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Comments
Right now it seems its very limited on getting what you want with your liftback. I had to get a liftback with other things added to it to land one the closest to what I wanted. But the extras are actually pretty nice to have. Got all the airbags and convience package and bad weather package.
Anyway. Talk to your allotment guy at your dealership. And keep checking back with him till you find one close to what you want. I had to go back every week for a month till we found one close to what I wanted.
Currently LONGO Toyota, a very large dealership, has 45 Yaris sedans in stock...but only 1 liftback. Apparently, the sedans are coming in volume at first.....and the liftbacks are arriving just a few at a time.
I am assuming that when an order is placed.....that if there is no suitable model available within a geographic distance.....and there is no suitable model either on its way.....or in production at the factory....that the order will be placed in the queue at the factory for subsequent production and delivery. Anyone have any feedback on this?
I believe you are right that one has to be available in your area of the country or its more difficult and expensive to get shipped to your dealership. I would recommend to find out what day your allocation guy at your dealership gets his list of cars alloted to your area each week. My guy got his info. on tuesdays. So I went down there every tuesday to see what might be available.
I am in the process of waiting for a shipment of yarii to arrive at a dealership in Wallingford, CT. One should be coming in a color with amenties I'm looking for. It has arrived in US at the "distribution center" and should be in in the next 7 days (this is all salesman's talk). Anyway, while I'm waiting, I've been searching other dealers locally for inventory available. The size of the dealerships in CT do not approach those in CA, but at A1 Toyota in New Haven, they have 4 total Yarii. 2 are HB's. Both have listing of "3DR HB AT (E)". 1 is Bayou Blue. Other HB is Blazing Blue. Price with 50 states emissions and convenience package is $13,320. Their website is http://www.a1toyota.com if you want to check it out. Too bad you are so far away. Road trip?
Pros:
The ride. This car has a great ride, to me. I'm no car expert, but it rides great. I like the driver's seat, it's very comfy. The cup holders are numerous and very functional. My cup holders on my old car allowed my drink to turn over or fall out and spill when I started up, which happened about a hundred times. Some Toyota engineer actually thought about this problem, and the cups fit deeply into the holders practically eliminating the possibility of a spill. I like that!
The display is good, in the center of course.
The stereo sounds good, and the little plug-in for your mp3 player is nice.
The mileage seems real good. I do mostly highway driving,with some city of course, and I seem to be getting around 38 mgp right now.
Cons:
People generally do not react well, that is, they are not very impressed with this car. They think it's dinky and why did I buy it. You are not supposed to care about what other people think, but in the real world you do.
The cars are being imported slowly, so there is not a good selection, and in my case I bought one without cruise control. I am a cruise addict, so I asked them about adding it in, and they said they had no information about the availability of cruise as an aftermarket add-on. I am getting used to driving without cruise, but I wonder how long I will have to wait to get it. A year?
I didn't get the power option, and manually adjusting the mirror positions is pretty silly. No car should be sold today that requires you to roll the window down and manually adust the mirrors.
I do miss my heat engine display, but maybe it's not necessary if the engine never overheats!
You have to ask, why buy the Yaris over the Corolla? I don't know the answer. What is the price differential, if similarly equipped with power options, keyless entry, cruise, etc - $1,500, $2,000? The Corolla is one good-looking car. I can hear Marlon Brando exclaiming, "I could have had a Corolla!"
Overall, for me I will be quite satisfied, at least when I get my cruise control. But I wil make a prediction - no matter how high gas goes, America will not accept the 2 door Yaris.
But here is what I found. Aftermarket cruise control is going to be available in a month or two specifically for '07 Yaris!!! Thats fills in the last desirable feature for this car! Check it out here:
http://www.rostra.com/cruise-control.htm
(click on "custom kits now available" to see the one for Yaris)
Or do you feel that people won't like the look of the sedan, either? I happen to like the look of both the sedan and the hatchback, especially the sedan.
