Here's most of the review on the Yaris. CR Model Summary The Toyota Yaris offers excellent fuel economy and reliability, but overall it trails better economy cars. The ride is compliant and handling is reasonably responsive but gets sloppy and hard to control at its limits, especially in the hatchback model. Stops are very long without the optional ABS. Acceleration is adequate, but engine and road noise result in a loud cabin. The compromised driving position and the center-mounted gauges are frustrations. Although the starting price is enticingly low, a well-equipped Yaris sedan can easily top $15,000. Ultimately the Yaris scored too low in our testing to be recommended. Road Test Tested model: 2007 Base 2-door hatchback, 1.5-liter Four, 5-speed manual Tested tires: Bridgestone Potenza RE92, size P185/60R15 84T The Yaris is available as a funky hatchback and a conventional sedan. Both deliver excellent fuel economy and a very good ride. Handling is sloppy and unforgiving at its limits. Acceleration is adequate, but the engine is noisy at high revs. Stopping distances for our non-ABS hatchback were extremely long, and ABS is hard to find. Many drivers found the driving position flawed. Options can quickly drive the price up from the spartan base car. THE DRIVING EXPERIENCE For an inexpensive car the ride is compliant and absorbs bumps well, but quick body motions disrupt somewhat. Road noise is pronounced, and the engine note is boomy. The Yaris feels responsive, but the steering is overly light at low speeds. It firms up appropriately at higher speeds but isn't linear. Body lean is moderate. At its limits the Yaris is sloppy, with so-so grip. The rear end slid out too easily in our avoidance maneuver and around our track, especially in the hatchback. The Yaris would greatly benefit from stability control, but like most cars in this class, it's not available. The 106-hp, 1.5-liter four-cylinder engine returned an excellent 34 mpg overall when paired with the five-speed manual transmission. The smooth-shifting four-speed automatic gets 33 mpg overall, but acceleration is blunted. Braking distances without ABS are extremely long, in both dry and wet conditions. Opt for ABS if you can find it. Low-beam headlights don't illuminate far enough ahead. INSIDE THE CABIN The interior has lots of hard plastic, and there are exposed screws. The tilt-only steering wheel is too far forward, and there isn't much room to rest your left foot. The pedals are very close together and are close to the driver, making it difficult to drive the manual smoothly. Wide roof pillars, rear head restraints, and the hatchback's center rear safety-belt routing hurt rear visibility. Some drivers wanted more lumbar support from the firm seats. The sedan's manual height adjustment helps thigh support. The taller hatchback offers better head room. Rear access is better in the sedan. The gauges, mounted at the dashboard center, are too far away and the sedan's gauges are smaller and harder to read. The confusing climate fan switch drew complaints. The externally adjusted manual mirrors in the hatchback are a long reach. The sedan holds more luggage than the hatchback. Our hatchback?s rear seat is not a 60/40-split, but a one-piece unit; however, a split rear seat is optional. SAFETY NOTES Curtain head-protection air bags, which deploy to protect outboard occupants in both rows, and seatback-mounted side-impact air bags are available as an extra-cost Air Bag Package for the Yaris. The air bags supplement required front air bags and three-point seatbelts for all seating positions. The front seatbelts in the sedan version have adjustable upper anchors for providing a more comfortable and safe fit; these are not adjustable in the hatchback. Front belts in both bodystyles are equipped with pretensioners and force limiters to reduce belt slack and forces in the event of a crash. An occupant classification system for the front passenger seat detects if a child is seated there and will automatically disable the front air bags for that seat. Pretensioners for the front passenger seat will also not deploy if that seat is unoccupied. There are adjustable, locking head restraints for all seats. The front versions are tall enough even when lowered to reduce rearward head travel and whiplash injury. The rear versions must be raised to provide sufficient protection for taller occupants. Driving with kids: Rear-facing seats may prove difficult to secure in the rear center seat of the Yaris hatchback -- the belts are anchored forward of the seatback and the top tether anchors are very difficult to access below the cargo area load floor at the base of the rear seatbacks. Lower LATCH anchors in the hatchback are also more deeply recessed between the seatback and cushion, making accessing them awkward. RELIABILITY We expect reliability to be much better than average, according to our latest subscriber survey.
The article is clearly about ride comfort on road. Hopefully people reading it will get one positive thing out of it....SUVs, especially off-road SUVs, are terrible on road cars. Maybe a few less people will buy a Jeep or Hummer once they realize what an on-road pain they are.
Before I was sold on Japanese cars I commuted in a gas-hog Ford Extinction (expedition) SUV. Gas prices were high and my next door neighbor had Ford Exploder. We started carpooling together to conserve our gasoline. One morning while I was waiting for her to pull out the Explore from the garage this little white sphere rolled out instead. At the time I didn’t know what it was, but it was Toyota Yaris LB. I never saw anything like it before. During the commutes there were people on the streets that would stop what they were doing and would stare as the car went by children would wave and some people would even smile (which is rear nowadays). I never seen such a little car get this much attention by strangers. People didn’t know what it was since the car had only been in the showrooms for few weeks. On the same commute we also ran into another Yaris driver (frequently) going in the other direction. He would honk his horn and wave and we would do the same. The next week instead of taking Ford Extinction my neighbor let me drive her Yaris. It was a thrill. After a week of driving that Yaris I was sold on Toyota. Six months later I bought my first Japanese car. My only mistake it should have been a Toyota Yaris.
Consumer Reports is not exactly a trustworthy source of information. Quoted from their website. PIXAR???? And why would the include comments about reliability and cost of ownership, and then say it doesn't matter? I have never trusted anything that comes out of that company.
Actually, from the Wikipedia entry about Steve Jobs: He still has a lot of influence in the direction Pixar takes, but he is much more hands off there than his role at Apple where he pretty much dictates what does and does not make it out of the door.
Pixar is not, and never has been part of Apple. You would think that a company that is supposed to be a reliable source would check their facts. Add to this the contradictions in almost all of their top 10 lists and I have to wonder why anyone would listen to them.
Well its a pretty strange statement all around. Steve Jobs, as is well-known, can be a P.I.T.A, but "disrupting" the computer and music industries??? Apple made the personal computer personal, and half the kids now buy music instead of stealing it. I personally think he's a genius-- I don't think there is much disagreement or not. THough I think he also has a god complex. Well anyway does say something re: Consumer Reports. I think the cars least like the Camry might work. --des
Hi All: ___Cory J. passed me a note that the Toyota Open Road Blog posted some of their own info on the “11 Worst” according to CNNMoney. The Yaris hitting the list was a figment of the author’s imagination apparently. Consumer Reports doesn’t rate it anywhere near the bottom of any of its lists as most of us had thought a swell. While all of us were scratching our heads wondering what the hell they were talking about, somebody started digging and found that someone was making some stuff up for whatever reason … When "Worst" Really is "Best" ___Thanks for the update and link Cory! ___Good Luck ___Wayne
We could hope, but often they just soften the ride for those that wabnt to drive SUVs on the highway.
The Yaris is in good company - CR rated the smart cdi diesel "one of the worst cars we've ever tested". they also panned my Peugeot 405 in 1988. Then I bought one, and enjoyed the finest-handling FWD chassis ever made for 250,000 miles of trouble-free motoring. I still have it, and it needs a a new ball joint and driveshaft to make it right again. CR is bollox.
