Toyota Yaris Review
Published: 13th April 2006
Toyota Yaris
With the seats in place, the boot has a high, flat platform with no cumbersome lip, which is great for loading heavy items but doesn't provide support for shopping. Underneath this floor is a secondary compartment with built-in trays to house the tool kit or other expensive items away from prying eyes.
The Yaris is available in three trim levels: T2, T3 and T Spirit. The test car was a T3, which adds front side, curtain and driver's knee airbags to the specification. The T3 is the only one to have manual air-conditioning and the T Spirit is the only model to have climate control air-conditioning and pollen filter. The latter also features the keyless Smart Start and Entry with push-button start. T3 and T Spirit have a reach-adjustable function over the standard, stepless, rake adjustable steering wheel.
Another benefit of choosing one of the two higher trim levels is the optional Turn-by-Turn Sat-Nav with Electronic Traffic Avoidance (ETA) costing £1,150. The audio system for these two is upgraded from an RDS radio/CD player with four speakers to an RDS radio/CD that also plays CD-based MP3 and WMA files with two extra speakers and secondary, wheel-mounted controls.
On paper, the test car's performance figures do not look very exciting. It takes a leisurely 15.7 seconds to reach 62mph from standstill and the top speed is 96mph. This 998cc unit produces a mere 68bhp at 6,000 rpm and 93NM of torque at 3,600 rpm. However, while it isn't too quick off the mark, this willing, free-running engine is surprisingly fast when it gets going in much the same way as Daihatsu's delightful, if diminutive Copen.
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