Question for ya, chesscat, do you notice your Yaris hatchback try to wander on the expressway, or not want to track straight-ahead properly? I read this on a review but sort of doubted it's valididty right as I was reading it.
Yep, the two Yarii I am looking at at my local dealer are 5-speed sedans with the Convenience Package but w/o the Power Package, so I would be hand-cranking the windows. Yes, that might elicit a rude comment from a friend riding with me someday, I don't know. I could see how people might think that's kind of weird that a carmaker would pop a car out without power windows these days. I don't know, Kia's Rio doesn't have power w's, l's and m's and I still consider a Rio5 and Rio LX sedan in the running for my next new car, so maybe the carmaker's figure we do have the intelligence to handle the fact that they leave out certain things to save us cash in the initial purchase price. It saves them parts and equipment outlay cash in the production of the car, too. Those items are extremely peripheral, to me, anyway. The bulk and hulk of both the Yarii and the Rio twins are solid gold IMHO.
Both would fit like a champ for me!
Happy weekend motoring!
2021 Kia Soul LX 6-speed stick
With respect to the looks, for the sake of completeness I must add that as I was coming out of a commercial parking lot a couple of days ago, the two girl attendants both were excited and requested a ride, and one offered to have relations for a ride, which I did not accept. So not all reactions to the look are less than enthusiastic. With respect to the 4-door, I don't have one, as you know the 2-door was designed in Europe, and the 4-door designed somewhere else. Since I don't have the 4-door, my opinion on its looks would just be based on pictures or something. I don't know that the 2-door's looks are bad, just most reactions from people don't seem to be positive. For me though, it's a cool car. I can't wait to get that cruise!
Doesn't work for me because all I am interested in are the small economy cars, SUV's and crossovers. So there you go. I have to be the final judge on what I decide to buy regardless of what others say or write or even think about the rig I like and eventually buy.
Fortunately the Barcelona Red and Nautical Blue 5-speed Yarii sedans are not selling while I drag my feet about pouncing on them.
2021 Kia Soul LX 6-speed stick
I bought a 4 door sedan saturday 4/16/04 , I was in the market for a new car and being 6'4" tall man I needed room, i wanted a new corolla but after sitting in it with driver seat all the way back and adjustable steering all the way up , i was cramped, did not feel comfortable at all, as i was used to my 98 avalon (my trade in) 80,000 miles on it got $4000 trade, but anyway my wife noticed this cute little car sitting over across from the corollas, we asked the sales man what is that , because neither of us had heard of the yaris at that point, he said its new just came out its called a yaris, so we decided to get in it , I was shocked it actually had more room for me than the corolla , with the seat all the way back and seat reclined somewhat I was very comfortable, so I said get the keys I want to drive it we drove it around town and took it on the highway it cruised at 70 mph very nicely the ride was good ( not the best) suspension was a little stiff but overall good handled real good cornered real good, I fell in love and bought it, it was one of two that they had i bought the automatic (wife) its real zippy so I can say this car will do good on the american market,, LOVE IT !
A Yaris is waiting over there for me.
2021 Kia Soul LX 6-speed stick
There IS a dealer near me that has a sedan in blue with a stick, and it's loaded up to include cruise. The sticker is $16,000 flat. Power package etc. For that money, I say to myself "go with the Corolla for the same money, it will be quieter on long road trips and have a better stereo".....or maybe the Fit, for $500 less?
2014 Mini Cooper (stick shift of course), 2016 Camry hybrid, 2009 Outback Sport 5-spd (keeping the stick alive)
I share the experience of another poster on this blog who simply saw a Yaris while vehicle shopping for somehting like a Scion Xa in order to get better gas mileage than my 2002 Subaru Legacy. I drove a base Yaris that had arrived that day at the dealership. Not even the saleman knew much. All I knew was that I loved in the test drive! That was about 4 weeks ago, and they gave up trying to locate one for me, and I am waiting for their next allotment shipment, which has already arrived in NJ. I am anxious to see if they get any liftbacks among them.
