Toyota Yaris Hybrid

Payton

I'm looking at a 161 hybrid yaris from a main dealer and wondering what people who own one find them for driving as in pros and cons of them, mainly used for short driving trips and city driving. I was looking at an EV but the cost was out of my budget.

ei9go

If you can live with the horrible gearbox and just the increase in noise when you accelerate and very little else.

Drive it and floor the accelerator and see what happens .

colm_mcm

Meh, that’s the same with any hybrid. Can’t see the OP gunning it flat-out around the city all day.

zilog_jones

ei9go wrote: »

If you can live with the horrible gearbox and just the increase in noise when you accelerate and very little else.

Drive it and floor the accelerator and see what happens .

I never really understood comments like these - the eCVT boxes are adequately responsive and the current ones are quiet at cruising speeds. If you floor it you're calling for maximum power, and like with any typical normal modern petrol car you need to go over 5,000 RPM to get peak power - the transmission will get there if you ask for it, and relatively quickly and efficiently. And then when you get to the desired speed it'll quickly and smoothly go back down to 1,500 RPM or whatever.

I can only assume some people are scared of revving their engine enough to actually get the amount of power they are capable of delivering?

Press the loud pedal and you get loud - that's how ICE cars are supposed to work. An eCVT box won't let you labour up a hill or drive in an inefficient ratio for the situation.

Soarer

Great little car, and infinitely reliable.

Get it serviced every year from a main dealer and you maintain a rolling 12 month hybrid warranty.

There's great value to be had in the UK if you can travel. The low VRT is a great incentive.

blobert

Have had a 2013 one for the past 3 years.

Fantastic car: utterly reliable and even if I drive it with no attention to fuel economy I get 55-60 mpg+

Decent space for lugging furniture etc with the seats down also.

road_high

Don’t like the Yaris- I know they’re very reliable and economical etc but I think they’re very tiny and small compared to supermini rivals. Fine for town driving but if you’re doing regular long journeys I’d have a good think

Payton

Soarer wrote: »

Great little car, and infinitely reliable.

Get it serviced every year from a main dealer and you maintain a rolling 12 month hybrid warranty.

There's great value to be had in the UK if you can travel. The low VRT is a great incentive.

I have a 09 yaris always had Toyotas as I found them very reliable. I'll have a look today at some uk garages to see what is available.

Payton

road_high wrote: »

Don’t like the Yaris- I know they’re very reliable and economical etc but I think they’re very tiny and small compared to supermini rivals. Fine for town driving but if you’re doing regular long journeys I’d have a good think

Herself likes to drive on the long journeys in her car so I just sit back. Furthest I would be going in it would be Ikea or just past the airport.

Payton

blobert wrote: »

Have had a 2013 one for the past 3 years.

Fantastic car: utterly reliable and even if I drive it with no attention to fuel economy I get 55-60 mpg+

Decent space for lugging furniture etc with the seats down also.

Good to hear :-)

8-10

I drive a 171 (first of the current model which launched in ~May that year)

Exterior grill and back lights are much nicer and modern than the previous model and the dash display is much nicer.

I've also rented the last model abroad and it's a very similar drive but not quite as nice (can't put my finger on why), but not substantial at all.

Cons are the tech system. Screen is poor, interface is worse and Bluetooth volume is a problem sometimes, I take a lot of calls when driving. But it's not the end of the world, it works.

Boot space is also very small, and back seats are cramped if you're a big person. We're all small enough in my household so it's fine inside, doesn't feel low down to drive.

Pros are the economy. I go about 650km on a full tank, including M50 daily which isn't as good for the hybrid, which is about 30L so cheap to fill. Lowest tax band and my insurance has gone down 2 years in a row and is cheapest I've had in a long long time. I drive it on eco mode all the time. It's also quiet. Very quiet.

Reversing camera is also excellent, can't remember if older model has it standard but it's useful, as is the pre-collision detection. I have the lane-departure turned off as the roads in town are too much of a trigger for it. Tyre pressure warning is also handy.

Overall: if you don't expect to bring much baggage in the boot, aren't over 6ft tall, want to keep running costs down and aren't precious about your tech system/speakers etc then I fully recommend it. I have it on PCP and buying outright in 6months after the 3yrs, hoping we'll get another 15yrs out of it at least.

Payton

8-10 Thank you, that's a good honest review on the car.