2015 Yaris SE (m/t) - Week-One Impressions - The Good, The Bad, & The Ugly.

[Kalispel]

Hopefully someone else considering purchase of a 2015/2016 SE will find this information useful, beyond what they read/see in typical professional online reviews of the car.

Listed below is a list of my likes and dislikes thus far, after driving my 2015 M/T Yaris SE for a week, following my normal daily routines:

LIKES (in no particular order):

--- SE headlights are just sexy in all regards. End of story.

--- Love the integrated fog lights, the on/off fog light switch on headlight stalk, and the control console display icon when they are in use.

--- Love the SE front seats (look, feel, and performance). They are very comfortable and I stick like glue to them on the corners. Awesome

--- 2015 Yaris SE clutch mechanics are well-implemented, and pedal is very easy to depress/hold/release. Shifting is smooth, precise and enjoyable in all gears once you become accustomed to the "feather-touch" accelerator dynamics. The car is a joy to drive in its manual incarnation. I never expected to like it as much or more than the manual Honda vehicles that I have driven over the years - but I do.

--- Car is well-mannered and smooth in 1st and 2nd gear driving slowly at parking lot speeds. My Accord seemed like it hated being in 1st/2nd gear doing the same, and would surge/choke a bit when I pressed/released the accelerator in those slower-speed gears.

--- Cabin has very good overall sound suppression/insulation for a vehicle in this class. I was pleasantly surprised. Only road noise really seeps through, when on rough, poorly maintained roads.

--- SE Sports-tuned suspension (and lower profile tires) makes for some fun driving/corning dynamics, even if it does make the ride a bit more busy on the rougher, poorly maintained roads. It's a worthwhile trade-off, in my opinion.

--- Turning radius on the SE is still quite good (despite being worse than the L/LE), and more than sufficient for all the tight spots that I have put her in thus far around town.

--- Very good braking capabilities. I personally like the 4-wheel disc brakes, even if they probably aren't really necessary on a car in this size/weight class.

--- A/C rocks cool air, even in the 108-118 degree heat that I have been driving in this past week - and I was only using fan setting 2 or 3 (of 4).

--- Love the single big wiper blade on the front windshield, versus two smaller ones. Very good example of simple, attractive, low-key design sexiness

--- Like the sound/feel of the stock engine, even if I wish it had another 20-25 horsepower to it, just to better match the looks and other performance specs of the 2015 SE, if nothing else. As it is, the car still accelerates briskly enough, even with the A/C on (m/t, 175lb lone occupant, and not loaded down with much more than a trunk full of groceries).

--- Stereo/speakers sound quite good by my standards, though I am not one to blast it or anything like that. The HD radio is really nice, compared to regular FM broadcasts (yes, this is my first car with HD radio).

--- Love the black honeycomb design of SE front grill/bumper area - but it is probably 10x harder to clean/detail than the variant L/LE version.

--- Really happy with the all-around design and look of the 2015 SE body. Everything just flows together well on the exterior.

--- Really like the minimalist, elegant, and simple interior layout, overall. No crazy "tech bloat", and no cheesy attempts to make the inside of the car look like a starship.

--- Like the air vent positions, layout, and design, especially the highly adjustable round vents on the far right and left side of dash.

--- Cabin/cockpit area is surprisingly open/roomy feeling (without tinted windows at least), with more head clearance up front than I expected - even at 6ft2in. Probably because there is no power moonroof built into a dropped/thicker ceiling, like my old Accord had.

--- Easy enough (for me at least) to find a very comfortable sitting/driving position, even with the lack of a telescopic steering wheel adjustment - which almost every auto reviewer has bashed the Yaris for not having.

--- Great all-around visibility in this car.

--- Shorter length of Yaris makes it really easy to fully pull into a parking spot (no ass hanging out) and still be a good foot+ away from scrapping your lower front bumper on a curb/curb-stop.

--- Aesthetically, I like the lower reverse-light placement on rear of the white/silver 2015 Yaris, but not so much with the other colors, since it doesn't blend the same, and tends to stick out like a sore thumb on those other colors.

--- Much prefer the flusher/blended taillights of the 2015, versus the ones on its 2012-2014 cousins. Likewise with the body-painted rear trim piece above license, versus the chrome one on the 2012-2014 (and Yaris Sedan). If you want chrome on the rear, you can always order the optional lower hatch trim available for the 2015 in Europe, etc.

