Yaris coming soon?

[RualStorge]

Long story short got my first fulltime with benefits job out of college. My wonderful 97 Mazda Miata is trying for a highscore on mileage and reliability has become a serious concern (It's not failed me... yet). So I'm looking into getting a car I can count on before I start my new job. (11/15)

After the borderline excessive research I'm so well known for I've found myself looking primarily at the Toyota Yaris.

Basically I'm a tall lean guy who wants a small car that is fuel efficient for primarily city driving conditions, hopefully that can carry more then two bags of groceries (Thats a jab at the Miata)

I've read the stats, professional reviews, etc. Now I'd like to know what ACTUAL Yaris owners think about their cars.

So... of all you Yaris owners out there.
Would you recommend this for someone with my needs?

What would you say you like most about your Yaris?

What would you say you like the least about your Yaris?

If you could change one thing with the Yaris what would it be?

Is there any years I should strongly consider or avoid?

Basically I'm just trying to get a feel for Yaris ownership and what I should expect. I plan to be buying my car 11/12 - 11/14 time frame. (With Veteran's day I might catch a sale if I'm lucky)

Any and all input is appreciated as I like to make my choices as informed as humanly possible. Thank you for your time :)

[Astroman]

Are you interested in the Yaris in general, or are you leaning more towards sedan or liftback? I own two liftbacks, and 07 and 09. The 07 is an automatic, and the 09 is a manual. If you do primarily city driving go with the auto. Although my girlfriend likes her manual, she learned it wasn't to much fun when she had to go to school in downtown portland. One hell of a way to learn to drive a stick. We get better mileage out of the manual but mine's heavily modified, while hers is stock. There have been members though who have gotten in the 40mpg range with the auto though.

If you go with an older Yaris like mine, see if it has side airbags as it was optional for that year and greatly improves the safety rating. On the 07 things like the side airbags and ABS were optional, on the 09 its standard.

Not sure what options you're looking for, but both of mine have pretty much everything except the power package, which in the hatch give you a 60/40 rear split seats, fog lights, and power windows and locks.

I've had my 07 for 89k miles with NO problems. 25k on the 09 and the only problem to report with it is that 3 lines on the rear defroster went out, but it's getting fixed today under warranty.

If you're looking at modding the liftback has more aftermarket options, but the sedans also have quite a bit of love now. Recently, I actually LOST in my 3rd car show to a sedan that only had bitchin paint, rims, and was lowered. The other shows I came in first.

I do reccomend though if your not into mods (or are) a rear sway bar. Will greatly improve the handling and won't modify the suspension height or ride quality. Also, Yaris that come with the goodyear tires have better tire life. The Potenza's just seem to wear out quickly.

I'll let some others chime in, but feel free to PM me or post in this thread if you have any questions of me. I've been a PROUD Yaris owner for over 4 years now, and couldn't imagine driving anything else as a daily driver. :headbang:

[nemelek]

Would you recommend this for someone with my needs?

It is hard to know all your needs. However just out of school you probably don't need a lot more debt. Check prices on used a used Yaris first.

If you are single or don't carry people a lot people, the hatch back is the way to go.

[Astroman]

I'm not single and carry a lot of people/cargo and I find the hatch fine to work with. But then again I just tell them to shut up if they don't like climbing over the front seat to get in the back. After all, 99.9% of the time I'm up front anyway :biggrin:

For 2009 they introduced the 5-door hatch but only automatic. For 2010/11 you can get a manual. 2012 would be too far off for you anyway, but it looks like to be only a 5-door with a complete redesign that I don't much care for.

Nice thing about the yaris, it's EASY to park in the city

[why?]

Long story short got my first fulltime with benefits job out of college. My wonderful 97 Mazda Miata is trying for a highscore on mileage and reliability has become a serious concern (It's not failed me... yet). So I'm looking into getting a car I can count on before I start my new job. (11/15)

After the borderline excessive research I'm so well known for I've found myself looking primarily at the Toyota Yaris.

Basically I'm a tall lean guy who wants a small car that is fuel efficient for primarily city driving conditions, hopefully that can carry more then two bags of groceries (Thats a jab at the Miata)

I've read the stats, professional reviews, etc. Now I'd like to know what ACTUAL Yaris owners think about their cars.

So... of all you Yaris owners out there.
Would you recommend this for someone with my needs?

What would you say you like most about your Yaris?

What would you say you like the least about your Yaris?

If you could change one thing with the Yaris what would it be?

Is there any years I should strongly consider or avoid?

Basically I'm just trying to get a feel for Yaris ownership and what I should expect. I plan to be buying my car 11/12 - 11/14 time frame. (With Veteran's day I might catch a sale if I'm lucky)

Any and all input is appreciated as I like to make my choices as informed as humanly possible. Thank you for your time :)

I'm a tall (6'2") guy and I love my Yaris. The first thing is how much cargo capacity do you want? The Yaris is good for grocery runs and small things, but it isn't a pickup truck.

