Review of the new Toyota Yaris - Business View

It's a grey Monday morning and gusts of icy drizzle assault the back of your neck as you struggle in from the office car park. Today's the day your company car gets downsized to cut costs and you'll be presented with the keys to an as yet unknown but certainly less salubrious mode of transport. You're far from happy and the flames of anger have already been fanned by the office comedian who presented you with a beautifully wrapped set of bicycle clips on Friday afternoon. The lift is out of order, so you trudge up the stairs and scowl your way across the office to your desk. It's 10.00am before the grinning fleet manager saunters over with the news, your new company car is a Toyota Yaris.

In days gone by, this kind of scenario might have ended badly. Perhaps with a jagged hole roughly the size of a flat screen monitor in the partition wall or maybe with the fleet manager grinning through a face full of tepid vending machine coffee. Even a rash resignation might not have been out of the question back then but times have changed. Not only have small cars become massively more sophisticated and capable but company car drivers, partly through choice and partly through necessity, have become much more inclined to consider these models when choosing their next vehicle. A company Toyota Yaris, far from being an affront to your status as assistant sales manager at Hereford's second largest double glazing firm, might actually turn out to be the smartest decision you've ever had forced upon you.

The best bit about doing your company mileage in a Yaris rather than the sort of vehicle we more readily associate with company cars is the cost. The Yaris is available with an all-aluminium 1.4-litre D-4D turbocharged diesel engine which official figures indicate is capable of returning 62.8mpg. There are very few cars on the market of any kind that can go further on a gallon of diesel than this one and with accompanying emissions of 119g/km, you'll accrue significant tax savings as well.

Further advantages materialise for fleet managers who can pay significantly less than the £11,000 to £12,000 list price for a D-4D Yaris, the sort of money that wont get them access to the most bog standard Ford Mondeo or Vauxhall Insignia. Residual values for the little Toyota are also surprisingly buoyant, particularly as compact, fuel efficient cars are just about the only growth area the car market has left in these tricky times.

"If you have the flexibility to do so, superminis like the Toyota Yaris might be worth a look."

There are downsides to running a Yaris as a company car of course, but these centre around its size and if you can get past them, it's largely plain sailing. The Yaris is shorter than the latest generation of larger superminis such as the Fiat Grande Punto and the Renault Clio. Part of the reason why these cars are so large is compliance with pedestrian impact legislation which is adding a few centimetres to the nose of many models like these. The Yaris gets round this one by arcing the bonnet high over the unyielding mechanicals to provide a deformable surface. What it can't get around is the lack of interior space and as a car for all the family it will struggle.

The Yaris is competitive with other superminis in terms of interior space but way down on the kinds of vehicles that company car users usually choose. At least it's clever with what room it has. Fold the EasyFlat rear seats down and you're treated to a large stowage area. This system allows the rear bench to be split 60:40 and both sections to slide independently. Therefore it's possible to transport long, bulky items without impinging on a rear passenger's legroom allowance. With the rear seats in place though, the boot space is tiny.

There's only so much money that can be thrown at a car where margins are this tight and there are plenty of unlined cubbies and hard plastics on display. This is somewhat disappointing for something otherwise so well built. The seats, though lightweight and comfortable, seem rather insubstantial too, Toyota realising that big seats are the enemy of packaging in a small car. Thinner buyers will probably find them OK, but tip the scales at sixteen stone and you'll probably grumble after an hour or so which doesn't bode well for those long motorway trips.

On the road, the Yaris 1.4-litre D-4D is a competent if not an exhilarating drive. There is plenty of low-end torque to make town driving a breeze and the steering is light and responsive. Visibility is good all round, except for the large 'A' pillars which you have to peer around on tight bends. On the open road, the suspension serves up a comfortable ride and refinement is also reasonably good - although noise levels in the cabin a considerable higher than the top medium range saloon cars.

It's easy to be blinkered when choosing a company car and simply follow the heard into the usual medium range and compact executive suspects. If you have the flexibility to do so, however, superminis like the Toyota Yaris might be worth a look. They're obviously not going to be much cop for employees with large families of those covering higher mileages but for short commutes, they can serve up tangible cost benefits. If you're handed the keys to one on a bleak Monday morning, you should certainly give it the opportunity to prove itself before going nuclear at the fleet manager.

TOP 5 YARIS DEALS

The results below show the top YARIS deals on buyacar

Toyota Yaris 1.33 VVT-i TR 3dr [6] Hatchback
Price £10,976 Read Yaris Reviews	Save £1,174
Toyota Yaris 1.33 VVT-i TR 5dr [6] Hatchback
Price £11,446 Read Yaris Reviews	Save £1,204
Toyota Yaris 1.33 VVT-i TR 5dr MMT [6] Hatchback
Price £11,963 Read Yaris Reviews	Save £1,237
Toyota Yaris 1.4 D-4D TR 3dr [6] Diesel Hatchback
Price £11,982 Read Yaris Reviews	Save £1,228
Toyota Yaris 1.4 D-4D TR 5dr [6] Diesel Hatchback
Price £12,452 Read Yaris Reviews	Save £1,258
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