They didn't like a few things, though.
They are the small amount of room in the back(duh, it's an economy 4-door, why is this even mentioned?), too much body roll(again, this is a small economy rig, not built for throwing into the twisties, who drives like that, anyway?)and the fact the the electronic power-assisted steering assisted too much(humm...only a test drive could prove this one out). They mentioned making sure you held two hands on the wheel over 55mph. Also, they disliked the center-mounted gauge cluster.
I test drove a 2006 Scion xA with the center gauges and got used to it pretty quick, so I don't think that's an issue with me. Price? Reasonable. Looks? Nice. I think I have my front-runner picked out for the time being. Meanwhile, my Sportage 4x4 from 2001 just blew out it's first light bulb. 5 years of ownership and one blown bulb.
Wow!
2021 Kia Soul LX 6-speed stick
If you look at the Toyota Australia website the 80KW(105hp) Yaris is rated at 6.1 kilometers per 100 liters of gas, while the Corolla, 93KW(126HP) is rated at 7.5 kilometers per 100 liters. This is a big improvement in MPG.
iluv: I have to say I went in expecting wobbly tracking above 55 mph and over-boosted steering - those are present to some degree in the Echo (the wobbly steering, just barely, but the overboosted steering, quite a lot). I found them to be absent in the Yaris, and was most glad that Toyota had expunged them from this model. The steering has nice weight to it and decent road feel. The C&D editros are just used to driving very expensive cars, that's all. It has become almost impossible for them to lower their hair enough to properly judge economy cars. Rather than looking at their individual critiques of each car, I found it more useful to look at the comparative stuff - where they felt one model excelled the others, and where it noticeably fell short of the others. The best way to make use of the C&D article IMO would be to note these relative strengths and shortcomings and be sure to look for them when you finally take your own test drive.
BTW, the sedan and the hatch feel different during the drive. I don't know why - perhaps the length and wheelbase differences? Both have better steering than the Echo, but the hatch feels more nimble than the sedan.
2014 Mini Cooper (stick shift of course), 2016 Camry hybrid, 2009 Outback Sport 5-spd (keeping the stick alive)
I like the look of it (red in color) and it is very easy to drive - perhaps the easiest car to drive I have ever driven - although if you make driving errors, it will transmit them very directly. Small cars, small airplanes, and small boats share this feature, so driving smoothly requires a good touch at the wheel.
Our other car is a Saab 9-3, which feels like a tank (and accelerates like a rocket) by comparison. Another family member drives a 2.5 liter Subaru so each of our cars has very enjoyable driving features and each is quite interesting and enjoyable in its own way. Variety is the spice of life.
The first Yaris change I made was going with the world's best all-season tires - the Nokian WR - and I don't regret that move a bit. The Subby also has 'em.
My requirements for next car are small, hatch, manual, ABS. I can't imagine in 2006 someone skimping to save a few bucks on ABS and buying a non-ABS new car. I've been to several driving schools and events, and it is of obvious value to 99% of drivers. Anyway, seeing that this kind of thing is standard/optional on, say, a Scion xA or Honda Fit or Hyundai Accent, I can't believe it is not at least optional on a Yaris hatch.
What a buzzkill.
Anyone know if you can special order a Yaris hatch with ABS? If I'm going to be driving this car for 4-5 years, I can't see skipping it.
Thanks.
As much as I love the Yaris...I don't want to be more susceptible to having an accident because it lacks decent safety features. I drive about 25,000 miles a year at least so I have lots of opportunities for accidents to happen....especially when more and more people aren't paying attention.
I drove a VW beetle in the 70s and 80s commuting 60 miles to and from work each date in upstate NY, in lake effect snow during the winter. No ABS not even disc brakes. Unbelievablely bad steering control. (excellent traction however) Never had an accident. Ill trust my brain anyday over some gadget. You have a point though there are a lot of morons out there.