The Yaris gets great gas mileage, is relatively fun to drive, and is extremely reliable.

My biggest complaint is that i always want to get even better gas mileage. Europe has better engine options than we do.

There isn't really anything to avoid as of yet, just figure out what options you are looking for and target those. Astroman did a great job detailing all the options over the years.

[Slick]

I am 6'4 and almost 375 and I LOVE my 2009 3 dr hatch. Plenty of room in the rear, great safety features, great fuel economy even with my auto and lard @#$ :D

I love the looks, the feel, truthfully there isn't much about the Yaris that I don't like. Only complaint that I can think of is that the paint job/quality is absolute crap. However, out of 14 grand econo-box, if the only thing crappy is the paint job/quality then that really isn't that big of a deal.

The only thing I would change is the output of the alternator. I love heart throbbing bass, and the minuscule 70amp alt on the Yaris is not the best for pushing alot of watts. Although, you did not mention audio as one of your questions or thoughts, so odds are that won't be a problem.

[.Kevin.]

If you plan on keeping it stock get the liftback, (I personally think it blows). If you wanna fix it up etc Sedan is a much better fixed up look than the Liftback/Hatchback.

I like the car, but I don't love it for personal reasons. May aswell get the 2010 :) I got mine with 12 kms like two months ago now.

[DebbyM46227]

Would you recommend this for someone with my needs? YES

What would you say you like most about your Yaris? THE LOOKS, THE FUEL ECONOMY, FUN TO DRIVE

What would you say you like the least about your Yaris? THE LOW TEMP ENGINE LIGHT

If you could change one thing with the Yaris what would it be? MAKE THE HATCHBACK LOCK, LOCK ON ITS OWN.

Is there any years I should strongly consider or avoid? I DONT KNOW.

[Flipper_1938]

!

[Astroman]

I can fit twice that in my hatch. Plus if I need a truck I got a trailer for that.

[Flipper_1938]

!

[Astroman]

Yeah true I left that part out about the seats, lol. Yeah the other one has a hitch, attached to the bumper bolts. I had another one that used the shipping strap points, but this one is better, hidden and lighter. I have a old '79 Toyota longbed trailer, 7'6" long, same width as the yaris.

[Flipper_1938]

!

[brg88tx]

What would you say you like most about your Yaris? 39 mpg

What would you say you like the least about your Yaris? friends' comments about the car: girl car, gay car, etc.

If you could change one thing with the Yaris what would it be? it'd be nice if it came equipped with a mpg gauge.

Is there any years I should strongly consider or avoid? supposedly the 07 model (first year) had the most problems, but i have had no problems with my 07 sedan, currently have 62k miles.

[DevilGirl]

Are you interested in the Yaris in general, or are you leaning more towards sedan or liftback? I own two liftbacks, and 07 and 09. The 07 is an automatic, and the 09 is a manual. If you do primarily city driving go with the auto. Although my girlfriend likes her manual, she learned it wasn't to much fun when she had to go to school in downtown portland. One hell of a way to learn to drive a stick. We get better mileage out of the manual but mine's heavily modified, while hers is stock. There have been members though who have gotten in the 40mpg range with the auto though.

If you go with an older Yaris like mine, see if it has side airbags as it was optional for that year and greatly improves the safety rating. On the 07 things like the side airbags and ABS were optional, on the 09 its standard.

Not sure what options you're looking for, but both of mine have pretty much everything except the power package, which in the hatch give you a 60/40 rear split seats, fog lights, and power windows and locks.

I've had my 07 for 89k miles with NO problems. 25k on the 09 and the only problem to report with it is that 3 lines on the rear defroster went out, but it's getting fixed today under warranty.

If you're looking at modding the liftback has more aftermarket options, but the sedans also have quite a bit of love now. Recently, I actually LOST in my 3rd car show to a sedan that only had bitchin paint, rims, and was lowered. The other shows I came in first.

I do reccomend though if your not into mods (or are) a rear sway bar. Will greatly improve the handling and won't modify the suspension height or ride quality. Also, Yaris that come with the goodyear tires have better tire life. The Potenza's just seem to wear out quickly.

I'll let some others chime in, but feel free to PM me or post in this thread if you have any questions of me. I've been a PROUD Yaris owner for over 4 years now, and couldn't imagine driving anything else as a daily driver. :headbang:

Negatory on the fog lights as part of the power package. At least they didn't come on my 09 hatch with power package. I think that's still an extra add-on.

