Under the hood of a 2012 Yaris

[daf62757]

Originally Posted by CanIHazYarisHatch?

I will have to see it in person, of course. I really also dig the magnetic grey metallic, lagoon blue mica, and blazing blue pearl.

Nice to have so many cool colors, instead of just red, blue, white, black and silver. Different can indeed be good, vive la différence, and all that.




I respectfully see it differently than you do. I find it amazing that with the strong yen, weak dollar, etc...that Toyota can even sell this car for this price, especially when the $100 million or so it no doubt cost to heavily refresh this subcompact.

Is the '12 Yaris going to be the most advanced with direct injection, 40mpg highway, 6-speed transmissions, etc.? No, more in the middle of the pack, compared to most of the other new cars in it's class, such as the new Accent, Fiesta, Rio/Picanto, etc.

I recognize the obvious, but still...there is just something special about this little car, which is why I am here...and why I cannot wait to buy one in a few months.

The only thing I didn't like during my test drive was the heavy, vague steering, but no car is perfect, not even a Toyota.

I don't believe it cost $100M to refresh the Yaris. The changes are not that great and the car is basically the same as the previous generation.

[CanIHazYarisHatch?]

Originally Posted by daf62757

I don't believe it cost $100M to refresh the Yaris. The changes are not that great and the car is basically the same as the previous generation.

Federalizing is quite expensive for the US, EU, and Asia/Japan. Any major exterior changes require a whole battery of tests. You might be surprised how expensive it can be, even on such a cheap offering such as the Yaris.

Perhaps not $100 million, but at least $50 million. New tooling for factories, all the new interior bits need to be re-engineered for NVH, etc.

All that is carried over from the 2nd gen is the drivetrain and basic chassis/suspension/brake system. The exterior shell (including new glass), and interior are all new (with a few parts raided from the Scion parts bin, admittedly ).

[roxy1]

im not complaining about the use of hard plastics in this class. they all have to do this. im talking about the bizarre texture of th plastic used (in the base model) and the awful looking rubbery shifter.

i like the exterior look better and the interior layout better on the new yaris...just not that awful paper mache looking plastic.

arguing that this is a b class car doesnt work because the fiesta, fit, and accent are all b class as well and those interior are WAY less cheap looking.

i could even live with the interior if toyota would have done some aero mods and gearing changes and just owned the segment in mpg's.

believe me, i get the whole minimalistic thing..its why i bought my 07 manual, roll up windows yaris in the first place. just dont try to price it in the same range of cars that offer more.