Review of the new Toyota Yaris - Smsll Car Sense

So what are the main ingredients for a really successful small car? Well, it must have compact dimensions, yet be spacious inside. It must have a big-car feel, yet be light enough to record frugal fuel figures. It must be eco-friendly, but also child-friendly. And it really ought to be the kind of car that almost anyone can get into and feel right at home almost straight away. Judged on these criteria, you have to say that Toyota's Yaris does pretty well. Over the course of a year at the wheel, we've been finding out why.

At first glance, this isn't a car you'd put at the top of your supermini shopping lists. After all, there are other cars that are more stylish, faster, cheaper or better equipped. Yet after nearly a year with our long term test car, I have to say that I wouldn't choose any of them over this Toyota. Everything about it just does the job so effectively.

Of course nothing's broken or come off, nothing rattles and of course, there have been no breakdown mishaps. But then, you'd expect that, given that this was a brand new car when we started - though as I know to my cost, you can't always take faultless reliability for granted. Sure enough, we normally find on our long term test fleet that after a few months, you start getting rattly pieces of trim and odd things that stop working quite as they should. There's been nothing like that with this little Yaris, despite the high mileage that it's done in our hands. As indeed you might expect from a marque with a peerless reliability record.

Here's a car that still looks and feels as fresh as it did when it first rolled out of the showroom nearly a year ago. My mother (who's a nightmare with cars) had no difficulty in adjusting to it when her regular runabout hit trouble and, though she held up all the traffic as usual on the way to the local shopping centre, was able to bring our 1.4 D4-D TR model back unscathed.

I chose the diesel, not only because it has so much more pulling power through the gears than its equivalent petrol stablemates but also because I wanted to see whether the up-front premium the D4-D demands could be reclaimed over the course of the year in lower running costs. So far, I'm getting pretty close to Toyota's claimed urban fuel consumption figure of 55mpg but in terms of making back my money, it's going to be rather touch and go.

"Everything about it just does the job so effectively.."

Still, I can console myself that this car is significantly better to drive than the comparable 1.33-litre petrol model. The 89bhp engine is a useful step forward from the 74bhp diesel that powered the previous generation Yaris, with the sprint from 0 to 62mph achieved in 10.7 seconds on the way to a top speed of 109mph. The main thing though, is that there's plenty of low-end pulling power 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.

When I've managed to prize the car away from other staff members and subject it to the sticky-fingered attentions of my family, it's been clear that the Yaris manages the normal aspects of a supermini's existence just as effectively as it does the abnormal ones. As I write this, it's actually very difficult to think of a single aspect of the car to criticise. Plus, it also feels very well built. The double-sealed doors have been designed specifically to feel thicker and weightier and shut with a thunk rather than a clang. The unconventional fascia looks far removed from the supermini norm, with a 3D effect on the main display. More conservative buyers may find it a bit unusual but it's certainly distinctive.

Negatives? Well, 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. Still, the flip side of this is that the interior is hard-wearing and the combined attentions of my three girls (Caris, age 10, Ellie, aged 7 and Amy, aged 2) have failed to corrupt it.

Overall, were I a rival manufacturer to Toyota seeking to design a class-leading supermini, I'd buy a Yaris and take it apart piece by piece to find out just how thorough a job I needed to do. And having done so, I'd probably give up and go and build something a bit easier. Enough said.

TOP 5 YARIS DEALS

The results below show the top YARIS deals on buyacar

Toyota Yaris 1.4 D-4D TR 5dr MMT [6] Diesel Hatchback
Price £12,969 Read Yaris Reviews	Save £1,301
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
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