Toyota has sent mixed messages on ABS in recent years - it has been standard on all the Camrys for a long time, yet it is very rare to find a Corolla built with ABS, even the ones that have the side airbags/curtains package. It is standard on the very cheap $15K base model Tacoma truck, yet on Toyota cars at the same price point, it is impossible to find? That sucks.
And then of course, Toyota is TOTALLY treating the liftback as the red-headed stepchild of the Yaris line. The only liftbacks available on Toyota's "build your own" in my area are base models and those with the convenience package and nothing else. Not that build your own is the definitive predictor of what will be out there, but it doesn't bode well. The liftbacks get shorted options, which I don't like. The power package in the sedan includes cruise control, in the liftback it doesn't, despite using the same powertrain.
All manual-equipped sedans get a tach, but liftbacks don't - why is that? And I'm still not quite over my surprise that in the year 2006 the only way to an $11K base price for the liftback is through deleting the rear defroster and radio - sheesh! Yet all cars get four stereo speakers - that seems silly if you are selling the car without a radio. Put the defroster and wiper back in the base car, and remove the speakers for goodness' sake. Someone who wants to buy their own stereo will want their own speakers too, which are bound to be better than the stock speakers in an $11K car.
2014 Mini Cooper (stick shift of course), 2016 Camry hybrid, 2009 Outback Sport 5-spd (keeping the stick alive)
ABS IS A STAND ALONE OPTION ON ALL MODELS OF THE YARIS.
email me with any other ?'s at ataylor@obrienteam.com
Theoretically, you should be able to build a Yaris liftback manual with convenience package, ABS, and side airbags, for about $13K sticker, or a little less even. There is no chance such a car will be produced and ordered for dealer stock anywhere near where I live, maybe anywhere in the U.S.
Maybe I will have to go ask my nearest dealer about ordering procedures....I don't think they are going to be thrilled with me, however.
2014 Mini Cooper (stick shift of course), 2016 Camry hybrid, 2009 Outback Sport 5-spd (keeping the stick alive)
the Yaris used 6.1L for a 100KM ride while the Corolla
used 7.5L for a 100KM ride. Rather than directly convert
the number to MPG look at the ratios, the Yaris gets
22% better fuel economy over the Corolla. Contrast this
to the US Toyota web site which has both cars at about the
same MPG.
This just show the variation in results based on test methods and perhap the Yaris actually get 20% better MPG
over the Corolla.
If you want a small car get a 2007 Chevy Aveo-much better looking inside and out.
The Aveo squirms on the pavement (I am guessing because of its very cheap Korean tires, couldn't they AT LEAST have sprung for the Hankooks? Not that I am a big fan of Hankooks), has zero feedback in the steering, and has a fairly raspy little engine, not to mention a shifter that feels like a big spoon in a bowl of mushy spaghetti. Not to mention a fairly jittery ride. It is a good example of a car made to be cheap, rather than a car made to be good at a low price point. (and yes, there is a difference)
But I suspect you are yet another in a long and glorious line of members of the public who saw the center-mounted instruments in the Yaris (and xA, xB, Prius, and Echo before it), decided you hated them, and then went on to hate the rest of the car they were sitting in. Close?
kneis1: I think those ratings for the Corolla haven't changed since it came down the line in early 2002. Perhaps they are not totally accurate now. The Yaris did turn out to be the fuel champ in C&D's recent comparo, posting 36 mpg overall, despite their lead feet. The only other competitor that was anywhere close was the Fit, at 35 mpg.
Despite the almost identical EPA ratings for Yaris and Corolla, I would personally expect to get as much as 10% worse gas mileage in the Corolla. We are talking maybe three or four points here, not a huge difference.
