The Yaris is Toyotas attempt to get the key I cant afford a real car demographic. Dont get me wrong; its a fun car that will get you from Point A to Point B and do it without annoying you more than absolutely necessary.
Our test vehicle was the three-door hatchback model, but wed spring for the five-door. The extra grand gets you a second set of doors and makes the rear seats accessible; the increase in trunk space (seats up or down) makes it a legitimate weekend hauler, so long as youre toting small dogs or a few cases of beer back to your frat house and not, as the Generalissimo is apt to do, lug fifty gallon drums of God-knows-what to his bunker.
He also complained that the suspension wouldnt take the weight of a fifty-caliber machine gun, the mount, and enough ammunition to play twenty-questions with a band of Somali pirates. He also didnt appreciate the vibration coming from the exhaust pipe under hard acceleration. Id agree with that last part, though its entirely possible that was the poor cars way of begging the sunglassed one for mercy.
Its cute! he yelled at one point. Like a horny Labrador eating a pie!
Um… Yeah, we try not to ask questions when hes like that.
The interior is what youd expect in a car with a base price of $12,205. Think plastic. Think cheap plastic. Think ten-year-old television casing plastic, surrounded by seats whose fabric wouldnt be out of place in a doctors waiting room.
Headroom is good front and back, but rear legroom is much better in the five-door hatchback and four-door sedan models. The steering position is good, and with its low weight, compact packaging, and good turning radius, makes for a peppy little car that pleases and offends in such small quantities as to make it completely benign.
If you dont care about what you drive, if gas mileage matters, and if you spend money only when you absolutely have to, the Toyota Yaris might be for you.
Lets test the airbags! he cried near the end of our trip. Take a wild guess how close to the end…
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