as the manual version is a good bit more peppy. Nothing earth shattering, but it makes a big difference.

   Good review overall, hit everything on the mark.

2. pinchvalve: — Feb 11, 2009 11:56 a.m.
   

   The size/weight of this should make it the next 88-91 Civic hatch. If Toyota put a slick 5-speed in it and gave it the VVT engine and some suspension upgrades would really have something. Perhaps a Yaris ACR version?

3. andrave: — Jun 4, 2009 9:44 a.m.
   

   my ex wife bought a 3 door auto while we were together- we were extremely disappointed at the markup in our region (Texas). I believe our out the door ended up being $14,800 before tax- with hand crank windows and manual doors. We were told this was the cheapest package we could order in our region. I test drove a manual transmission version before we placed an order for the automatic. The shifter was rubbery and had far too much vibration, the throw was long and imprecise, and the engine was buzzy and had little power up top. I prefer her automatic, for the sole reason that the yaris is not a sporty car. It handles like the toaster it resembles. I like the SX4 and the Fit better, though neither of those is an exact comparison to the 3 door fit. Fuel economy was also relatively disappointing- our experience suggested around 30-32 in town, and a max of 35 at high speeds. I attributed the poor highway mpg to the boxy package and the relatively high gearing. Hey, my 1996 Ford Escort used to get 38 mpg highway…

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