Having doubts about buying a Yaris now

[grampi]

I thought I really wanted to buy a new LB, but a recent review in Consumer's Reports, and folks in this site complaining about the poor quality of the paint has put me on pause. I haven't read the CR report, but many people are saying they gave the Yaris a poor review. There also seems to be several people in this site complaining about poor paint quality (mainly the thinness of the paint and how easily it chips). Now I don't know what to do. I really like the Yaris (or at least I think I do), but I don't want to make the mistake of buying one only to end up with buyer's regret a month or two later.

[kimona]

I've had my red hatchback for over a year, and I have absolutely no complaints about the paint. I wax my car very slowly by hand every few weeks and know every inch of my car, and I'm perfectly satisfied with the paint quality.

[nsmitchell]

The paint chips easily, but that is only skin deep. Get some of that 3M film applied to the front and that will easy your worries. The car under the paint is great though. Plus you will save money on it all over the place. Payments, gas, insurance, reliability. Don't let paint make or break the deal. My paint still looks as good as any other car I ever had. Some folks may live near or on gravel roads that can tear the paint up fast.

[kimona]

[QUOTE=nsmitchell;111623]The paint chips easily... QUOTE]

This is not my experience. I have almost 16K miles on mine, do a great deal of freeway driving, and have only one pencilpoint chip on my hood that was easily painted with a touchup stick that is a pefect paint match.

[nsmitchell]

Mine has 15.5K miles on it and my hood has only about 6 tiny chips. Our paint is thin with a thin primer too. Look at an old Mercedes Benz paint job and you will see the difference. Thick paint with thick primer. That said, my paint still looks great. An afternoon of careful touch up painting and it will look like new again.

[brickhardmeat]

So far no complaints about the paint. You can go to any car forum and find numerous complaints about paint. It's up to you to by one or not. I would have buyer's regret if I bought a FiT, Aveo, Versa or another Golf. Consider your options if you haven't already.

[stuffy]

check the honda fit forums, they have had recalls because of poor paint quality.

[roxy84]

brick is correct. go to any site dedicated to any economy car in particular, and you will see complaints about thin/poor paint quality. it is not a yaris problem, it is an industry wide problem, im assuming related to governmental regs. i had a corolla and 9thgencorolla.com was full of whining about thin paint. likewise on honda fit forums. i drove my corolla over a year and actually had no paint chios on the front of the car. i think some people drive in conditions where there is lots of flying debris

[Mead]

Driving habits and road conditions have an impact (no pun intended) on how many chips you get... IMO

[kurokoma-kun]

Grampi, you might want to take what CR says with a grain of salt. They claim to be completely unbiased because they accept no advertising, but their consumer opinion data collection methods are not exactly scientific, nor are their product testing methods. This is not to say it's not useful info, but not the last word by any means.

Just wondering, have you test driven the Yaris? I made lots of comparisons on paper before buying, but the test drive was key deciding factor for me...

[death is my gift]

Do it! You know you want a Yaris. Seriously though, I wouldn't let a little thing like a potential "paint problem" hinder me from buying a Yaris. Not when you are getting 40 mpg. That's what touch up paint is for. IF there is even a problem in the future with your paint.

[kimona]

Originally Posted by nsmitchell

... Look at an old Mercedes Benz paint job and you will see the difference. Thick paint with thick primer...

Indeed, Mercedes (and Volvo) have great paint unmatched by any other import or domestic! Unfortunately, they are both only fair cars otherwise.

I can only dream that Toyota gave all their cars a Volvo paint job!

[fearturtle44]

The paint on the Yaris is no better or no worse than almost ANY car out there. Check any car's internet forums and you will see post about "this car has the crappiest paint".

Kevin

[eTiMaGo]

consider it as just a good excuse to the SO to get a custom paint job in the near future

[Meteorite Man]

With the money you save in gas, you can afford a new paint job. One to your liking and maybe a color Toyota has yet to offer.

Chuck

[Thirty-Nine]

People complain about the paint on the Scions, Hondas, etc. That would be the least of my worries. As far as the CR thing goes, I think CR is BS.

Drive the Yaris, drive the Fit, Versa, Accent, Rio, Aveo, xB, xA or whatever other cars you're looking it.

I don't care how loyal a person is to a brand -- you should always shop the competition, IMHO.

[ChinoCharles]

I didn't buy a Yaris for its paint job or CR rating. I bought it for 40 MPG. I get 40 MPG. I'm a happy camper. You would be too if you stopped thinking about it and just bought the damn thing.

[grampi]

Originally Posted by kurokoma-kun

Grampi, you might want to take what CR says with a grain of salt. They claim to be completely unbiased because they accept no advertising, but their consumer opinion data collection methods are not exactly scientific, nor are their product testing methods. This is not to say it's not useful info, but not the last word by any means.

Just wondering, have you test driven the Yaris? I made lots of comparisons on paper before buying, but the test drive was key deciding factor for me...

Paint quality really isn't the main reason I've become leary, it just adds to it. Since I haven't read what CR said about the Yaris myself, I can only go by what others have said about what CR said. I think CR's main complaint was regarding the handling of the Yaris at highway speeds, particularly during windy/turbulant conditions. I have test driven a LB, but the amount of time I spent at higway speeds was limited to only about 2 or 3 minutes and it really wasn't very windy that day and I didn't encounter any semis to find out how wind/tubulance effects it. Since most of my driving is highway, it's important that I get a vehicle that can handle highway driving without being a handful for the driver, but I also need something that gets excellent fuel economy because I put 2500-3000 miles on my car per month.

I typically take what CR has to say about vehicles as generally useful info, but I also don't take it as gospel. CR and Edmunds both voiced their disapproval of the now defunked Echo, but Echo owners overwelmingly state just the opposite. Any forum message I've ever read pertaining to the Echo has been nothing but praise for the car. Echo owners have voiced very few complaints about the car. It kind of makes me wonder why the Echo and Yaris have received such bad press.