--- Like the thick, fat, leather-wrapped steering-wheel on the SE.


DISLIKES (in no particular order):


--- No all-weather, reinforced "foot rest" rubberized plate to left of clutch/brake on raised "foot rest area". How did Toyota miss this in design??? I would rather not place my foot on the core vehicle carpet/floor, and undoubtedly soil and wear it out it over time.

--- Shortage of concealed/practical storage space in cockpit, though ample open, small, less-useful bins on various parts of dash. I will have to order a couple Toyota hinged-lid "ashtray cups" for coins and such. The concealed little bin in front of the dual cup holders and gearbox is nice though, at least - which I use to store my garage door opener, and a few other small things that I need easy access to.

--- No available armrest accessory currently for the 2015 Yaris - which feeds into above concealed/practical storage gripe. Perhaps it will be offered as an option with the 2016 models (meaning it would fit the 2015 also)? Though, having an open area between the seats is quite nice for a change (versus the monster armrest/storage unit in my old Accord). I guess it would depend upon the exact design/height of the armrest, on whether I would like it in this car or not.

--- Sunlight glare on touchscreen stereo limits its usefulness and ease of use during the sunny days here in AZ (tinted windows may alleviate this problem).

--- It's a bit difficult to see clock and dash LED information display with steering wheel tilted full-up, partially blocking view of it (I'm 6ft2in tall). I have to lean forward to see anything on the display other than the clock/temp -which I can barely see over the steering wheel centerpiece in my preferred, comfortable driving position.

--- Nothing wrong with the power windows, but I wish they were crank instead. Just a personal preference, and wishful thinking. I haven't had good luck with power window longevity in the past, with my Honda's. Hopefully Toyota will be different.

--- Not a fan of the remote lock opener and panic button being built into the key head, making it fatter/bulkier. I liked the separate, smaller key and little remote keychain unit (two piece) setup on my 2000 Accord better.

--- Very happy to have cruise control as standard equipment on the SE, but preferred the right-side steering-wheel mounted controls on my 2000 Accord over the awkward little stalk protruding from the lower right part of my steering wheel.

--- The 3 empty, covered button sockets near emergency brake and one on dash next to console dimmer make the car seem like it is missing something that it is supposed to have. What are those supposed to be used for anyway?

--- The tactile feel of the climate control knobs are sort of low-end (but work/look nice enough) - probably because these are the same controls used only in the lower-end Yaris models in Japan/Europe. Where is the nicer climate control setup that other market SE's and RS's have??? If you are willing to buy an SE over an L/LE, then you are obviously a lot more likely not to be worried about paying a bit extra for upgraded functionality, feel, etc.

--- I'm still not a huge fan of the 2015 OEM SE Alloy wheels, but my dislike of them has diminished greatly since I first saw them with the 2015 USA launch. They kind of grow on you, and do have a certain modern look to them. They look a lot better on the black and dark gray SE's, however, as opposed to the white/silver ones.

--- No standard OEM exhaust tip finisher on the 2015 SE trim, or even available as a dealer option for the North American Yaris (Unlike in other countries). Luckily I found a good aftermarket one - since it really rounds-out and completes the exterior look of the SE.

--- I wonder how many more years before car makers stop integrating CD players into their stereo units? I doubt I will ever use mine, and would rather Toyota have cut that for extra production-cost savings, rather than cutting the exhaust tip on the 2015 SE.

--- Not sure if I like the glossy piano-finish trim around gearbox, on steering-wheel, etc. or not inside the car. It makes it easy to leave fingerprints/smudges in those places. It also made sticking an adhesive die-cut white TRD vinyl logo very easy on the gearbox. :)

--- Orange/Red is not my favorite color setup when it comes to night-time illuminated auto instrument clusters. Thank goodness I can dim it down some.

--- Apparently I have a gremlin living inside of one of my air vents. Every time I leave the vehicle for a while and then return, the center left air vent is angled up for airflow direction, instead of level and facing me. O_o


***FINAL VERDICT***: Minor quibbles aside, I really do LOVE this car. I must be a real oddity in the American auto market. I also don't feel that a Honda Fit is a better car than a Yaris SE - except in cargo hauling capacity and superior design of the folding front/back seats. I like the Yaris SE better in every other way. Kudos to Honda marketing/hype versus Toyota marketing/hype, with regards to vehicles in this subcompact class, since they are selling 3-4x the volume of the 2015 Fit versus the 2015 Yaris (at least in America).