2014 Mini Cooper (stick shift of course), 2016 Camry hybrid, 2009 Outback Sport 5-spd (keeping the stick alive)
sorry, but your numbers are quite a bit off:
yaris curb weight---2290 lbs
corolla cub weight--2530 lbs
so, the corolla only weighs 240 lbs more than yaris. at 126 hp, it has 20 more hp than yaris. i think with the corolla toyota struck a perfect balance between weight and power. i researched long and hard on these 2 cars before going with the corolla. there were just too many owners exceeding the epa numbers (32/41--5 speeds) with their corollas. indeed, this has been the case for me. even in 50% hwy--50% city i have yet to get less than 36 mpg. my last 3 mostly highway tanks are as follows (80-90% highway at 70-72 mph): in us gallons
44.3 mpg
41.6 mpg
43.8 mpg
i believe in purely city driving the yaris will do a bit better than the corolla (1-2 mpg), but the more highway driving done is where i think corolla really excels. im thinkin the yaris revs a little high at highway speeds, so the hwy mileage may suffer for this.
while i dont prefer the center gauge cluster, i still almost bought a yaris. ill overlook a styling quirk for the sake of quality and efficiency in the yaris.
Dont pay any attention to stevetroll333.
at any rate my mpg numbers are real, and im very methodical about keeping track of mileage. my driving habits, though, are very geared toward achieving high mileage. there are plenty of other 03-06 corolla owners with manual tranny doing as well as i.
still, ive read alot of account of echo owners getting some crazy highway mileage- like 45+ mpg, and close to 40 mpg in more urban settings. if i drove an echo in the exact same fashion that i drive the corolla, i would expect to do better than i do in the corolla.
The argument that claims ABS is useless or of marginal value is about like the arguments where someone knows the 1 person who was hurt by actually wearing a seatbelt, or the 1%-er who would have been better off without an airbag, IMHO.
ABS is misunderstood. It is not intended to make you stop shorter. It is to allow you to have more steering in the event of a skid. See, when you skid, and the wheels stop turning, you can no longer steer since your steering wheels have to turn to be effective. No human can pump the brakes on and off 15 times per second while steering and driving effectively. Of course, no system will completely reverse the laws of physics, either. There must be a reason why aircraft and heavy trucks have used ABS for many years now, and were the first to utilize the system. I doubt is was because it was a useless idea.
I beg to differ with those who claim ABS, stability contol, etc, are not invaluable. Sure, there is a tiny instance where maybe not, and .5 percent of drivers might be that skilled that they can do as well on their own. For you non-believers, I invite you to go to a track with a wet skidpad and try some accident avoidance in a car with and without ABS, and car with and without stability control.
One course I attended at the Panoz facility in Braselton, GA, I had a really talented instructor, and he told me that no matter how good he was, the truth was he could not beat ABS or ESP ( stab control ) when it came down to it. Then he proceeded to take me out on a couple of demos of the systems, avoiding hay bales, etc, and proved it to me.
To each his own. Some people think the moon landing was faked in 1969, too, and they are entitled to their opinions. I'll stick with ABS. I do agree that some may overdrive the ABS system feeling a false sense of security. Since that is not how I drive, not a concern to me.
I went to look at the Yaris today on the way home. Unfortunately, I got a clueless salesperson who did not know that the sedan even had AMS available. First he told me it was not an option, until I pointed it out on the window sticker. Then, he tried to talk me into a Corolla instead. Too bad that with 30 min of internet research, I knew far more about the car than he. The fact that he took a cell phone call in the middle of talking to me, and told the person on the other end that he would be done with me in 10 minutes kind of made me think, hmm, so I only have 15 total minutes with you? After hanging up, he proceeded to tell me that for my information all Yaris were sold at MSRP. I had not even asked about price. So, I couldn't see even considering spending money at a place where their people are this incompetent, so I left disappointed.
Anyway, glad to hear that ABS is an option on the hatch. Now, when I get ready, all I have to do is find a Toyota dealer with any semblance of knowledge and tact. I used to sell Audis for a few years, and I guess maybe I am used to high end stores like Audi and BMW, where it was my experience that people are treated a little differently and salespeople are a heck of a lot more professional. I don't know. Quite shocked at the ignorance and lack of sales skills at the Toyo place...sad.