The Toyota Yaris is a very good small economy car. Its the smallest and cheapest car in Toyota's line up but it still manages to retain the company's trait for high build quality.
The Yaris is highly fuel efficient. In fact its the third most efficient car in the subcompact class, which means its in the top 10% of cars for fuel economy. A well engineered 4 cylinder 1.5 liter gasoline engine is responsible. It produces a not too insubstantial 106 horsepower while still managing 29 miles per gallon in the city and 36 mpg on the highway. While its no sports car there's plenty of zip when driving around town and its a fun drive.
There's usually some compromises with small economy cars. Sometimes they aren't safe or they don't drive well or they look and feel cheap. The Toyota Yaris does not suffer from this problem. It performs well in all areas. Its pleasing on the eye, has good road handling, is solidly built and reliable.
The only criticisms are relatively minor. The engine can be a little noisy under hard acceleration which is not unusual in small vehicles which have less sound proofing and high revving engines.
The instrument panel is not in front of the driver but to the left, positioned in the center of the vehicle. I think Toyota have let styling overtake practicality here because there is no benefit of a center console and it means the driver has to angle his head away from the road to see how fast he's going. Not ideal but not a major issue.
Amazingly safety is probably the biggest asset of Toyota's smallest car. The Yaris beats most of its rivals in this aspect. Standard safety equipment includes traction control, stability control, anti lock braking and electronic brake force distribution. Crash test results are also pretty good for a cheap small car.
The Toyota Yaris is available as a 3 or 5 door hatchback or a 4 door sedan. It comes with a 3 year 36000 mile warranty and costs around US$12,500 for the base model. Luxury features on the base model are pretty thin on the ground but if you can do without electric windows and doors then this is a well recommended small economy car.
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