I love my Yarii. I commute approximately 100 miles a day, just the drive part. I average (depending if I'm running late to catch the train or not in the morning) around 37mpg (occassionally down to 35, or up to 40). I found this to be much better than my previous Lancer ES with around 27mpg ability.

I bought my hatch shortly before moving from my apartment. It certainly can hold a lot, but that is with the seats down. I had only owned sedans, and wanted something different.

I have approximately 38,000 miles on my 09 manual already. Only mods I did were add the rear sway bar, the mudguards, and had seat heaters professionally installed, and the window deflectors (very worthwhile, I think).

The only thing I would love to have, that I can't here, would be to have the diesel Yarii that is available in Europe.

Oh, and my only regret was getting the Metorite Metallic Yarii instead of the Blazing Blue Yarii, because it was slightly cheaper...

[Astroman]

The power package comes with fogs in 2007, it is now an option, but requires the power package from Toyota.

[Astroman]

Is there any years I should strongly consider or avoid? supposedly the 07 model (first year) had the most problems, but i have had no problems with my 07 sedan, currently have 62k miles.

Wow you're horribly misinformed! First off, the Yaris has been in production since '99, 2nd gen since '05 as an '06 model. So "07 model (first year)" is untrue. The Yaris was first introduced in the US as a 2007 model.

Second, where did you get your data that the '07 has the most problems?!?! I've had my '07 for over 4 years and 89k miles with NO PROBLEMS, and another member has a sedan with over 420,000 miles with pretty much just maintenance. He just recently had a problem with his clutch and that was wiring. Was this coming from the "don't buy the first year model, so they can work the bugs out" routine?? :thumbdown:

[Astroman]

Can you post up some pics of your current hitch?

Sure I'll take a pic later today. Here is a pic of the car with the trailer

http://sphotos.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ak-snc4/hs146.snc4/36645_1410792503936_1056187890_1152417_7680594_n.j pg

[brg88tx]

Wow you're horribly misinformed! First off, the Yaris has been in production since '99, 2nd gen since '05 as an '06 model. So "07 model (first year)" is untrue. The Yaris was first introduced in the US as a 2007 model.

Second, where did you get your data that the '07 has the most problems?!?! I've had my '07 for over 4 years and 89k miles with NO PROBLEMS, and another member has a sedan with over 420,000 miles with pretty much just maintenance. He just recently had a problem with his clutch and that was wiring. Was this coming from the "don't buy the first year model, so they can work the bugs out" routine?? :thumbdown:

sorry to offend you dude, i just thought the 07 model had the most tsbs, maybe i was wrong. like i said i have had no problems with mine either.

[hyprmiler]

What would you say you like most about your Yaris?

MPG (solid 40+ on highway driving in the summer, and I have an automatic / Resale Value (it's a toyota, it didn't cost much to begin with so depreciation is low). Low cost of overall ownership (ranked #1 in class)

What would you say you like the least about your Yaris?

If you take a completely neutral stance some people hate the cluster / gauge. The plastic feel of the interior / etc.

to me it's an econobox and does exactly what it should (run long / run hard / run well)

It is what it is, don't like it don't complain. Don't turn the car into something it isn't.

If you could change one thing with the Yaris what would it be?

I always wanted more options on my car, and I wish Toyota offered it when it comes to OEM solutions (moon roof / etc.) I understand why they didn't due to the cost and it's well an econobox but makes me wish they treated it like the corolla a bit more (options wise)

The only real thing I would change is what they already changed. Default Tacometer on all models.

Is there any years I should strongly consider or avoid?

Some people have said 2010's due to a head gasket leak, but i haven't seen too much about that overall to state that fact.

I would avoid the early 2007's as well due to the gauge / cluster changes that were offered after 2008 (tac / etc.)

I'd strongly push you towards the sedan over the hatch (no flames please). The only rationale I have with it is due to the car being longer. I have driven both and I prefer the handling in wind and highway conditions when it comes to the sedan..... not to mention there are more hatch backs on the road so it stands out a bit more.


I should also point out i'm a bigger guy (6' 5 ) and the car fits me well. No matter what you do get it with cruse control... avoid any Yaris that doesn't come with it as a standard option. I find myself stretching my right leg out on long highway trips, and I can get it fully flexed in this car.


**edit**

Other things to note....

I have a 2008 Sedan and the wife now has a 2009. I drive 1600+ miles a month with just work commuting. Over the last year I'm looking at around 1800 to be more exact. With that being said I've had zero problems with my car. I'm due for a new pair of tires, but that's standard with the miles I have on it (over 50K now)

It's also a great car for out of college if you ask me. Low overhead and cheap if you put some money down on it 0% for 60 with 2K down put me at a monthly payment of around 160.00 before tax and crap.

