Saved: The 2017 Toyota Yaris iA

The 2017 Toyota Yaris iA.

Toyota's decision to shutter its Scion division at the end of the 2016 model year resulted in a couple of cars too good to die being shuffled across the corporate hall into the Toyota lineup.  One is the Scion FR-S, which our Publisher and Executive Editor has raved about since its introduction, and which is now the Toyota 86.

The other is the Scion iA sedan, which is now the Toyota Yaris iA.

Under-Promise and Over-Deliver: The 2015 Toyota Yaris

The 2015 Toyota Yaris.

The Toyota Yaris, on paper, seems like a horrible car.  The name is neither memorable nor pleasing to the ear, it is not particularly attractive---the new aggressive corporate face looks rather angry and frustrated on the Yaris---its 106 horsepower trails even that of the Nissan Versa by three, the Honda Fit by 24, and its EPA fuel economy estimate is only 30 city/36 highway, which brings up the rear in that group of the big Japanese three's subcompacts.

Blame that on a four-speed automatic transmission as opposed to the Versa and Fit's continuously variable transmissions. Four gears equates to higher RPMs at speed, which means worse fuel economy, and a higher level of noise and harshness.

New Car Review: 2012 Toyota Yaris




The 2012 Toyota Yaris 5-Door front view.

As unloved as the last-generation Toyota Yaris was, this new one will surprise a lot of people. We were among the Yaris' few fans here at TireKicker...considering it a perfectly good sedan in its class...but with a lot of competition at its price-point. It wasn't helped, among automotive journalists or buyers, by the fact that it wasn't an especially attractive car.

Well, Toyota has fixed that, with a 5-door Yaris design for 2012 that pictures don't do justice to. It is an utterly contemporary small car, with clean, crisp lines. It just plain looks good as you walk up to it.

Toyota Yaris 5-door Review

If you haven't already read my post from last fall about the 2009 Toyota Yaris Sedan, now'd be a good time.

The 5-door? All the good stuff you get with the four-door minus the trunk, but plus the convenience of a hatch.

The price? Would you believe exactly ten dollars more than the as-tested price of the four-door...with the same EPA estimated 29 city/35 highway miles per gallon.

As with the four-door, there are the questions about what else $16,700 and change could buy you...but the Yaris in either configuration is well worth a look and a test drive.

Toyota Yaris Sedan Review

On the day the Toyota Yaris sedan was scheduled for delivery, I braced my self for an adventure in minicar-land. My last seat time in a Yaris was in the three-door hatchback (which resembles a rollerskate), and that's about the only Yari found roaming the streets in my neighborhood.

But when the four-door Yaris arrived it was a revelation: This is what we used to call a Corolla.

We probably won't see much more of it, but we've been living with "mission creep" for the last decade or more. Car manufacturers keep taking the cars up the ladder of size and luxury until humble Camrys are the size of Avalons, Corollas become what Camrys were and Yari (at least the 4-door sedan variety) take the place of the Corolla.

Which means the Avalon is probably somewhere between an E-Class and an S-Class these days.

Point is, the 4-door Yaris is actually a quite good conventional compact sedan. There's no sense of cutting-edge this or outside the box that (apart from that center-mounted speedometer, which mainly keeps costs low in building both left-hand and right-hand drive models).

Four people fit comfortably, it moves well and is reasonably quiet (considerably quieter than the more expensive Matrix). $13,765 gets you a 1.5 liter 4 cylinder engine, with a four-speed automatic transmission (five-speed manuals are available for less money), air conditioning, an "audio prep package" and the usual basics.

The test vehicle added $1500 to that for the Power Package (power door locks, power windows, power outside mirrors, a fold-down 60/40 rear seat, an AM/FM/CD/mp3 player with iPod jack, curise control, nicer interior trim, a rear window defroster and an upgrade to 15 inch wheels (14s are standard) with full wheel covers.

$150 worth of floor mats and cargo mats, $359 for a security system, $230 for remote keyless entry and $720 for delivery and the bottom line is:

$16,724.

Hmm.

Now the problem here is that for that money, you could probably step up to the Corolla or a Honda Civic. So why buy the Yaris?

Two reasons. One: Fuel economy (the EPA says 29 city, 35 highway). Two: Ratchet back the options list (blow your kids' minds by showing them manual window cranks) and you can get a basic but decently-equipped Yaris for $14,000 or so.

Truth is, there's a lot of competition at this price point and the Yaris is far from the hands-down winner. But if you're excluding it because you think it's too small, you should definitely test-drive the four-door.