If you are a DIY kind of guy the car is also easy to work on. MUCH easier than previous cars I've owned. You also don't have to worry about the timing belt (Yaris has a chain) so if you had an interference engine you'd always be worried as heck on the higher mileage cars. With the timing chain it's not as much of a big deal (if it snaps it's a pain to replace, but at least it doesn't total your engine)

I'm curious what you decide, but to be honest you can't go wrong. =)

[Astroman]

sorry to offend you dude, i just thought the 07 model had the most tsbs, maybe i was wrong. like i said i have had no problems with mine either.

Sorry if I came off rude, I just get a little defensive of the '07. It's amazing how many people assumed ALL toyotas were affected by the wave of recalls earlier this year and made it a point to try and point out I had a defective car. I took pleasure in informing them the yaris wasn't affected and 100% Japanese built. I did take my Yaris in for the stinky cat tsb, but honestly the odor wasn't bad. I just wanted it done before it did get bad and my warranty ran out.

[RualStorge]

Thank you for all of the responses, I'm doing my rounds a little early test driving and the like. Currently at a dealer getting a quote on my trade in. I'm still thinking the Yaris is my best bet but since several if the dealers have competitors next door just to be fair I'm going to give a few models a ride before I sign. I really enjoyed driving a 10 2dr hatch. Had more pep then I expected which is a plus because I tweaked my miata so was concerned the adjustment would be painful. But yeah I'll let you know what I settle on. Thanks again.

[kimona]

I had a couple of Miatas before the Vitz (Yaris HB), and they were great cars! The Vitz is definitely no Miata, but it's a sporty little car with a quirky yet appealing design IMHO, has a surprisingly big interior with lots of storage and luggage space compared to the Miata, plus with some basic wheel/tyre/suspension mods the Vitz will handle quite nicely. If you're coming out of a manual shift Miata, then the Vitz stick shift will be hugely disappointing to say the least; in fact, I thought it was so poor, I decided on the automatic, which is probably one of the most intelligent and responsive automatic transmissions I've ever driven.

[RualStorge]

Thank you all for your input, after going through three dealerships and testing competing models I actually went with a 2011 Fiesta. (After I verbally bloodied a salesman over the coarse of 5 hours dragging the price down 8000$)

While I will say the Yaris was a bit more sporty in performance, as they say the price was right and the Fiesta's ride was a much nicer ride (It's in a completely different class) The other reason I opted for the Fiesta was I found myself rather disappointed with the salesman I dealt with at the two promising Toyota dealers I visited.

I came in with a sheet with their invoice prices, sticker prices, allowances, etc do properly negotiate the prices, and the moment they saw the data I had at Toyota the salesman basically pushed me off on to each other not wanting to even bother. When I went to the local Ford Dealer the salesman I worked with saw the sheet and was rather impressed (he actually took down numbers because some of the information I had collected was more then the salesman usually have access too) He then flat out told me he was on flat rate comission so he'd do what he could for me after about 3 laps I worked directly witht he sales manager and bought my car, ultimately as they say the price was right considering they went lower then Toyota was willing to go on the new Yaris.

Yaris does look like a fantastic car alot more mod friendly then a Fiesta which due to it's complexity non cosmetic mods are far more complicated. Thank you all for your input, had the Toyota salesman been more willing to actually treat me like a potential customer I would have likely never wound up at the dealer I got my fiesta, their loss, my gain.

[why?]

Thank you all for your input, after going through three dealerships and testing competing models I actually went with a 2011 Fiesta. (After I verbally bloodied a salesman over the coarse of 5 hours dragging the price down 8000$)

While I will say the Yaris was a bit more sporty in performance, as they say the price was right and the Fiesta's ride was a much nicer ride (It's in a completely different class) The other reason I opted for the Fiesta was I found myself rather disappointed with the salesman I dealt with at the two promising Toyota dealers I visited.

I came in with a sheet with their invoice prices, sticker prices, allowances, etc do properly negotiate the prices, and the moment they saw the data I had at Toyota the salesman basically pushed me off on to each other not wanting to even bother. When I went to the local Ford Dealer the salesman I worked with saw the sheet and was rather impressed (he actually took down numbers because some of the information I had collected was more then the salesman usually have access too) He then flat out told me he was on flat rate comission so he'd do what he could for me after about 3 laps I worked directly witht he sales manager and bought my car, ultimately as they say the price was right considering they went lower then Toyota was willing to go on the new Yaris.

Yaris does look like a fantastic car alot more mod friendly then a Fiesta which due to it's complexity non cosmetic mods are far more complicated. Thank you all for your input, had the Toyota salesman been more willing to actually treat me like a potential customer I would have likely never wound up at the dealer I got my fiesta, their loss, my gain.

Wow, i don't get that response. To me it would be an easy, quick sale. As a salesperson i'd let you beat on my manager.

congrats on the new car.